“Spineless Dems do nothing!" Oh, really? II [View All]

People seemed to like the compilation of posts I put together last week of what the Democrats have actually been doing, so here's what they've done since last Tuesday:

11/1/05
John Edwards admits authorizing the president to attack Iraq was a mistake
Did anybody go to see Edwards speak at NKU tonight? There was a Q&A where Edwards was asked whether he thinks the US should pull out of Iraq. He began by saying that voting for the Iraq war was a mistake. He was then interrupted by thunderous applause!

11/1/05
"Harry Reid, “Master of the Rules,” Seizes the Day"
You’ve got to give Harry Reid credit. He often seems so mild-mannered but there was nothing mild-mannered in his shut down of the Senate today. While the MSM is often slack on the job, this headline from MSNBC is priceless - “Harry Reid sparks a dramatic Senate standoff, On quiet Indian summer afternoon, Democrats spring an Iraq-Libby surprise.”

11/2/05
Kerry Statement On Closed Session
“For a year and a half, the Republican leadership in Congress has refused again and again to complete Phase II of their investigation into pre-war intelligence failures. All the requests I and other Senators have made of the Intelligence Committee for more information have been pushed aside. The Republican leadership has been complicit in a political cover-up of the decisions that led to war. Nothing could be more serious or more deserving of full public disclosure. The families of our troops deserve the truth, as does every American. Now that one of the chief architects of the war in Iraq has been indicted for related crimes, it is more important than ever to know how intelligence was presented to the Congress.

11/2/05
NYT: Dems Seek Shift to Issues That Will Favor Them (feel-good article!) (Durbin)
The Democratic decision to bushwhack Senate Republicans this week with a surprise procedural maneuver reflected a larger political strategy to shift the terrain to issues that Democrats believe will play to their common advantage in the 2006 elections. After infuriating majority Republicans on Tuesday by forcing the Senate into a closed session over the Bush administration's handling of intelligence before the Iraq war, leading Senate Democrats said Wednesday that they would not shy from using any means available to have their say, though they would not tip their hand on specific plans.

11/2/05
Reid to Bush: Follow footsteps of Reagan, not Nixon
President Bush could revive his troubled presidency by cleaning house among his top aides, much like Ronald Reagan did when faced with the Iran-Contra scandal, Sen. Harry Reid said Wednesday. "I really believe the president has to follow one of two lanes of traffic," Reid said Wednesday. "One is follow the lane of traffic that Richard Nixon liked to stay in, and that is just to hunker down there in the White House and not do anything," he told KKOH Radio of Reno in a telephone interview from Washington.

11/2/05
Feinstein says she was DUPED into voting for war!
Feinstein: Yes, and had I known then what I know now I never would have cast that vote. Not in a thousand years.

11/2/05
Dems, Repubs rip Bush admin over extreme national park plan
"During Tuesday's hearing, tough questions about the draft came from both Democrats and Republicans. Moreover, six Republicans sent a letter last Thursday to Interior Secretary Gale Norton airing concerns about the revisions. The letter describes the latest revisions as deemphasizing preservation and blurring the Park Service's "primary responsibility" to protect parks.

11/2/05
Dean: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH--We're Ready to Lead! (Sign the message)
Dear Fellow Democrat,
Late this afternoon my friend Senator Harry Reid forced the Senate into an extraordinary closed session to discuss the manipulation of intelligence on Iraq and subsequent cover-up that led to the indictments last week… Today Harry Reid said that enough is enough -- and from here on Democrats should use every tool at our disposal to demand answers and accountability.

11/2/05
John Kerry: Let’s DEMAND A Detailed Plan in Iraq
Last week John Kerry delievered a speech at Georgetown U and called for the Bush administration to bring 20,000 troops home by the holidays. Today, John Kerry sent out the following email, asking his supporters to help demand that Bush puts forward a detailed plan on Iraq: “No more shell games. No more false reports of progress. No more misleading rhetoric about ‘staying as long as it takes.’ It’s time for the American people to demand that George W. Bush put forward a clear understandable plan for achieving America’s goals in Iraq and bringing the vast majority of our troops home by the end of 2006.”

