Harry Reid's netroots approval rating in the Kos leadership poll plummeted from 80% following the November election to to 41% in February 2007, probably as a result of his failure to do much in the way of leadership when it came to extricating us from Iraq as well as the Fox News/Nevada debacle. One can only wonder what will happen to it now that he has chosen Joe Lieberman to preen around on behalf of the Senate Democrats (of which Joe is not one) in "support of the troops," legitimizing himself and Senate support for escalation all in one fell swoop.
Forgive me if I'm a bit slow here, but the GOP worked mighty hard to get Lieberman back in the Senate. And now we're supposed to believe that Reid, Schumer et. al. are being led around by the nose because Joe might jump ship and they might lose the majority, and the committee chairs with it? Except Lieberman would never jump ship, and even if he did, they wouldn't lose the committee chairs.
Digby :
You'll have to excuse me if I'm too cynical here, but I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that Harry Reid and Chuck Shumer aren't aware of all this. Which means that all this tip-toeing around Joe Lieberman is a very fancy kabuki dance. Which also means we really have to question whether they mean to pass any legislation at all.
I don't know how you can read this any other way. We pesky anti-Iraq war liberals are happy to blame him for everything and so we aren't looking at this closely enough. And Lieberman is likely very happy to play the independent maverick and doesn't mind being the Democratic Martyr of Iraq.
But I have to say that I'm just a teensy bit disappointed in the Democrats. This is a war we're talking about not some tax cut legislation. They don't have to do anything that unctuous creep tells them to do. He is holding nothing over their heads and yet everyone is pretending that they are worried about appeasing Old Joe and so they can't actually get anything done on Iraq. You can't help but wonder if Lieberman and the Senate Dems aren't working the same side after all.
Is there anyone in the Senate who isn't hiding behind Lieberman? I realize he's a great magnet for netroots hostility, but it doesn't seem to be leaving Reid exactly untouched. Kos:
Harry Reid's tacit support for the Fox News-sponsored debate in Nevada seemed hard to beat.
But apparently this is his "fuck Democrats" week, because the Senate had dibs on choosing the deliverer of the "Weekly Democratic Radio Address", and guess who got it?
Non-Democrat Joe Lieberman.
On the positive side, Matt Stoller has more on the movement afoot by the Progressive Caucus will "push for withdrawal when the next bill on Iraq War funding comes to the House floor." And that's a good thing, because I just don't see any kind of leadership emerging on this front from the constellation of interests represented by Schumer, Reid, the GOP and CFL/Lieberman that seem designed to keep us mired in Iraq (Iran?) forever.
Related posts:
- Schumer Raises the Stakes: If Final Bill Has No Public Option, Blame Harry Reid
- Hey, Harry Reid, Stop Protecting Democrats Who Want to Filibuster the Public Option
- Sunday Late Night: Your NN2010 Host, Harry Reid
- FDL Action Launches 40,000 Call Phone Bank to Nevada Democrats Targeting Harry Reid and the Public Option
- Harry Reid Punk’d by Tom Coburn: AK-47s Now Welcome in Yosemite
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just got home !
bam !
Jane!
I e-mailed Reid today and told him to either lead or turn the gavel over to someone who will lead. It’s been running around in my mind for a couple or three days, but letting JoeL (CfL-CT) do the Democratic response set off the explosion. Also told him that JoeL stopped being a Democrat last August, and (greatly paraphrased) he isn’t worth the powder and shot it would take to blow him away. [minders: that’s an old, old phrase]
And, as usual, ended it with ‘Troops Home Now!’ (If they see it enough, they might get the idea.)
The major parties are two heads on the same beast. Or, to use a different analogy, they play good cop bad cop with the voters but when all is said and left undone, they’re both still cops.
My comment at Reid’s blog:
Disappointed doesn’t even come close. I personally feel betrayed by the Senate Democrats.
Schumer is on my s**t list and I will be actively supporting anyone who wants to oppose him.
Seriously, they need to go come next election. Enough of this crap.
*Edited for spelling error.
Nice Joe You’ve Got There, Harry
Be a shame if somethin’ was ta… happen to him.
Just when I thought I could not be more disappointed in Senator Reid, well, I am.
kml @
7
I haven’t been a Schumer fan for a while, but ever since the DSCC backed Lieberman, I’ve been wanting his ass *gone*. NY is too blue a state to have two DLC senators.
MY version of punaise’s eloquence.
I HATE THAT SON OF A BITCH!
and Reid really really pisses me off.
Thanks, Egregious, got you bookmarked.
whu? everyone thinks because the trial’s in recess, there’s nothing going on?!
Does Sen. Reid think, if he just looks the other way, Lieberman will go away, or behave?
It’s obvious by now that L for L is just that, no other agenda for country, troops, [presumed constituents whomever they be] or whatever.
Democratic leadership needs to come down HARD on this turncoat, not enable him! And any time he shows up in public, he ought to be questioned in depth, at length, about just what the bloomin’ heck his personal agenda is, other than pumping up his own self-image. He seems to be doing absolutely nothing else.
imho, of course…
punaise @ 6
I take it that your contempt is still flourishing?
I can not understand why there is such difficulty inside the Beltway and within traditional media with being able to understand the fact that Leiberman is not a Democrat.
Not a Lieberman fan, but it will be interesting to see what he has to say. I understand it will be on military health care issues, is this correct?
I wonder who fuck he (Reid) thinks he represents?
The 4% of America who votes D but supports Joe L?
So, when can we officially stop saying that this is all part of Reid’s Grand Master Plan, that he’s just somehow lulling the Republicans off guard so he can stick in the knife?
If I had any artistic skills whatsoever, I would draw a cartoon of the Democrats suffocating under that mountain of powder that they’ve been keeping dry all these years.
punaise, did you happen to mention your contempt for JoeLiar?
Jane,
Glad you are pursuing this. We gave Reid the chance he deserved. He’s blown it. He’s going to be the majority leader until after the next election, though. His assignment of HoJo to the weekly radio address is the biggest slap in the face of the US House taken by a Senate majority leader in quite a while. The House is proposing many progressive items which also have to go through the Senate to be presented to the president. Reid is signaling to the House that 2006 meant as little as HoJo and the Dinos would like it to be.
It’s clear, I think, what Joe got from Reid, but did Reid get anything of value from Joe? I think Reid is not all that he could be, but before I join the bash Harry bandwagon I need to see what happens next.
EPU’d from previous thread, but I hope worth the read:
Mad Dogs @ 161
Ed*ard Teller @ 20
Of the 12 Dems up for re-election next year, how many of them are in the Money Caucus, and how many seats does the People Caucus need to pick up for a majority within the majority? I guess it would be too much to hope for to pick off more than one or two Money Caucus members in the primaries…
Jane,
If they let cameras into the media room after the verdict, I suggest you have someone take a photo of the FDL desk because at some point in the future someone is going to want to place a brass plaque at the place where a new form of journalism came of age.
