My Problem With The Outbursts

The new Congress is just barely sworn in, and we're going after them? Isn't this a bit premature? Geez....give them time to get up to speed, and start dealing with things one by one. There is LOTS of SHIT to clean up, and it's not going to happen overnight.

Now if they don't produce results, and they cave to repubs, it's appropriate to go after them. But let's wait and see what they're capable of first before protesting and continuing to interrupt a press conference by one of our own.

I guess it's a touchy, no-win issue. While I see some logic in it, I think patience for the moment is more prudent.

It's not like the Democrats have been handed some sort of untrammeled power.

We're NOT going to suddenly leave Iraq. King George is still Commander In Chief. According to Barney Frank on Countdown, the last Congress already gave him a war budget for 2007, and that's in his pocket already.

Face it folks, the Dems aren't going to get us out of Iraq, no matter how much we want them to. All they can do is make George look even more like an Asshole than he already is, and hopefully destroy the repub party and it's '08 candidates in the process.

It wasn't just Republicans that approved Bush*'s money for Halliburton et al.

Never forget-this is George W. Bush's country. The people, the voters, what they want, what they vote for, has nothing to do with it. That's what the president does. That's what he says. And BOY OH MIGHTY we must listen to THAT. WE ARE FUCKED. When people face that fact then things have a chance to change. Right now, I hear whistling and it's damn dark.

I hope that people calm down and just wait and see what happens.

But I have to say that the Dems must remember why they were given control of Congress and it boils down to one issue - Iraq.

Bowing to Bush on this one is a huge mistake.

Certainly Iraq is the big "elephant" in the room, but it doesn't mean there aren't other monsters yet to deal with.

Economy, stem cells, education, judicial nominees, investigations, etc., etc., etc.....the list goes on and on and on. Give them some time.

And as I said, we're not going anywhere, and don't stop and think the Dems are suddenly going to be able to take over the presidency. Dickhead is still in power, and the executive branch now has a lot of it.

Just be patient while we hopefully destroy the repub party even further, and take back the WH in '08.

Dickhead and his asshat party already know the war is lost. There game now is to prosecute it as far as possible to force Democrats to end it. Once Democrats do finally end it, they'll simply accuse them of being "cowards". Remember the line on Vietnam. There position since the fall of Saigon was that if we had just put all our resources behind it, we could have won. It's funny to me how they will not make comparisons of Iraq to Vietnam. Certainly we're not experiencing as many deaths, but we're only 3 years in whearas Vietnam grinded on for a two decades. I'm hoping that the American public wises up to the Republican technique of intentionally killing American soldiers for the sake of political gain.

...so we have to help them find that path from the first moment. If they fail to perceive the urgency of stopping the war against Iraq, the institutional inertia will simply build further.

There's already plenty of clues that this Dem congress is .... well, clueless.

Some of us don't have enough years left to keep twiddling our thumbs...

To the path, Dems! :hi:

Bush has been Pretzeldent for 6 years ... the Dems have been in control for about 12 hours.
So who's most responsible for the domestic inaction and FUBAR'd foreign policies?
Who should we be bitching at?
Zackly.

:shrug:

They can go ahead and push through their minimum wage increases and so on and so on. Then they better get the troops out of Iraq. So that's what, four days? They better get cracking.

But they didn't, so I voted them out of office.

I think everyone is needlessly crying over unspilled milk.

It makes them seem yet more centrist.

n/t

From you! I thought you were on my cynicism team. (I miss your total despair, really you had the most biting posts on DU-though the most realistic in my eyes, one election and you are singing broadway tunes?!-LOL) Give them a chance. Oh yeah. How many more chances does Bush need? The war in Iraq need? As Mr. Barney Frank pointed out,the war is already funded! WE ARE FUCKED. It's not totally their fault, because as I have learned, we are dealing with fascists. (Cheney and Bush) You don't defeat fascists by playing their game. The war is not going to end by playing nice with Bush and these criminals. It is going to take the truth. And that I don't expect coming from many politicians.One or two. And the rest will vote as they always do, to go along to get along, to save their chances in 2008 or whatever. It's always about THEM. Not US.

And AGAIN, the Ford death funeral is a message from GOD or some higher power-we are fucked forever if we don't get rid of these criminals now. Calling it healed does NOT make is so. Nothing has changed! Another pointless WAR that the people don't WANT.
This nation needs a revolution of truth. But I expect more war,greed and bitching.

I don't expect much to get done in the next 2 years. I don't expect any bipartisanship. I DON'T expect us to leave Iraq. George is still in charge of the troops, and he's the cause of the Clusterfuck.

For those who are still confused, there are 3 branches of government. Until today, the repubs have held 2 solid branches, including both houses of congress. They also had an edge in the 3rd branch, and as evidenced by '00, seemed to have an ace in the hole when they needed one there. So effectively, they held every branch of government, and could do anything they wanted, or nothing they didn't.