11/3/05
Lautenberg's Rhetorical Missile
Just two days after Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) forced a closed session to highlight an alleged lack of progress into a probe of pre- Iraq war intelligence, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) staged another act of political disobedience today. Lautenberg filed an amendment to change the official name of the "Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act 2005" to the "Moral Disaster of Monumental Proportion Reconciliation Act."

11/3/05
House blocks Democrats' Iraq resolution
Democrats tried unsuccessfully Thursday to force the House to take up a measure condemning Republicans for "their refusal to conduct oversight" of the Bush administration's Iraq war policy and to order investigations into it. The House voted 220-191 to set aside a resolution offered by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "I think it brings shame to the House for this Congress to be engaged in a cover-up when it comes to revealing what's happening in Iraq," Pelosi said.

11/3/05
DNC: FDA Should Stop Playing Politics with Women's Health
Yesterday, the public comment period ended on the decision to make the emergency contraception drug Plan B available for over-the-counter sale. It has been nearly two years since the FDA's advisory committee recommended that the contraceptive Plan B be available for non-prescription sales, yet the drug's approval has been bogged down in the politics of those within the agency who want to interfere with a woman's right to make decisions about her own healthcare.

11/3/05
DNC: Lame Duck Flies to the Right, Ignores Working Americans' Priorities
Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Josh Earnest today issued the following statement calling on President Bush to put his right-wing partisan agenda aside and focus on the interests of working Americans:

11/3/05
Dem senators demand Cheney 'housecleaning' (Reid, Durbin, Schumer, Stabenow)
Vice President Cheney Thursday calling for a "thorough housecleaning" in his office, RAW STORY has learned. The letter notes that senior Cheney aides named in the Libby indictment are still working -- and in fact both have been promoted.

11/3/05
Harry Reid Says: Class Warfare, Bring it On Baby
Well, I’m paraphrasing a bit there, but Harry Reid sounded like a real Democrat in his floor speech attacking the immoral piece of garbage otherwise known as the “Republican budget reconciliation bill”:

11/3/05
Kennedy: The Fraudulent Case for War
In President Bush's five years in office, his White House has too often attempted to impose its will without regard for the merits of the issues or even the truth. Dissent is labeled "unpatriotic," and critics face unprecedented retribution. The Republican Congress has become a lap-dog for the Administration in allowing partisan priorities to trump truth.

11/4/05
Kucinich defends organic food standards
But Americans should know that this bill has changed the organic food law and that big food companies have prodded Congress to change the organic food law and that this would allow the use of several synthetic ingredients in organic products and potentially weaken the organic dairy standards.

11/4/05
Sr Dems on Intel Com. Urge Completion of Investigation into Pre-War Claims (Feinstein, Rockefeller, Levin)
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) joined Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV), vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.), a fellow member on the Committee, today to urge that the panel complete its long delayed investigation into the possible misuse of intelligence to boost the case for war in Iraq.

11/4/05
TREASONGATE - DCCC video: the facts behind the Libby indictment
The DCCC has ... been engaged in some creative work following the Libby indictments. They have produced a short video that includes clips of many of the promises Republicans made to get to the bottom of the Valerie Plame leak. This piece includes the Bush Sr. declaration that the lowest form of treason is revealing a spy, the current president’s promises to fire anyone involved in the leak, and former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie affirming that this was worse than Watergate.

11/5/05
Leahy Joins Kerry’s Call for 20,000 Troops Home from Iraq by the Holidays
Senator Patrick Leahy joined Senator John Kerry’s call to bring 20,000 troops home from Iraq by the holidays, after successful December elections, at a meeting with the media today in Barre, Vermont. The two Senators who both gave speeches recently about the need to change course in Iraq called on Bush to put forward a specific plan to transfer power to the Iraqis and start bringing the troops home by 2006.

