Why is it the Democrats get so little traction from the indictment?

It seems to me that this should be hammered by every Democrat non-stop at this point with the emphasis on how Bush and Cheney were involved. I know that Reid and Dean have had some good statements but it does seem that the Bush junta has managed to contain the damage and distract with this Alioto bozo.

that's all. Consider all the "network analysts" to be administration mouthpieces and it's easy to explain why you see what you see when you turn on the idiot box.

And it may take citizens contacting their elected representatives, and letting them know that they will only invest in the campaigns of people who represent their views, to get most democrats in the House and Senate to pay attention.

There has been a thread about "Cindy versus Senator Clinton" in 2008. I hesitated to respond, but I will now. It's not that I won't vote for any democrat in the next presidential election. Of course I will. But what is more important is that I have a certain amount of time, energy, and money that I will invest in the elections. If a democrat is a bump on a log on issues like the war in Iraq and the Plame scandal, I will still almost definitely vote for them. But I'm going to donate my money to the campaign of the most outspoken candidates. I'm going to spend my time campaigning for the most outspoken opponent of the war. All of my energy will be invested in promoting the democratic message that is most important to me. And I've begun the process of telling numerous democrats in the House and Senate that they will not get another penny from me, until they come out strongly against this war.

I'll vote Democratic but my money will go to candidates who stand and fight for core principles.

Every campaign manager knows that time is money. So if I let the campaign manager know that I have, for example, $100 and 100 hours that I am going to invest in promoting anti-war candidates, the ball is in their court. Is my time and money important enough to catch their attention? I think that things like MoveOn.Org and Howard Dean showed that the grassroots can add up to power. Real power. Because it isn't just Mr. Water Man saying, "$100 & 100 hours." It is a hundred people. Maybe a thousand. Perhaps ten thousand.

We need to speak to elected officials in the language they understand. And, sad to say, only a few, like John Conyers, seem to be fluent in truth. Honesty is not the tongue of Washington, DC. Power is. And our money and time is power. We should remind them of that.

When they allowed the complete takeover of the media by Republicans
and Corporate interests, the Democratic Party signed its own death
warrant.

Did they not understand that their enemies would now completely control
"the message"?

Tesha

when they had the chance. :crazy: to miss that opportunity.

...and let the Repugnicans take over the media. They're now 25 years behind the curve and can't get a message out - even if they tried, and most of them don't - they just sit there and collect their paychecks. Money for nothing. I guess they take care of their little constituencies - their little fiefdoms - but on national issues - WHERE ARE THEY?

In a mousehole in the White House, apparently, with exception of a few who do speak up (Conyers, Dean, Reid, Kennedy, etc.)

watch infotainment unless I know in advance that Howard Dean or someone else deemed worthy is going to appear. This is probably a huge mistake on my part, causing my continuous amazement at what the rest of the world is willing to accept as fact. :shrug: Or I'm just not paying enough attention.

little about what's going on, and the right-wingers, who have confiscated the newspapers, have not given this issue the attention it deserves. Worse, they're spinning it that it's no big deal.

It's not just Alioto nor is it the fact that the Democrats can stamp their feet all they like, nobody is going to report it.

This is a very concerted effort to control the information in this country. And you know who are complicit in this fraud: Russert, Matthews, Mitchell to name a few.

On the CBS news Sunday night before 60 Minutes, CBS profiled a couple and a woman who had voted for Bush in 2004 to comment on his declining popularity. The couple announced that they didn't care about the CIA leak and they thought that, except for healthcare, Bush was "doing the best he can." They live in St. Petersburg and you gotta wonder if they'd say the same thing if Wilma had damaged their home, been without electricity for weeks, and had no ice... I'm sure that the Gulf Coast is thrilled to learn that these yahoos think that Bush did the best he could after Katrina and Rita. Oh, wait, they probably don't have access to cable yet down there....

It's also a testament to the RW propaganda machine that CBS didn't present any stories about those who may have voted for Bush in 2000 and/or 2004 who are now completely disillusioned with him.

indicated that over 50% of Americans are convinced, after Fitzgerald's presentation, that VP Cheney was involved in the plot to "smear" Wilson by exposing Plame's identity, and that the administration purposely lied to the American public to bring us to war in Iraq. That is far more impressive than a couple people saying they don't care about this.

They probably have this down pat. If they can't rig a poll to say what they want to say, then just use testimonials.

They are part of this story. Don't look for any but the most scrupulous news outlets to report it. Tim Russert wants to move on, and with good reason.

Maybe Ben Stein is correct. It is time for the working class to become the working class again, and not part of the middle class.

We certainly had a better press corp when they were just working-class joes.

How Dems seem to be held to higher standard than repubs. Clinton's Blow job had more blow back than Bushes body count..I really thought at the very least people would want to vote dem for congress just to put a few checks and balances on Bush after Iraq ...but noooo...go figure.

