Comments on: I Guess This Is How It’s Done

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:49:34 +0000

First it was the war authorization, then the suspension of habeas corpus. Now it’s OK to monitor however, whenever, whomever. I’m done with the Dems. What they are doing is giving us an American version of the German Enabling Act in drips and drabs. A pox on the entire Congress.

By: C Conrad

C Conrad — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 05:40:48 +0000

The concept of Democratic spinelessness has become the conventional wisdom now. Chris Floyd’s article makes much more sense: http://www.chris-floyd.com/Art.....Democrats/

By: Paul in LA

Paul in LA — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:20:04 +0000

George @ 269

For 165,000 dollars, you don’t expect them to read the bills, do you?! That’s executive summary territory!

It is well-known that the Senators do not have the time or the staff to read the bills. That problem goes back at least 50 years, and is well-covered in Caro’s “Master of the Senate,” the first 100 pages of which represent a good summary of the history of our most august democratic body.

By: George

George — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 01:01:02 +0000

For 165,000 dollars, you don’t expect them to read the bills, do you?!

That’s executive summary territory!

Come on!

By: low-tech cyclist (formerly RT)

low-tech cyclist (formerly RT) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:54:18 +0000

we all worked hard to help the Democrats win back he majority last fall. They need to develop a bit more dexterity at using it.

Not just dexterity, they need to play the equivalent of smashmouth, power football. Don’t wimp out after a failed cloture vote - keep pounding at them. Keep that damned bill on the floor. And do the same thing the next time a cloture vote fails. And the time after that.

Don’t take impeachment off the table - have a subcommittee staff quietly make the best case for impeachment of Bush, Cheney, Rove, and Gonzales, with the evidence currently available, then decide which investigations are worth pushing on, hard.

And now that they’ve had Miers, Bolten, and Rove all thumb their noses at subpoenas, hold them in contempt of Congress, and do it quickly, so that when the US Attorney for D.C. tells them he’s not gonna do anything with it, they can move on to inherent contempt.

I keep waiting for the moment when we hit these bastards hard, and it never happens. Well, dammit, it’s time for it to happen. Hell, it was time four years ago, but we didn’t control Congress then. We do now.

So I want smashmouth football from the Dems. I want Lombardi football. I want Steel Curtain football. I want Joe Gibbs’ Hogs, the Ravens’ defense. I want them to be animated with the spirit of the great linebackers - Butkus, Nitschke, Lawrence Taylor, Mike Singletary, Ray Lewis.

But like somebody - Jeralyn, maybe? - said, these guys don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, they bring a carrot.

By: questioneverything

questioneverything — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:27:10 +0000

Too many deals and not enough Senators who know the law. How about we require a test on the constitution to hold office? I am pissed.

By: rootless2

rootless2 — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:15:48 +0000

Paul in LA @ 261

That’s good spin. So much Dem-bashing, so little time, eh?

Greenwald embarassed himself on Dem Now!, and NO ONE mentioned the six month sunset on that program (TMK).

Patriot act, as mentioned already, had a sunset. And as Senator Fiengold pointed out, a 6 month (with 1 year continuation of all authorized calls which they have no way of enforcing since there is no reporting requirement) abolition of the 4rth amendment is no less an abolition.

Finally, if anyone is naive enough to believe that Gonzo and Bush are above collecting “actionable” information on important politicians, business people, and judges via this program and using it to claw back into the permanent majority, they are beyond naive.

By: Margot

Margot — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 00:11:48 +0000

Molly Weasley @ 263,
I think you may have something there.
Thank you very very much for that insight.
It’s a huge relief for my area that this passed. Otherwise there would be a lot of kids w/o meds or doctors.

By: Paul in LA

Paul in LA — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:49:29 +0000

There is one other issue in this, namely that the Speaker-backed (sponsors: Reyes, Conyers, Flake (R), Schiff) House bill which would have been better, was voted down by some of our heroes:

Improving Foreign Intelligence Surveillance to Defend the Nation and the Constitution Act of 2007 –Failed 218-207 (by 10 votes)

Dems voting Nay: Blumenauer, Capuano, Filner, Holt, Inslee, Kucinich, McDermott, McGovern, Michaud, Olver, Stark, Waters, Welch (VT), Woolsey

By voting nay, or not voting, these representatives helped produce a poorer result.

Not voting: Clark, Waxman

By: Molly Weasley

Molly Weasley — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:31:45 +0000

As awful as this piece-of-crap FISA legislation is, might it be part of a deal?

I was stunned to hear that the Senate version of the SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) reauthorization passed 68-13 — a veto-proof majority. NO one was expecting that. If the House adopts the Senate version (much more palatable to the GOP than the House version), it will pick up lots more Republican votes.

Did both parties’ leaders work out a deal to reauthorize FISA for 6 months so the House will come back and pass SCHIP with a veto-proof majority?

Or am I giving all of these politicians too much credit?