11/5/05
Wes Clark on Torture
John Amato of Crooks and Liars has an audio interview with General Clark on the subject of torture. It's very good and definitely worth listening to.

11/6/05
Mark Warner on CSPAN NOW! 8pm Eastern.
He's definitely not the most exciting candidate, however, he's very smart and he articulates his message very well. He has some great ideas and he's done great things in VA. I love the fact that he's focused on getting things done rather than partisan politics as usual.

11/6/05
2 Year Old Dem Intel Committee Memo---Interesting Read
This two year old memo circulated among Democrats on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is painted by Sean Hannity as unethical anti-Bush plotting that should be investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee. Amazing.

11/6/05
Dean, Conyers, McKinney expected at March to Gretna on Monday.
The March to Gretna, organized by the Hip Hop Caucus and UP (United Progressives) for Democracy, will commence with a rally at the New Orleans Convention Center. It is expected to attract Howard Dean, Chairman, Democratic National Committee; Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, and Congressman John Conyers."

11/6/05
John Edwards in Chicago; Will Keynote @ Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Edwards has been touring college campuses this fall to talk about poverty in America, calling poverty "the great moral issue facing America today." Edwards founded and now directs the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

11/6/05
ABC Poll: 2006 Favors the Dems in 2006

11/7/05
Obama to be on "The Daily Show" tonight
I know many people are disappointed by Obama. But, let me remind you of some of the issues he has been working on: AIDS in Africa, loose nukes, and now mortgage fraud. He is low key but very hard working. I'm glad I voted for him. oh yeah and he'll be on via satillite so that he can vote on the defense bill.

11/7/05
WES CLARK'S PAC ANNUAL MEETING

11/7/05
Democrats push prisoner abuse probe (Levin, Rockefeller, Reid)
Senate Democrats stepped up their attacks on the Bush administration's handling of the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq with calls Monday for an independent probe into the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody.

11/7/05
WP: GOP Budget Cuts Face Varied Opposition (D: "day of reckoning coming") (Emanuel)
This is going to test whether moderate Republicans are really moderate," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "There are a ton of people who will have a day of reckoning coming."

11/7/05
Democrats issue demands for Iraq intelligence probe (Reid)
Democrats on Monday demanded that the Senate interview key government officials and exercise subpoena power while examining how the Bush administration used prewar Iraq intelligence in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.

11/7/05
Three Massachusetts congressman now regret war vote (Lynch, Markey, Meehan)
Representatives Stephen Lynch, Ed Markey and Marty Meehan say knowing what they do now -- they would NOT have supported the use of force against Saddam Hussein.

11/7/05
McGovern bill to end the war. "End the War in Iraq Act of 2005"
Rep. Jim McGovern (no relation to George, in case you were wondering) (D-MA) today introduced H.R. 4232, the "End the War in Iraq Act of 2005"

11/7/05
Harkin on floor talking about right-wing dominance of Armed Forces Radio
He's introducing an amendment on it with Dorgan. In about an hour, Levin's amendment for an independent commission on indefinite detention, black sites, ghost detainees and torture. Will be voted on.

11/7/05
GEN Clark on Faux right now commenting on the war

11/7/05
Harry Reid presser on CNN on Phase II of Senate Intelligence Investigation

11/8/05
VIDEO-Clay (MO) on the Budget -OUR DEMS SPEAKING OUT

11/8/05
VIDEO-Tom Allen on the budget -YOUR DEMS SPEAKING OUT

11/8/05
VIDEO- DeLauro on the budget - DEMS FOR OUR VALUES

11/8/05
VIDEO-Neal on the Budget- DEMS POSITIVE FOR VALUES

11/8/05
VIDEO- Schwartz on the Budget

11/8/05
Senators (pushed by Dems) to set Iraq inquiry timetable (Levin, Feinstein, Rockefeller)
Levin will work out the new timetable with fellow Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, together with Sen. Pat Roberts, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and his party colleagues, Sens. Kit Bond of Missouri and Trent Lott of Mississippi.