On the indictment thing it is a fine line I guess. We don't want to over due and look like we are just picking on the poor defenseless repubs..sigh..Also it is not a one day story that we have to beat into there heads..this is going to go on for at least 2 yrs Probably longer.

We also have a lot of ground make up ...via Rush, Hanity and ect...for what 10/20 yrs there voices have blathered unanswered. We now have AA and few others but they are just beginning. We really screwed up when we let Rush and likes go without voice to counter. Everyone I know is getting AA T shirts this xmas.

I know it's hard to believe that there could be a cult of personality surrounding George W. Bush but he's become such a central figure in their lives.

Think about it. They've spent 8 years knocking Bill Clinton even though he was the fiscal conservative they've always dreamed of. They pissed and moaned as if the country was going down the toilet despite the phenomenal success of Clinton's presidency.

Now their boy who was going to fix everything, the first MBA president, a conservative president with a conservative congress and a conservative court, is failing miserably at everything he touches.

It's all about George and beating the Democrats. It doesn't matter if every other Republican in the country goes to jail. It doesn't matter if the country goes broke. It doesn't matter how many American troops die for his lies. It's "George! George! George! RA! RA! RA!" and "In Your Face Liberals!"

It's that simple and that silly.

The only way the media will really follow this story is if it gets so big and the abuses are so obvious that Bushco can't spin them-that's what happened with Katrina. Right now, they are still so fearful of losing access, losing jobs if they don't kowtow that they've reported it and gone on to other things. Yesterday on NPR, a talking head said the reason Alito was nominated was because Bush had looked, and there were no qualified women or minorities-and this was left unchallenged. This is just an example of how Bushco has been able to get the press back on the reservation. I doubt if NPR says a thing about the indictments today or the culture of corruption. And if NPR isn't standing up to them, the MSM sure won't.

The propagandists CONTROL public broadcasting now, too.

and it can't convince corporations it would be a better voice for business than the Republicans. What is the Democratic vision for America? Floating in limbo between the rich and the rest of America, it waits for some fortuitous sequence of events that will sweep it into power so it can, so it can, so it can, well, we'll figure out what we really stand for once we're given power.

They have switched their coverage to the Alito nomination and now to the Avian flu.

Most important Democrats have made strong statements on this issue, but it seems as if the media are continuing the coverup they started in July 2003.

"If only lies could leave semen stains."

...and the Dems are spineless, weak, and ineffectual.

It's really not that hard to spin the current state of affairs into a "after two years, that's all the prosecuter can come up with?" I listened to Hannity last night (gonna start another thread on that one), and I gotta say, if I wasn't plugged into what was really going on it would be easy for his argument to just lull me back to sleep.

A key element of the spin is the unstated presumption that Fitz is basically packing up and going home. I.e., the RW spinners are treating this as if it were all over. And if it truly was, then there's not much traction to be had, frankly.

I'm hopeful for the long term, but right now the comeuppence has yet to arrive.

thoroughly thought out and coordinated. For too long, the RW has painted us as a party long on shrill but short on ideas. Last week a treasure dropped into our lap. A weeks worth of scandals with long term implications. Our people did leap out of the gate early and make appropriate observations and comments. The other side immediately jumped to the same old "all shrill no plan" defense.

Now if I was in charge I would play it this way. Use this time to organize the Dem talking points and get everyone on the same page. The RW are masterful at this. Educate the party on our new ideas for the future to be laid out at the same time our complaints about the current leadership are being aired. Let the media take the lead right now. Yes the SCOTUS nominee bumped the story yesterday, but even so the media I saw, including print is still focusing on the leak. We still have Thursday's court appearance to come. Even as they were talking about the new nominee, I heard them say more than once, that it was the WH trying to get the focus off the investigation. If you listen carefully, it is only the RW spinners who are saying it is over--kind of desperate in a way.

Anyway, the Dems saw what happened to Miers when they kept their mouth shut. They came out looking good and the administration had egg on their face. I think they are wise to let the drum roll and when it starts to fall off, pick up the beat. If they start too strong this far from the election without presenting their plan, they may turn off voters. Timing is everything. JMO.

Reid, Feingold, and Dean seem to have made strong statements, but a lot of the media ignores Dems...that's how Kerry was kept out of headlines last fall...the only time they had to cover him, during the debates, his numbers soared. They ignored him the rest of the cycle.

This isn't very different.

However, there are a lot of Democrats who are not saying anything about the leak investigation, who aren't taking advantage of the situation.

If Dems aren't willing to capitalize on this, they will not reap the benefits.

<but a lot of the media ignores Dems...>

This is not the way ideological business is done. Political moves are supposed to be part of media campaigns, not replace them as it happens with dems.

<Psst they don't control the media... Someone with money does>

$$$ are certainly important, but this is not all. Internet presence is relatively cheap, but where are dems on Internet? Where is the dem equivalent of townhall.com, etc?