Thank you.
We really have to pay attention … not just to this latest insult to the voters’ wishes but to the underlying problems that keep the money party in power … even if they wear different colored ties.
EPU’d from two threads back, where I arrived late for the party:
What I want to know is what the Judiciary’s subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Rights is doing. So I went to their website and here’s what they’re doing:
Excuse me? These issues are important, but what about, just for starters,
“George W. Bush versus the U.S. Constitution: The Downing Street Memos and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Cover-ups in the Iraq War and Illegal Domestic Spying,” by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff, a book that not only collects the evidence but also tells us what Congressman John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, was thinking (the full text, minus a new introduction by Joseph Wilson, is available here) only last year.
Information from the website continues,
The next hearing:
3/7/2007 Hearing: “Protecting the Right to Vote: Election Deception and Irregularities in Recent Federal Elections”
That, too, is an important issue, but this should be one of the busiest and most active subcommittees in all of congress. Why isn’t it?
Conyers could change this any day if he wanted to. So why isn’t he doing his sworn duty to protect the Constitution? He professed worry on Democracy Now a week or so ago that if Congress got into impeachment, they wouldn’t be able to get any other important work done. Well, excuse me, but what is more important than defending the Constitution, which he is sworn to do?
If any of these congresspersons represent your district, please write to them and let them know that you care.
Bob in HI
Just a wee bit upset
Who is it that says their contempt for Liebermann knows no bounds? I am starting to feel that same contempt for the Democrats who allow him to prattle on…and on…and on.
Why in the world would Harry Reid allow Liebermann to speak for Democrats? He is no Democrat. Harry needs some edumacation, right quick.
Siun @ 25
never looked at the ties. maybe I should…
So firepups, are we motivated enough to grease the squeaky wheels?
Fire up the fax machines people, we have got a job to do. The Blue community has taken notice and the response will be swift and concise.
No fax machine? Go to Efax.com and take the free month trial.
Reid and Schumer need a much clearer picture of where America needs to go, let’s draw it for them.
On another note. I called Conyers office on Friday. The staffer (who was very upbeat and righteous sounding) said to expect some Judiciary action regading the sworn testimony in the Plame Trial.
Fireworks in March. Let the show begin.
what is the link to Reid’s blog?
ET – you’ve always been looking at the heart of darkness behind those suits!
Text of Lieberman address. Could have been delivered by Bush:
Good morning. I’m Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut with a message about improving care for America’s military heroes – our wounded troops who have served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recent reports in the Washington Post have uncovered completely unacceptable living conditions and inadequate services that some of our wounded warriors have been forced to endure at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. While it is clear that our soldiers do receive the best state of the art battlefield and in-patient medical treatment for their injuries, that high quality care has not extended to their out-patient treatment and recovery. For instance, soldiers with brain injuries have gone weeks without being able to get doctors appointments. There is not enough staff with the right skills to treat and care for the severely injured troops. And rooms where some soldiers lived were found to be moldy and infested with rodents. Our nation has no greater moral and patriotic responsibility than to ensure that these brave Americans receive first class treatment — not only immediately after their injuries, but for their entire lives, through the Veterans Administration. The White House and Congress have an urgent obligation now to fix the neglect at Walter Reed and the longer term issues that affect our wounded veterans. That means we must act immediately to bring the buildings there up to standard so that they are safe, clean, and comfortable. We must make sure enough of the right health care professionals are there to treat our service members. We also must remove the bureaucratic red tape that overburdens our troops and their loved ones when they are most vulnerable. No injured soldier should have to spend a year waiting at Walter Reed to find out whether he or she will be reassigned to new duties or discharged from the Army as disabled. It is our responsibility to take care of our service members not only when they are serving our country, but for their entire lives. It is outrageous that veterans are waiting months and months to see the doctors they need. It is unacceptable that service members and veterans suffering from mental illness are not receiving the proper care. We know what the needs of our returning troops and veterans will be and we must build a life-long treatment system that serves their needs fully. Now, the President and Congress must hold the Pentagon and Army chain of command accountable for the neglect of our soldiers at Walter Reed; and together, we must prevent this from ever happening again. We can all agree that taking care of our military veterans is one of America’s greatest responsibilities. We are and must continue to be united as a country to ensure that our heroes – those who have served us – receive the care that they deserve. This is no less than our moral imperative. I’m Senator Joe Lieberman. Thank you for listening.
punaise @
6
Excellent!
Jane, I would venture to speculate that another reason for all that continued Lieberman luvvin’ is the very simple fact that Joe4Joe is mucho tight with the money centers of power.
It certainly ain’t because of his movie-star good looks nor his adherence to Democratic Party principles.
Follow the money and one will find Joe4Joe as entree to the Money-merchants.
And nothin’ satifies politicos more than money. Not sex, not good food and drink, not even publicity. Nope, money tis a politico’s BFF!
Nice! But I hope they don’t screw up anything Fitz has going forward.
bg @
30
gotta dash, but if you do a search for “TeddySanFran” in last night’s Late Night you will find it.
Mad Dogs @ 34
I’ve been suggesting that it’s due to his prodigious sexual magnetism, but no-one ever takes me seriously.
Gromit @ 32
That speech has Rove and Snow’s fingerprints all over it.
bg @
19
oh, bleakly…
My contempt for LIEberman knows no bounds and is quickly being joined by my contempt for all the democrats elected to congress save for the Progressive Caucus.
God, do we have a lot of work to do.
I’m just as pissed off and frustrated by Reid as anyone here, but I can’t help wonder if the Senate’s collegial structure isn’t at play here. It is, after all, what contributed greatly to letting John Ashcroft become Attorney General even though he seems to lack even basic knowledge of law.
No doubt Lieberman plays the schmooze game as well as anyone, and considering what a slimy politician he is I’m sure he’s insinuated himself into being “friends” with many Senators. I could see where Reid and others would be blinded into thinking Lieberman’s not hated by everyone in the real world.
This still doesn’t excuse Reid’s actions, he is becoming very disappointing. Washington, D.C., is such a poisonous and out-of-touch place.
RevDeb @ 40
(Emphasis added)
That’s why we went to seminary, right?
Bedtime reading:
It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis. After that Joe Conason’s It Can Happen Here. Not only can it, it is happening here. Books are calling . . . . .night all.
Peterr @ 42
I went to seminary to gain the skills to serve a church. I’m finding that in this world as it is today a whole new skill set is needed. We’ve go a lot of “praying with our feet” to do!
Thanks, Gromit, (how about a bit of Stilton, I’m feeling a little peckish, heh) for posting the Lieberman address.
Taken by itself, with no context, I see nothing to disagree with in what he said. But.
It is, of course, what is left unsaid that most here will find difficult.