11/8/05
VIDEO-Schakoswky on the Budget-particularly good

11/8/05
Pelosi Statement on Hastert and Frist Calling for Investigation Into Leak
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in reaction to news reports that Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Frist have called for a congressional investigation into who leaked to The Washington Post the existence of secret U.S. prisons abroad:

11/8/05
Democratic senators call on Bush to pledge he won't pardon Libby (Reid, Durbin, Schumer)
Democratic senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will call on President Bush to pledge that he will not pardon Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby if he is found guilty in connection with his role in the CIA outing case, RAW STORY has learned.

11/8/05
Pelosi: House Must Vote Today to Oppose Torture
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the need for the House to go on record strongly opposing use of torture of detainees: "President Bush declared yesterday in Panama that 'we do not torture.' In light of the President's declaration, the House must go on record today in support of writing into law the policy the President has now endorsed.

11/8/05
HARRY REID IS KICKING ASS ON TV RIGHT NOW!!!!

11/8/05
Dean says it is "our job to keep Republicans from doing more damage."
The reporter on Bloomberg just now kept on about where is the plan of the Democrats. Dean told him it was not our job right now as the minority to keep coming up with plans...that we need to "keep Republians from doing more damage."

11/8/05
Sheila Jackson-Lee kicking ass on CSPAN1

11/8/05
Kennedy on CSpan2 now re Treatment of detainees...eom

11/8/05
Wider Scope in Prewar Probe Sought (Rockefeller)
Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee want the right to interview top policymakers or speechwriters as part of the inquiry into whether the Bush administration exaggerated or misused intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), the panel's vice chairman, said yesterday.


And because someone felt that countering the claim that Democrats do nothing with a list of what they did recently was “cherrypicking” (WTF?), I have searched the site to include stupid things the Dems say and do as well:

11/4/05
Bill Nelson, Dem., joining with Kyl, Rep. to repeal the estate tax.
have no clue why. Someone in the Florida forum wrote him, and he said he wanted to help small businesses and farmers. Is he not aware that this only covers the upper echelon of our country? Here is an article about it.

11/6/05
Interesting to see who voted against his/her party on the budget bill (Landrieu, Nelson)
This is the big budget bill that included drilling in ANWR, among other things. Republicans DeWine and Coleman voted against it, in addition to Snowe and Collins. Democrats Landrieu and Nelson (Nebraska) voted for it.

11/6/05
Joe Biden(D-Deleware): "Alito filibuster seems unlikely."
Samuel Alito should get an up-or-down vote on his Supreme Court nomination, a Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday, playing down the chances of a filibuster. "My instinct is we should commit," said Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), D-Del., minimizing prospects of the Senate maneuver that would prevent final action on President Bush's choice to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

11/8/05
Senators say Alito respects Roe decision (Lieberman)
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., said Alito told him the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing abortion rights "was precedent on which people, a lot of people, relied, and had been precedent now for decades and therefore deserved great respect." Lieberman called that "encouraging," but also said the federal judge had not assured him that he would not overturn Roe.


As before, I'm sure I've missed things, but I've done my best to post what I've seen. It was also suggested on the last thread that it's only a few Democrats or always the same Democrats speaking out or taking action. I'll let you judge that for yourself. Below are the specific names mentioned in these posts (though not all posts referred to a specific Dem):

Allen
Clark
Clay
Conyers
DCCC
Dean
DeLauro
DNC
Durbin
Edwards
Emanuel
Feinstein
Harkin
Jackson-Lee
Kennedy
Kerry
Kucinich
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lynch
Markey
McGovern
McKinney
Meehan
Neal
Obama
Pelosi
Reid
Rockefeller
Schakowsky
Schumer
Schwartz
Stabenow
Warner (VA Gov)

And here's the dorks:
Biden
Landrieu
Lieberman
Nelson