Now, the Dems control one branch. That does not mean they can suddenly do things granted to the Executive branch. It means one thing. Control. Oversight. A STOP Sign on the road off the cliff. They can't necessarily turn the car around. They can't suddenly clear up the rainy skies. But they can stop the onslaught. They can try and push some of their agenda through.

They can also, if done correctly, destroy the repub regime in the process, by making them avert the will of the people. If they at least show what they intend to accomplish. If they put forth ideas and issues supported by those who gave them the big election victory, then they will be rewarded again in '08. They can only do this over time, and they can only do this by taking King george apart piece by piece.

And keep in mind, that regardless of what happens, he will always have his base. The MORONS and ASSHOLES who will continue to support him NO MATTER WHAT. They include his wife, Barney, and approx. 23% of the population. Hopefully in time we'll be able to get his approval ratings consistently below 30%, and the repubs will be in big trouble in '08 with an outgoing pres. with ratings approaching 25%. The base that would jump off a cliff for him.

Let's not forget something here. Democrats do not CONTROL the legislative branch. They have a majority in the House of Representatives that allows them to investigate the executive branch and pass bills that must also be past by the Senate. The Democrats have a razor thin majority in the Senate that only allows them to investigate the executive branch. Without 60 votes, every single piece of legislation proposed by Democrats can be fillibustered by the Republicans without ever reaching the President's.

Now I do not expect this to happen. Deals will be cut as the pork must flow. But the bills that DO make it to the president's desk will more often then not be dead on arrival. The only place I see the Democrats making real progress is attaching all their legislation to military funding bills. Then you can get into favorable public showdowns with the Republicans over starving the troops in the field. This is a tactic that they've used against us extensively over the past years. Except they always attach something EVIL to these bills. Attach a minimum wage hike to a military spending authorization and see what happens.

In the end, I think you'll see a LOT of investigations. And perhaps the only way we will see very much progressive progress is if Democrats trade hearing dirt for legislation and take their accomplishments into 2008. Otherwise, if the dirt is not bartered away, expect an impeachment.

glad you said it. :thumbsup:

May I just point out a few things:

1. There was hardly a peep when the new congress... our congress, our democratic congress have corporate lobbyists lined up even before being seated.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/22/AR2006112201940_pf.html

" Hoyer's political action committee financed his reception in a room routinely used for lobbying and other events, but Clyburn's was paid for by Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, a South Carolina-based law firm that lobbies extensively in Washington on health care and other issues and has offices in that building.

Dozens of lobbyists attended both functions and shuttled from one party to the other. "The elevators were jammed," said Gwen Mellor, a Democrat at the lobbying firm PodestaMattoon, who collected business cards that evening.

Companies' eagerness to hire Democrats began before the elections. Podesta said he had already signed up Wal-Mart and British Petroleum in anticipation of a Democratic victory. Now he is even busier fielding offers from other potential clients. "I've got a fairly full schedule of marketing meetings that are real," he said. "I did some right after the election, and I have four or five set up for next week."

Drug companies are particularly hungry for Democratic help, including the industry's trade association. "We woke up the day after the election to a new world," said Ken Johnson, spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. "We're going to have tough days ahead of us."

Maybe someone should have invited Cindy Sheehan in to hear her demands of this new Congress. They do it for corporate lobbyists, why not a representative of the Gold Star Mothers... of the people? WHY NOT?


2. Free speech issues are non-negotiable for me. The term "tactics" is being thrown around here to describe Cindy's decision to exercise her right of free speech in confronting the new congress. The right to voice your displeasure (especially your displeasure) with government is not a tactic. It is a RIGHT even if everyone thinks you are wrong.


3. Anyone that thinks our reps can't walk & chew gum at the same time are delusional. Thanks a bunch for a diluted ethics bill... but the Iraq war was a tad more on voters minds when they graciously handed the Democrats the brass ring the last election and the nation demanded a change.

For a good read on the ethics bill (by Eric J): http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3039651


4. The Democrats may not be able to do anything about about Iraq. I don't know. But I would expect them to talk to Cindy and her group and make their position clear. She deserves no less from the Democrats.

the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

When a Democrat has a press conference, let him/her speak. When he/she is finished speaking, ask questions, chant, whatever. As high on our priotity list as Iraq is, some voters also had other issues. I have faith that Democrats can deal with more than ONE issue at a time.

Wasn't ethics and corruption what the press conference was about today?


National Exit Polls -- Corruption at Top of Voters' Minds

For the first time today, we have some actual data on the composition of the national electorate.

As reported by CNN, exit polling has begun to trickle out and -- at least in partial returns -- the data suggests corruption may be a bigger issue on voters' minds than previously imagined.

Asked what issues were "extremely important" in casting their ballots, 42 percent of voters cited corruption while 40 percent said terrorism. The economy was cited by 39 percent, and 37 percent mentioned the war in Iraq, according to the CNN report.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2006/11/national_exit_polls_2nd_wave.html


Sure, chant, protest, question, whatever we have to do, AFTER they finish speaking.