RevDeb @ 44
“Serving a church” does indeed require a whole new set of skills. Glad to be walking along side you as we “pray with our feet.”
Joe Lieberman may be a complete ass but the Democratic leadership will never get their own shill-asses behind anyone else without good poll numbers. We need to push for Obama, with ground roots support.
You know … I am just tired of all the ways we try to find ways to excuse them gosh, Reid is really being strategic, or gee, they’re friends after all or … bs. I’ve just finished my weekly post for Today In Iraq (http://www.dailywarnewsblog.com) and there is no excuse, none, for what is happening there …
Eli @ 37
I do, but then I’m sittin’ in the cheap seats. *g*
jeffreyw @ 45
You mean like pointing out that this is utterly typical of the way the Bush administration runs the government, and doesn’t give a shit about our troops?
puppethead @ 41
Now that at least 65% of the country has turned against the war, how could anyone possibly believe a Senator whois NOT a democrat and is still gung ho for it would be well received by said majority. These bastards don’t give a rats ass what the American people say. Poisonous, and out of touch is a VERY diplomatic way to put it.
Actually I think this is good. The fact is that the leadership in the Senate are weasles. The job of taking over the Democratic Party is far from complete although we have made a beachhead. It is the next election cycle that we have an opportunity to make some real progress. This interim time period is best looked at as a time to identify the enemy within. It’s becoming increasingly obvious. The battle lines are being drawn. I like our chances. But make no mistake and don’t pretend to be surprised. The biggest fight ahead of us now is internal. Nationally, the Republicans have been discredited in this cycle. The struggle is for the soul of the Democratic Party.
tbsa @ 51
“Suicidal” comes to mind.
What if Senator Sanders (I-VT) decided to no longer caucus with the Democrats? Wouldn’t that pull the rug out from under JoeLie and finally force the Democrats to take a stance.
Senator Reid is still playing congress as if the Democrats are the minority party. He plays it because it’s a role which is comfortable to him. He’s lazy, and lacks vision!
The struggle is for the soul of the Democratic Party.
SW makes a very good point.
Teresa 1958 @ 47
Sorry, but all signs are pointing to Obama’s being one of the members of the club. I am FAR from being sold on him. Light years far.
Mad Dogs @ 22
Tell me more.
Whether Joe stays or goes … and whether Bernie stays or goes … the Dems retain control of committees. It would take a new organizing resolution to change that and they have the votes to block that.
Yep
Eli @ 53
Exactly, sadly. This whole thing is just killing my brain. There’s a revolution going on and the people in charge seem to have no freakin’ clue.
Not that this is a new thing or anything, but I was trying to have some hope, y’know?
mod note … watch for zigs please … just a warning so we don’t break the margins.
Thanks!
Sound off to Harry Reid at his Community Blog, where I’ve diaried WHY???
Comments welcome.
Siun@48 – great blog. It is truly awful what is happening. Feels pathetic to be sitting here typing
puppethead @
41
You have have a point about collegiality being a factor — particularly when senators serve for too long. The excuse I got from Levin about his remaining neutral on Lamont after Lamont won CT’s primary was that Liebermuncher was a long-time friend of his.
And my response is this: Senator, your friendship has interfered with your job performance. You’d be fired in the corporate world for less.
Collegiality my *ss. They aren’t paid to be friends. They are paid to represent us, we, the people.
Maybe he’s being blackmailed. All the illegal wiretapping could be used to keep lots of folks, Repubicans & Democrats, in line.
Siun @ 62
Siun, I keep forgetting – is it 4 nested comments that is the margin buster?
RevDeb@74 – Respectfully can’t agree with you at all and there is no evidence whatsoever that Obama is anyone but his own man, as much as any man running for president can be.
WE NEED A SECOND POLITICAL PARTY!
Mad Dogs … first off, be careful about the comments about tree hugging, etc … folks like Marcy just recently lobbied congress as part of the big Move On project.
Lobbyists are very expensive people and our blogs do not even afford to pay the bloggers … K Street costs which is why the big money crew have the big lobbyists.
Better yet – let’s make sure we use all the means we have to destroy the hold of the lobbyists and return to rule of the people.
Latest FaBlog: AdNags — “Get Me Rewrite!”
Suzanne .. I’m never sure … let’s say 4 to be safe … less to be safer.
(that’s what we get for letting Lurking Mod have a night off!)
For what it worth the only people who listen to the radio address are the press and new junkies. This is as good as dead air.
Making all campaigns publicly financed would be a mighty fine start.
As has come up before several times, if Joe Lieberman switches parties–nothing happens. Harry Reid is still Majority Leader. It is not like the situation with Jeffords.
However, the GOP Lieberman could try to pass an organizing resolution. One might think that they would have a tough time actually getting that resolution to the floor for a vote.
I called Kennedy’s office and asked them about this. The staffer, who was not super sure about it, said he thought that resolution could not be filibustered. I find that hard to believe. And more importantly, he said Dems wouldn’t likely filibuster even if they could.
I tried these out on him as arguments his caucus might use to filibuster: “Over 70 million Americans went to the polls this last November and voted to put our party in charge–we can’t let them all be held hostage by Joe Lieberman’s breaking of his promise”; or “Joe Lieberman promised his voters he would caucus with us, and we intend to protect those citizens of Connecticut, who have no other way to recall him.”
He said, “I see your point.”
Sigh.
Suzanne @ 56
Welcome to the fight. Deaniacs have been at this since 2003; their first victory was placing a real activist in the DNC instead of another lobbying whore as chair. The second victory was becoming a viable machine through grassroots candidates like Ned Lamont. The third victory was the initial successes of the 50-State Strategy.
But we are only now entering the next phase, wherein we find, recruit, groom and fund primary candidates to contest these wretchedly entrenched old-schoolers in Washington.
This is a movement, consisting of many skirmishes, battles, lengthy wars, lasting what may be generations, until the conservative movement and its corollary corporatist movement that infests the Democratic Party are completely removed as political entities with any real clout. The dismissal of the USA’s should make it clear that we are up against an opposition that is willing to burn down its entire house to continue the radicalization of every branch of government.
Each of us must be prepared to make small sacrifices, small investments in the process; it may have been letters to the editor last year, but this year we need Meetups and money along with those letters, and next year we need all that plus doorknocking and phonecalls if we are to win the soul of the Democratic Party and take back our country.
chady @ 66
ding !!
Teresa 1958 @ 68
My big complaint about Senator Obama is that, as far as I am concerned, we don’t know what he really stands for, if indeed he stands for anything. He’s an incredible orator, but, to me, his words sound empty.
- Liss, The Poster Formerly Known as DreamingCrow (TPFKAD)
Or just select, copy, and quote the gist of the posts.
