Democrats: GOP selling U.S. to 'highest bidder'

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/07/dems.radio/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Under Republican control, America has been "put up for sale to the highest bidder" and its government has been transformed into an "engine of patronage, not one of responsible policy," a Democratic congresswoman said Saturday in the party's weekly radio address.

"As Americans, we have a right to expect that our government will be defined by the integrity of its office holders," said Rep. Louise Slaughter of New York. "And yet today, we are suffering the consequences of what may be the worst corruption in the history of our Congress."

Slaughter cited the case of Rep. Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader who has been indicted on criminal charges of money laundering, and that of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who resigned after pleading guilty to bribery.

She also noted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty this week to charges of bribing public officials, tax evasion and fraud.

But the problem, she said, is larger than those people -- it's "a problem rooted in the Republican establishment which has held power in our nation's capital for more than a decade."

"Since 1995, Republicans have turned our democratic government into an engine of patronage, not one of responsible policy," she said. "They have linked their party, and the business of the country, to powerful lobbyists in an unprecedented attempt to eliminate the will of the American people from the legislative process."

In the last five years, Slaughter said, the number of special-interest lobbyists in Washington has grown from 9,500 to more than 34,000. "Under Republican guidance, America has truly been put up for sale to the highest bidder," she said.

Democrats, she said "have fought for an honest and open government" and will continue to push for independent investigations of issues such as the federal response to Hurricane Katrina. Also, she said, we will fight for the rehabilitation of the ethics process in the House of Representatives."

You know the Repugs would have done so already if the tables were turned.

which I love, and be such namby-pamby assholes on air?
I thought it was all about the corporate powers; why
doesn't that apply in both instances? Why can't this
be spread far and wide?

I've been saying the same exact thing, repeatedly for the last 6 months!

They won't say it on the tube-air, but BINGO, I'll see it all over their website. In answer to you're questions, "you tell me and we'll both know!!"

I'll venture this as a kind of working hypothesis: They KNOW the intelligence and awareness of their Web audience is higher than that of their viewing audience. They know we are relatively spin-proof, therefore they can't get away with peddling the same kind of b.s. to us that they palm off on their boob-tube-only customers.

the headline).

That's what I was thinking when I saw the article.

Dap

America: GOP Cash Crop

or

GOP: Harvesting America Family by Family

or

Republican America:
New Orleans Is Just the Start

or

GOP: Herding America to the Slaughter

"we are suffering the consequences of what may be the worst corruption in the history of our Congress."

How "anyone" can defend Republicans right now is far beyond my realm of thinking.

:kick:

Very hackneyed.

America has been sold out.

The title of the Greg Palast book which is a great place for anyone to start who doubts this premise.

Why... Why if this country is being run into the ground, why with so much corruption, why don't people get off their butts and do something? (some of us do)

Are the American people just "immune" to all this corruption and just don't care? That's pretty sad.

Dap