Organic George @ 73
Good point. While the symbolism of having turncoat Joe deliver the Democratic response is like a poke in the eye of the activists with a pointy stick, maybe it’s a way to stroke Lieberman’s ego in a low-impact way and give Reid some more power over him.
Here I am sort of defending Reid some more, which isn’t really what I want to do. But anyone who’s read Shakespeare (except Dubya) or Machiavelli knows what kind of machinations can be necessary in the corridors of power.
TeddySanFran @ 77
Right on. Aftearll, it’s not like the gov’t will be spying on average americans – the cost would be astronomical. However, spying on 200 or 500 congress critters and insiders may be nice.
Nothing like having your opposition meet in dark alleys to discuss affairs to make them TRUELY feel like outsiders…
Siun @ 70
Lobbying does not cost big bucks. If you organize the readers at FDL to go the the hill, make your appointments ahead of time, then thousands of people can call on congress. It’s better that marching in the street.
This is how lobbying is supposed to work. The blogging community has to move to the next level.
Esperanza@78 – With all due respect I think that we have gone so long hearing empty words that we are unable to imagine them spoken with sincerity and meaning. Like the boy who cried wolf, he’s here. Obama.
Good advice Jeffreyw!
On Obama – see reports of his speech to AIPAC last night:
Obama on Iran, Iraq and Israel
SW @ 52
The struggle is for the soul of the Democratic Party.
How many sold theirs to SAIC? It’s turn-over rate is astonishing. It’s revolving door so endless it could be a power source in itself.. if you read Vanity Fair March issue you know exactly what I mean. The read is LONG… worth printing and taking with you while you sit on a plane, a train or a toilet.
http://www.vanityfair.com/poli…..ency200703
Side note: my head still hurts from reading it.. and I thought the jury note with the double negative was an ouch factor.. that was a cake-walk compared.
Howard Dean better understand I will be monitoring this webpage closely over the next few days. If RGJoe’s radio address appears at the DNC, I am cashing out my Democracy Bond.
Reid is a putz. After Lamont beat Lieberman in the CT Democratic primary Reid should have used his authority to rally the Democrats in the Senate around Lamont their actual nominee. But instead they sat on their hands and let Rove and Lieberman work together to pull off a win. And then the bastards welcomed Lieberman back to the Senate with a standing ovation.
Oy.
Teresa 1958 @ 83
Have you read either of his books. Might give you more of a feeling for who the man really is. He makes some surprising revalations. It’s not fair to paint everyone with the same broad stroke.
Teddy … I’ve been very happy to have a monthly payment to our Blue America PAC set up … means I know who will control the donations and esp that none of it will go to folks like Lieberman!
tbsa@88 – I have read his books and support him wholeheartedly. One of the first genuinely good men to run for office in a very long time.
Terry Olson @ 58
During the Repug’s reign of power in Congress, it came to be quite well known that Lobbyists were welcomed and happily ensconced in the Committee Rooms and Legislators’ offices doing the actual writing of the legislation.
The Repug K Street
banditslobbyists were extremely effective in delivering for their clients.As much as one of an ethical mind and progressive principles can find a repugnance in the Repug’s results, I do not find an aversion to the method.
Numerous Netroots blogs like Firedoglake, DailyKos, Huffington’s Post have raised enormous sums of money to bootstrap progressive candidates’ campaigns.
It is not much of a jump from raising money for political campaigns to creating and funding full-time, effective lobbying representation.
It probably does suffer in the “image business” compared to funding a political candidate, but a permanent, full-time and effective lobbying organization can deliver dramatic results.
I don’t personally have all the solutions on how to make this come about, but I do indeed believe that the Netroots must take this next step in the political process if we want stuff to happen in the halls of Congress.
Gettin’ folks elected ain’t enough! Not while the real business of writing laws, appropriating funds, and just general all-around direction of the runnin’ of the government is actually being done by lobbyists in power suits and power ties.
No sense attending the Prom if you ain’t gonna dance!
BTW and OT — just got in from watching a bad red moon rising, but it turned yellow and white soon after. Did any East Coasters grab a look at the eclipse tonite?
Didja see the bathroom on the right?
TeddySanFran@92 – saw it in Chicago earlier and it was beautiful. Binaculars helped.
Gromit @ 32
Xuse me, LIEbermann, if you feel so passionately about these soldiers’ plights, why do you insist on sending more and more?
the moon has not risen above the redwoods here yet, Teddy.
mod note – remember to close tags friends!
Redwoods, wow. But can they hold a candle to the Aspens??
If Loserman cared about the troops he’d be all about bringing them home, now!
Just a question: If our troops were to leave Iraq, what would happen there?
CancerCures @ 100
Pretty much what’s already happening now…
punaise @ 39
Okay, you two. My contempt must be equal. Plus a dash of “He’s too ugly to look at.” Makes me ill.
There is no mystery as to why the Democratic Leadership are treating that scumbag senator named Joe Lieberman as a spokesperson of the party. All of them are owned by AIPAC. We have the best politicians that money can buy. They don’t give a shit about the progressive community.
CancerCures @ 100
Uh, the Iraqi’s would be forced to defend their own government and protect their democracy. We went there to find the non existent WMD’s and to get rid of saddam. Check and check.
Organic George: Actually, FDL has lobbied in many ways including delivering books to all members, rubber stamps, etc. plus we’ve done some great work with mass faxing and calling on reps in their local offices. We need to keep at it …
I was actually responding more to MadDogs idea that we need to hire well suited pro lobbyists.
Just a question: If our troops were to leave Iraq, what would happen there?
Same thing happening there now – factions fighting over control but the fear is that the violence will increase significantly.
CancerCures @ 100
Iran, Turkey, and the Saudis would move to protect their interests.
Here’s my note to the DNC today:
Does anyone notice that we become more “frank” as the evening wears on. Thinking re: #102
If politics makes strange bedfellows, maybe throwing Joe a bone may make some sense? I have no use for the SOB but horse trading is horse trading.
CancerCures … we have effectively destroyed every single civil and infrastructure capability in Iraq. We have also very carefully and very effectively set off sectarian violence which was not … repeat … was not an issue in the past. The outcome now – if all US troops leave – will be pretty awful … but not as bad as the next few months will be. The surge is not diminishing violence, simpling displacing it .. and American troops add to the violence daily.
We’ve broken it so bad, there is no good outcome – but there is a chance to stop making it worse.
Informational question.
What would happen to the committee chairs if Lieberman declared that he is now a Republican?
SW @
52
Dare I say that the 2008 Congressional election might be a higher priority right now for early organizing efforts than the Presidential one?
Siun @ 70
That comment in particular was an attempt to portray what Repugs think of us, not what we think of ourselves. Sorry that it didn’t make it across that way!
That it is agreed that it is hard to do, does not negate the value, and perhaps critical need to do it.
Just because the big money boys and girls can afford to play in the sandbox doesn’t negate the very real fact that this is a power center, and we ain’t playin’ here.
I’m not suggesting that Jane or Markos dig into their pocketbooks and personally fund a lobbying organization.
I am suggesting that a lobbying organization is a powerful critter and has an ROI far in excess of its cost.
How to make it happen is just details…*g*
On this point, we’ll have to agree to disagree :-)
IMHO, Lobbying ain’t ever going away. Whether one calls it “influence-peddling” or any other perjorative, a recognition of how political business is done, and has been done since the dawn of mankind, is a must.
There is no fixed “cause and effect” relationship between between lobbying and unethical behavior.
Again, tools are tools. They can be made to do bad things or build good things. We ignore the use of tools at our own peril and to our own detriment.
DeanOR @ 111
Absolutely nothing, as I understand it.
DeanOR …
several comments up above answer in detail but the quick answer is nothing .. it would take a new organizing resolution to change committee chairs and there are not the votes to pass one.
Joe can go, we retain control.
DeanOR @ 111
Nada, from what I understand.
Thanks Eli, I hope that’s right. Whew!
Siun @
97
What does “close tags” mean?
Bob in HI
I heard discussion about Obama and all the times in the Illinois Senate that he voted present on all sorts of interesting bills including some that were otherwise nearly unanamous. Sounded like CYA ahead of time so as not to have a record. I am not impressed.
TeddySanFran @ 92
I did see it, beautiful and strange.
Mad Dogs …
I’d like to see us revive the idea of regular visits to our local offices … and putting as much pressure on each day as we can.
Lots of ways to spend money we can raise … the question is .. do we buy lobbyists or new representatives?
DeanOR @ 117
The Democrats are apparently unwilling to find out for sure.
Siun @ 104
I am aware of the books and stamps but high priced K st types are not what we need. We need to raise the profile of the blogging community. What FDL did at the Libby trial was excellent, but we need the commenter’s and lurkers to show up on the hill to let the congress see that we bathe and hold jobs and can speak coherent sentences.
The Organic community had to over come the “hippy in the field” image, now we are welcomed on the hill.
It’s the same for the blogging community. Show up once a year in suits and ties and let them poke sticks at us. Once we become a reality in their minds attitudes will change.
Lieberman makes subtle threats to jump ship. I say to Reid, give him the PUSH.
Siun @ 105
We do. But first we need to find a way to pay for them. Before that we need to find a way to pay all of you.
As per usual, the really good people hold bakesales to accomplish the really good stuff.
Sigh.
Bob … If you use one of the special tools in your comment (B for Bold, etc or add a link) – you have to also “close the tag” (there’s a button for that in the icon bar above the comment box) or your while comment will become bold or a link, etc.
What we actually need is the end of political parties, as we know them. We, the People are trapped within – yet kept at arm’s-length from (thanks in large part to political campaigns conducted via exhorbitantly expensive corporate television advertising) – the Two-Party-System that has now been cast in political stone in every state, and has been holding all federal power without challenge for far too long. [Especially now that our economy, thanks to our federal government and its Two-Party-System, WWII, and the Cold War, has been converted into an enormous industrial, private-profit-making war machine funded by taxpayers.]
The awful irony is that the “polarization” and the “petty political bickering” that the status quo merchants harp about and preach against, in their every waking moment efforts to maintain the corporate-profit-at-public-expense status quo, is defined and propagated by that very Two-Party-System that they help enforce. The people of this country, by and large (many bloggers excepted), repudiate political party membership except when forced to join in order to cast their vote. Fewer and fewer people want anything to do with that voluntary stereotyping and self-labeling that accompanies membership in the Two-Party-System.
Thus, for the voice and will of the people, rather than corporate money and self-anointed elites, to become the driving force again in our Congress, and therefore in our federal government, somehow a way must be found to end the Two-Party-System, using the inadequate and defective tools we have on hand. And the whole point of the exercise is not to simply make one entrenched major political party or the other the dominant voice in the Congress and Presidency, but instead to make the United States Congress represent the people again, as a co-equal branch of government, exercising all its Constitutional powers as a fully independent branch of government.
The Two-Party-System permits and encourages the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch to effectively merge, as was done under the Republican Party of the last six-plus years, thereby eviscerating the vital checks and balances that were carefully established by our Founders. That was a nightmare scenario for the authors of our Constitution, but it has come to pass in our time. We have to take our Congress back for We, the People, in order to take our country back.
Then the likes of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would never dare proclaim that a request from the people originating in their branch of government, is something the American people would disapprove of and encourage him to ignore [as Gonzales has just brazenly declared about a letter from the House asking him questions about his purge of USAttorneys]. It would be crystal clear that when a Member of Congress speaks, the American people are doing the talking.
No more pushing string, in a vain attempt to influence the likes of the corrupt Harry Reid. I’m with Matt Stoller, though – I’m at a loss as to how to do it, how to force the issue from our position of dispersed and unharnessed ‘people power,’ beyond in-their-face occupation of the well-appointed Capitol and Congressional offices, where our “representatives” would at least unavoidably see and sense our wrath, as they continued about the business of their corporate and foreign lobby sponsors and protectors.
OT
Cnn had the Coultergeist kerfuffle on. They even aired her little speech. Word for Word. I think there will be plenty of conservatives who will be shocked at their spokesmodel.
ReneND @ 129
shouldn’t she be called spooksmodel?
ReneND @ 128
I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m expecting something more along the lines of a 50s sitcom parent’s head-shake and rueful chuckle, “Oh, that Ann, whatever will she say next?”
UptownNYChick @ 129
No, I think spokesmodel is fine – she *is* kinda built like a bicycle.
Eli @ 132
i experienced a close encounter with her this summer, she is not human. I continue to be spooked by her.
Eli @ 131
Oh I don’t know. Most of my “friends” are republican and I believe they will blanch when I pointedly repeat her words back to them.
I’m gonna posit a little idea I’ve been having lately. Back in one of the Reagan years IIRC, I happened to spend a day on Capitol Hill an sat in on a hearing by one of the committees that focused on nuclear non-proliferation issues. An administration bureaucrat was testifying that we needed to let US companies sell “dual use” hardware to some unfriendly regime (can’t remember which it was but I think it was either Iraq or Iran) because if we didn’t do it, some other country (I think it was France) would do it anyway.
A freshman senator named Olympia Snowe (whom I had never heard of) impressed me by seeming to be the smartest person in the room who had the most detailed info at hand. As I recall, she made the point that if we didn’t show some restraint, we’d have no moral authority to argue for other countries to show such restraint – and that while we can’t stop the French (or whomever) from selling the technology, they at least need to feel that they may have to pay a price if they need a favor from us at some point in the future.
So although Senator Snowe has been a Bush enabler these last six years, I think I’d trade her for Joe Lieberman even up.
So … here’s the question in my mind:
What are we going to do this weekend or in the coming week to express our displeasure and to push for some meaningful action on Iraq?
Who’s got an idea?
When Howard Dean said “I want my country back,” that sounded real good. But I think we figured out sometime during the 2006 primary season that first we’re going to have to take our party back.
What’s the next move in the Iraq war debate? I mean in the House… the Senate seems determined to dance the procedural dance game until November 2008.
DEMS:
1.No impeachment even though Cheney made a fraudulent case to Congress.
2.For fear of political consequences, no NO VOTE on war appropriations.
So what will it be Dems? Nancy and Reid have both made stopping the Iraq War their top priority. So what will it be Dems?
Do you realize they’ve spent 3.2 TRILLION American taxpayer dollars on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002. 3.2 TRILLION and its all borrowed.
awesome post pow wow.
My email to Reid pointed out to him that Lieberman was totally inappropriate to speak on the Walter Reed problems even if he was a Democrat given just yesterday he voiced support for Gen. Kiley running the place … fortunately Gates knew better …
(from thinkprogress)
This morning on his radio show, Don Imus questioned Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) about his reaction to the conditions at Walter Reed, saying, “If you’re somebody who thought the war was such a wonderful idea, as you did, and continues to support this idiotic exercise…[you] have a special responsibility to know what the hell has happened to these kids.” Lieberman responded, “We all ought to be doing mea culpas. ”
“Lieberman also claimed the replacement of Maj. Gen. George Weightman with Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley at Walter Reed was “a good first step.” Imus responded, “It’s an absurd first step. [Weightman] didn’t have anything to do with this. He’s been in charge — that’s a big scapegoat deal and you know that.”
Siun @
127
Thanks!
Looks to me like we’re given two ways to close tags– if I open a tag by clicking on a button, say B, then type, I notice that the button changes to B*, and if I click on that, the tag is then closed. Or I can just highlight the whole sequence that I want bolded (or whatever), and then click on the tag, WordPress will close the tag, of course.
I guess “close tags” would be a handy way at the end of a post to close all dangling tags one might have forgotten?
Of course, that’s why Preview is our friend…
If you don’t mind, what is “S”, and what is “CODE”?
Thanks,
Bob in HI
Siun @ 136
Are there any Lieberman campaign artifacts left in Connecticut? I mean like buttons, unused bumperstickers, signs, whatnot — wouldn’t it be awesome to inundate Harry Reid’s office with some of these things? I mean, a ton of CFL buttons showing up might drive him crazy.
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002. 3.2 TRILLION and its all borrowed.
Too bad that didn’t fit on a bumpersticker. I don’t think most folks have even heard that statement. Just let that sink in.
Eli @
37
Gag me.
LindaR @ 142
Let’s send the button of Bush tongue kissing Lieberman by the tons. Maybe he’ll get the point.
NO! I have a better idea –
How about some BAD! buttons? Order them from Cafe Press or some place like that. Send BAD! buttons to the Washington offices of Dems who are not being Democrats.
Be
A
Democrat!
Bob in Hi
S is
strikeoutstrikeoutUptownNYChick — I like YOUR idea!
“Code” appears to put text in freaky block text
like this.If I use QUOTE, do I close that also??
click code and type, then click code again and this is what you getAmy Goodman on democracynow.org had a long interview with Wes Clark over the weekend. What do you think of his comments about what Congress could do to influence the administration?
He made some interesting comments on impeachment (take it in steps), GITMO (shut it down), and torture (never) too.
Actually, what I do is type the text *first*, then highlight it and click the button. That gives me *both* tags.
TeddySanFran @ 86
Lieberweenie was particularly whiny and petty and nasty toward Dean (and Wes Clark) during the ‘04 campaign – I would imagine Howard remembers it well – no “bygones!”
pow wow 128 — very good comment.
Siun @
59
And the organizing resolution would happen immediately. The Republicans then take over and the Senate is reorganized to look just like it did before the 2006 elections.
The last thing I want to do is lose the Senate, which will happen immediately if Lieberman swithches. However, there is a price. And if the Democrats refuse to USE the f’ing majority we’ve given them, what’s the point.
The fact is, Lieberman will never jump. The number of GOP whores who are up and will lose next cycle is immense. The ONLY power he has right now is the power of “the other shoe that may drop.”
The second the other shoe drops and he switches, he is reduced from hated, to hated nothing. He knows it.
Were the GOP to take control due to a Lieberman switch, they will be a lame duck body and the Democratic base will be further energized to kick out the sitting GOP and the deadwood Democrats as well.
Also, were Lieberman to switch, he risks one of the GOP Senators who are up for reelection switching to the DEM side of the aisle to safe their own hide from 2008 defeat. Think Oregon or Maine.
slainte,
cl
Bob … Suzanne got the S one …
Code lets you show what the code is without “activating” it so I can say, use
Sfor strikeout without actually using it.Let’s send the button of Bush tongue kissing Lieberman by the tons. Maybe he’ll get the point.
opps-blockquoted wrong one-don’t know how to change.
UptownNYChick: You had a personal close encounter with Coulter? Please elaborate, if you feel comfortable doing so…
Coulter
b.1961
New Canaan, CT
Cornell U – BA History
Michigan Law J.D.
She pushes the envelope and represents the extreme. She mocks, disparages and demonstrates her contempt for liberals. She hates and authorizes hatred as part and parcel of an active political life.
They fired her at National Review Online.
Her speech Friday was in the form of a standup routine. I don’t think she wrote it. I’m curious to find out who did write it. It wsa repleat with all the newest talking point memes being spun in the right-wing press.
Surely the lobbying process is not so rigidly defined that we have to approach it as all either Name Your Favorite NastyPAC, or else nothing. Maybe there are some phases that have to be full-time professionalized, but others that can be run effectively using committed volunteers or others whose participation is shorter term or ad hoc.
Siun
I don’t know. Most congresscritters don’t want to hear from me unless I am in their district. I think phone calls and snail mails are more effective than email – because it takes more effort to call individually and mail a letter than to hit send – so they get a wee bit more attention.
I would love for each congresscritter and senator to have a line out of their offices of people showing up in person to voice their displeasure. And I’m not sure that will even get listened too.
At times, it feels that money is all that is heard in Congress.
Caoimhin Laochdha – the organizing resolution requires more votes than the repubs would have as I understand it. Several party pros have confirmed that.
Esperanza @
78
Is it then so hard to check the record?
Senator Obama has one of the most liberal voting records in the Senate.
- He opposed the invasion of Iraq as early as Dennis Kucinich.
- I have heard no mention of the pathetic mandatory DLC sloganeering about the “suffering middle class.”(tm) Instead Obama offers a helping hand to those left out.
- Obama has made a wondrously refreshing attack on the political scientists at the FDA, that may have killed more people than Saddam Hussein or George Bush or anyone you can name with their obtuseness.
I will be the first to admit Obama’s oratory is not always to my liking but it might help to look at what he is doing rather than what he is saying. I am not real high on “eloquence.”
Liberals have a very nasty habit of eating their own even while using the ugly euphemism “progressive” to hide their self-hatred.
Obama seems to me a wonderfully refreshing antidote to the “moderates” [read: rightwing DLC apparatchiks] with a great chance to win the presidency.
What have I missed?
Obama would not be my first choice, by the way, but I am frankly puzzled by the attacks on him. Don’t liberals want one of their own in the White House?
Best, Terry
Yes, but I thought to reinforce the “please close tags” message.
jeffreyw @ 151
Or type your text, select it (highlight it with your cursor) then click the button. It’ll tag it
front and back.My understanding is to get a new organizing resolution takes 60 votes, so the Senate committee chairs remain Democratic whether Joe stays or blows.
I have my tin hat firmly in place, so here goes. My theory why the Dems seem to be rolling over is that Karl Rove has deep dirt on EVERYONE in Washington brought to him by the Patriot Act. Imagine that other fat little gossip, J. Edgar Hoover with a super computer instead of filing cards.
CD @ 159
The temperature dropped immediately like 30 degrees, clouds covered the sun, birds flew off in a hurry, the smell of sulfur almost over came me. I was walking through the US Open grounds and I see this gray, old, blond woman in a black cocktail dress (no kidding, during a day at the US Open) entering the stadium. It took a few seconds to figure out this was Coulter, she looks much older, leathery, grayish in person. When I and my friend figured out who she was, it was too late to throw beer at her, but she got quite a few boos and hisses along the way.
LindaR @ 142
I don’t have any Lieberman memorabilia, but I do have a bunch of 3×5 poll cards for Lamont. Maybe these could be used? Like, this is the man you betrayed. And look what you got…
UptownNYChick @ 169
Shudder!!
Siun @ 163
I understand.
There has been a great deal of confusion over this due to the unique circumstances of the 2000 50-50 split w/Gore then Cheney,respectively, being the 51st vote.
That year, the organizing resolution was written to:
1. accomodate the GOP even though they were the minority for the first 3 weeks of the session while Gore still sat as VP and
2. anticipate the death of Strom Thurmond (I’ll tell you some of the insided jokes some day).
This has led to confusion about what would happen this time. The fact is, the switch would happen right away.
The point is, Jane is correct. Lieberman will not switch because he loses power by giving it to the GOP and he is crass enough to realize that it is only sport to talk about doing something out of principle. He would never actually do it if it meant he would lose something in the end. He would be a lame duck the next day.
slainte,
cl
ReneND @ 158
could we make a postcard that everyone could just print at home and mail themselves?
Siun @ 136
Given that Repug Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will continue to threaten a Filibuster to any attempt by the Democrats to bring legislation to the floor voicing the majority of Americans’ opinions wrt to the Iraq war, my suggestion is simply this:
Call Mitch’s bluff! And call it every single day of the legislation session. Don’t allow any other business to proceed.
The Democrats need to not only threaten, but to actually deliver on this. Bring up legislation shutting down the Iraq war every single day!
Since the Democrats do have control over the Senate, they have the power to ensure that nothing else can be done, until or if the Repugs allow votes on our legislation.
The Democrat Senate Leadership seems to be totally unaware of their power. :-( They don’t seem to realize that they can indeed hold all of the Senate’s legislation in an unbreakable grip.
Screw comity with the Repugs! Hold their wretched and malignant feet to the fire, and don’t let them loose.
The Senate Democrats have the numbers to make this happen. The question is whether they have the guts and yea, even wisdom, to grow/show some spine.
Thanks LindaR – that’s what I’ve heard too.
On Obama – I am undecided in some ways since I see him having the potential to energize young voters …. but I have serious problems with his treatment of constituents who try to talk to his office in person, serious trouble with his willingness to buy into the AIPAC line, and esp serious trouble with his connections with the DLC – his personal PAC lists the DLC stars are “his candidates” and I have yet to see him make a move to break from them in a real way.
uptownnychick
exactly as i thought it would be! gives me chills just thinking about it.
Professor Foland says the aide in Kennedy’s office *thought maybe* that an org res could not be filibustered, does any one *know*?
terry hallinan @ 163
You actually have a lot of good points. I wasn’t actually attacking him, more expressing my feelings about him. I’ll vote for him if it become necessary, but I’m still not comfortable with him.
- Liss, The Poster Formerly Known as DreamingCrow (TPFKAD)
CancerCures @
55
Yes! Except that I don’t believe he is lazy or lacks vision. Rather, hardly anyone (except a few prescient folks) expected the Democratic party to take the Senate. So, I think Reid came into this role without a majority leader’s plan and/or a new set of plays.
Even if he had expected to be majority leader, it would take some time to first stop the momentum, and then change direction… something like: Clear, Hold, Build (Did I get that right?)
ohhhhh damn!! i am sick and tired of waiting for the DEMS to show some SPINE!!!!!!!!! back murtha at least – DAMN!!
Mad Dogs @ 174
Absolutely agreed.
And the same goes for appointments and appropriations.
cl
Pach is being a pottymouthed liberal upstairs
Esperanza @ 178
Sorry, Lisa. I didn’t mean to imply you were attacking Obama but the inference is regrettably there in what I wrote carelessly.
There are some odd attacks on Obama that seem generic.
On another thread Obama was called a “DLC neocon” when he seems to me to be the polar opposite. “Not black enough,” “half-white,” and other such idiocies are commonplace.
“The chuckle-headed internet candidate from central casting” seems an apt description of Tim Ruseert’s approach without the slightest attempt to divine the man behind the image.
I have not been overly delighted by some pandering to the Religious Right but [sigh] we all have warts.
All just my opinion.
Best, Terry
LindaR @
146
How about a “Republican” of the Week award?
Of course this is based on the assumption that some Democrat other than Lieberman might win on occasion.
Bob in HI
Suzanne @
147
Oh, yeah. Duh.
And Eli @ 149 added,
Thanks!
Bob in HI
The dire situation makes one pine for Lowell Weicker. The democratic party leadership didn’t support Ned Lamont. The candidate foolishly paid for his own campaign, for christ sake. The crypto-fascist incumbent slithered back in and he is there to stay in the senate for another six, long years. The Connecticut democratic senate campaign loss to Lieberman was a major catastrophe, as bad as the catastrophe America has wrought in Iraq.
pow wow @
128
But you can’t replace something with nothing. We have two basic options (barring revolution): either develop a third party (its been done, but mainly when one of the dominant parties breaks up), or else revert to something practiced quite often in the past 60 years: Split your vote. There was a time when Americans did this with such great regularity that Congress and the Presidency were rarely in the same hands, thereby creating another kind of “checks and balances.” But after a while the press derided that practice as “Divided Government” and blamed it for inaction. But after 6 years of Republican government, “divided” government looks pretty good.
Bob in HI
chady @
66
This makes more and more sense.
Joe would be recalled in a voter referendum if he switched and deprived Connecticut voters of Dodd’s chairmanship! However, he has been known to do stupid things before.
Lieberman is going to do as much as Reid allows him to do. It seems that Lieberman’s threats to jump ship scare Reid. I say to Reid: call his bluff and show him the door. If Lieberman is true to form, he’ll back down and whine and complain and moan and sob. The defection threat is all that he’s got. Call him on it. The Senate has a ‘loose cannon’ Lieberman because of Reid.
The Democrats have too convenient an out on their entire Iraq platform in the form of Joe Lieberman. This government is a charade. If Americans want action they have to take their grievances to the true halls of power – corporate boardrooms. It’s useless to petition our government for anything because they are not in charge. The only thing that will force change in this environment is boycott action or enough negative publicity to scare investors away from the likes of Exxon, GE, etc.
http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/sh…..aryId=5974
These are the resolutions that protect the Senate from Joe.
Reid is fairly worthless, like so many Democratic senators. The M.O. seems to be to look at things from every political angle and to then go with what a Republican would do.
The young people I talk to bring up Obama more than I care to hear because I have no idea what he stands for. Just have the uneasy feeling he’s form over substance.
Greetings from Toronto, fellow-FDLers~
the blogger at There is No Blog, wrote what i think is the best “Reminder to Harry Reid” post about the lunacy of selecting LIEberman to do the radio address:
here’s a small snippet:
Greetings from Toronto, fellow-FDLers~
the blogger at There is No Blog posted what i think is the best “wake up/reminder to Harry Reid” about his selecting LIEberman to do the Dem Radio Address.
Here’s a snippet:
Siun @
59
Can someone expand on the above comment. I’m afraid I don’t understand.
kml @
7
My way of dealing with the issue is to respond to ALL pleas for funds that come from Shumer, Hoyer, DSCC, DCCC, et al [except Dean] with a form of FU that states “I won’t be sending you ANY money because of the bad judgment you’ve shown in a number of areas. I can’t trust you to spend it wisely and in the best interest of our country. Therefore I’ll donate directly, or through ActBlue, to those Democrats who WILL promote Democratic values.”
Similarly, when the national Planned Parenthood folks came a’ knockin’, I told them they were “dead to me since your support of Lieberman.” Haven’t heard anything from ‘em since.
Bob in HI @ 187 -
The only way for the Something that is the Two-Party-System to end, is for every state to revise their laws and rules that now restrictively dictate, in accordance with the Two-Party-System, who can gain access to the ballot for federal races, and for states to simultaneously implement the ingenuity of Instant Runoff Voting (which would end the need to vote “for the lesser of two evils” and would allow members of multiple parties into our Congress without the need to take over one of the two that now exist). [Our racist legacy lives on in the restrictions imposed on those who would run for public office, and in the hurdles and obstacle courses they face if not officially ‘endorsed’ by the Two-Party-System.] Howard Dean decided such a 50-way effort would take too long, and have too little chance of success, I imagine, when he decided to try to change the Two-Party-System from within one of the two parties. Although Dean has inspired great change already, I think he’ll have to become disloyal, and convince state parties to likewise promote options for easy third-party challenges to the Democratic Party, in order to help the American people to truly take back their Congress, and I don’t think Dean or the state Democratic Party infrastructure is prepared to do that.
I doubt very much that such a challenge to the Two-Party-System status quo would be undertaken lightly, or with the revolutionary idea of banning all federal political parties (”factions”) in mind, considering that the Two-Party-System dominates state legislatures as well. So we have no need to worry about a Nothing taking Something’s place in this regard, as far forward as I can see. How to end the Two-Party-System is a daunting challenge to us all – but only in the implementation, because the solutions are pretty clear, as they are with the problem of corporate television political ads. As Eli said about ending the corruption of corporate campaign donations, I believe, it’s how we get there, not what ‘there’ is so much, that looks insurmountably complicated at the moment. But: nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Notice, too, how the terms of the debate in the corporate-subsidiary media’s ‘public square’ and among the establishment’s self-anointed elites, including – appallingly – many Members of Congress, define “Divided Government” – which is the very foundation and definition of our Constitutional system of government – as a ‘bad thing.’ That’s the mindset of those who think, as Lewis Lapham of Harper’s put it well, that two of the three branches of our federal government are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Doubtless the divided branches of our democracy, which – purposely – create obstacles to easy corporate and personal profit at taxpayer expense, are a ‘bad thing’ to those who hold the public good and our Constitution in contempt. Our Founders knew that well.
It may well be, as you point out, that the inherent wisdom of the people caused them to fall back to the necessity of “split” voting in order to divide our Legislative and Executive Branches of government between the two political parties, because they recognized that the Constitutional divide had been breached. If so, that was a prescient attempt by Americans to overcome the inherent threat from the dominant Two-Party-System to merge the two branches and thus obliterate the Constitutional checks and balances entrusted to the people in their Congress. Just the threat of the sort of obliteration of the Constitutional rights of the people as we have now seen transpire with disastrous results ‘thanks’ to the Supreme Court decision in 2000 to overrule the choice of the people for president. So even our feeble end-run attempts around the Two-Party-System stopped working. Last November, we thought we righted affairs by separating the branches by political party again, but apparently the corruption has worked its way so far into the Legislative Branch and into the Democratic (never mind the Republican) Party in Congress, that the Democrats can no longer even maintain the facade of being an opposition party in a coequal independent branch of government. The Democrats (and Republicans) have reaped the rewards of the Two-Party-System’s stranglehold on the American people for decades now, as our national debt helps to testify, and have no incentive to change. Congressional incumbents have long been held harmless for their actions by their corporate-interest-lobbyist and foreign-nation-interest-lobbyist campaign funders, and therefore regularly defy the obvious will of Americans and the Constitution they swore an oath to uphold, with impunity.
Meanwhile, Americans still live in a world of vibrant color, and our corrupted politicians and media continue to declare that the world is a place of black and white, with no alternatives. It’s small wonder the people want an end to petty bickering about how far “right” black is and how far “left” white is, or whether black is in the “middle” or white is more “centrist.” It’s all a crock, and Americans know it – the world is full of color and we’re being told it’s black and white and to pick sides accordingly. No incumbent of the Two-Party-System and no member of the media seems willing to publicly and regularly acknowledge colorful reality and then act accordingly – try as so many bloggers might, to force them to. Probably until there’s Instant Runoff Voting for federal office (and/or credible challenges to incumbents which can’t be overcome by corporate cash) that allows the voters to prove that the world is not black and white, this deeply-embedded and endlessly-peddled fraud against the American people will continue unabated.
We got the leader that we deserve.