Democrats charge GOP has corrupted Congress (Slaughter's radio address)

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats accused Republican congressional leaders of corrupting the government, claiming on Saturday that their party has higher ethical standards.

"Under Republican guidance, America has truly been put up for sale to the highest bidder," Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said in her party's weekly radio address.
...
"Sadly, the legacy of Republican rule has been the fundamental degradation of our democratic institutions and the abandonment of our core principles," Slaughter said.

"Lobbyists are now writing the bills passed by Congress," she contended. "They have infiltrated every aspect of our government. Their money and donations shape the opinions of corrupt lawmakers in a way that public opinion no longer does."

Slaughter said the unethical influence of lobbyists has affected everything from the Iraq war to energy policy to the new Medicare prescription drug plan.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-07-democrats-radio-address_x.htm

[acmavm]

1. Uh oh, the truth is starting to leak out. Think anyone will notice? n/t

[NI4NI]

24. Yes, people will if it's the first thing

out of every Dems mouth whenever they're in front of a camera or microphone from now until at least November.

[Hissyspit]

2. Truth to Power, Louise

Go tell the people.

Nominated.

[rodeodance]

3. Thanks Louise. We needed that.

[rodeodance]

4. Lets all support her by sending her a thanks.

[rodeodance]

5. Great headline for once from USA today!

....Politicians from both parties have rushed to unload donations from Abramoff or his clients, while others have decided to keep such donations, insisting they did nothing wrong.

Slaughter painted the Abramoff case and an earlier guilty plea by former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., as part of a broader pattern of misconduct by Republicans under the sway of highly paid lobbyists.

"Sadly, the legacy of Republican rule has been the fundamental degradation of our democratic institutions and the abandonment of our core principles," Slaughter said.

"Lobbyists are now writing the bills passed by Congress," she contended. "They have infiltrated every aspect of our government. Their money and donations shape the opinions of corrupt lawmakers in a way that public opinion no longer does."

[rodeodance]

6. "misconduct by Congress"---love it.

.Slaughter painted the Abramoff case and an earlier guilty plea by former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., as part of a broader pattern of misconduct by Republicans under the sway of highly paid lobbyists.

[rodeodance]

9. "Democratic tag line, Slaughter said, "Together, America can do better."

Slaughter said the unethical influence of lobbyists has affected everything from the Iraq war to energy policy to the new Medicare prescription drug plan.

The 10-term congresswoman said her party will "uphold the highest standards of integrity."

Repeating a Democratic tag line, Slaughter said, "Together, America can do better."

[NI4NI]

25. I'd prefer the taglne was

"Democrats can do America better"

[rodeodance]

7. "Lobbyists are now writing the bills passed by Congress," she contended.

"Lobbyists are now writing the bills passed by Congress," she contended. "They have infiltrated every aspect of our government. Their money and donations shape the opinions of corrupt lawmakers in a way that public opinion no longer does."

[primavera]

10. Show of hands, please: are lobbyists the real problem?

Sorry, but I work as an advocate in DC and, frankly, I think lobbyists and so-called special interests often get a bad rap. Mind you, there's a lot of corruption and sleaziness in the profession and that certainly needs to change, but, fundamentally, is there anything really wrong with lobbying the government on behalf of a particular interest? Bear in mind, those interests doing the lobbying are not just oil magnets, but environmental groups, labor unions, women's rights groups, civil liberties groups, privacy advocates, and so on and so on. Okay, I'd love to see the lobbyists for corporations be banned from DC, but in fairness I can't deny them the right to do what our side does just as zealously. The problem as far as I can see is not lobbying per se, but the fact that this administration will only listen to the lobbyists from the oil and gas industry and the religious right-wing; their doors are closed to every other articulated interest.

[meow2u3]

19. There's a difference between special interest and public interest

Industry lobbyists represent special interest groups. The civil liberties, privacy advocates, enviromental groups, women's and civil rights, election reform, etc., are all public interest groups.

The only special interest groups who tend to lobby Democrats are the pro-choice lobby. Contrary to popular belief, abortion is big business, even though it's a special interest commonly associated with liberals.

[Demeter]

21. If Abortion Is Such A Big Business Why Is Access So Small?

Or do you mean lobbying for or against abortion is big business? As an industry, you should pardon the phrase (or health service) abortion has declined every year since 1973 when it became legal.

[rodeodance]

8. yesterdays email from Louise S.

which I had posted.

------- Original Message --------
Subject: My radio address on Jack and the Republicans …
Date: Fri, 06 Jan 2006 16:04:47 -0500
From: Rep. Louise M. Slaughter <[e-mail] >
Reply-To: [e-mail]
To: xxxx


Friday, January 6, 2006

Dear xxxx,

I wanted to let you know that the Democratic leadership requested me to give our party's response to this weekend's (Saturday, January 7, 2006) radio address of President Bush. While local radio stations do not carry this speech, the cable network channel C-SPAN will carry both starting at 2:50 pm. You will also be able to listen and read my speech at the national Democratic Committee's web site.

The topic of my address is going to be the growing Republican ethical crisis and the need for honest leadership in Washington. Speaking of which, I distributed a backgrounder to the national media on Jack and his Republican pals in Washington, making it clear - this is a Republican scandal. Keep repeating this over, and over, and over again. Here is the backgrounder on Jack and his Republican friends.

So, please tune in tomorrow and come back to my website, and let me know what you think by posting your comments here:

http://www.votelouise.com/blog

Thank you again for all you do to restore faith in our democracy.

In Solidarity,



Rep. Louise M. Slaughter

[rodeodance]

11. here is a transscript.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/01/congresswoman_l.php
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter Delivers Democratic Radio Address


This week, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York delivered the Democratic Radio Address.

To listen to the audio, click here.

"Good morning. I’m Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York, Ranking Member on the House Rules Committee.

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

"By now, you have all heard of the former Majority Leader of the House who was indicted on criminal charges of money laundering, and the Republican Congressman who pled guilty to bribery and resigned in disgrace. You know about the Republican lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, who just this week pled guilty to charges of bribing public officials, tax evasion, and fraud.

"But what we are up against isn’t just the shameful work of individuals like these. It’s a much broader problem, a problem rooted in the Republican establishment which has held power in our nation’s capital for more than a decade. Sadly, the legacy of Republican rule has been the fundamental degradation of our democratic institutions and the abandonment of our core principles.
........

[Rose Siding]

17. She's good! -"engine of patronage"

"Republicans have turned our democratic government into an engine of patronage"

and "As Democrats, we still believe that integrity should be the defining feature of our democracy, and we know that the American people believe that too. That is why under Democratic leadership, we will create the most open and honest Congress in America’s history."

:loveya:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. Good points made

especially for seniors. Every time a senior citizen gripes about the drug benefit plan, please tell them that the drug company lobbyists were the ones who helped write it, not duly elected Democrats. I think that that will really hit home with a lot of folks. Same with energy policy and the credit card industry. Iraq war is also in the list, but one I don't stress as it is too easy for the repukes to distract people about it.

[FloridaPat]

13. Lobbyists have been writing bill for decades. Seems all those lawyers

we voted in can't come up with a good law.

[ClassWarrior]

16. Well, the Republicons have been around for decades too.

NGU.

[angryxyouth]

14. That was great, now start naming names and get the impeachments going!!!

Stop being ambiguous!!! Say "General electric wrote our tax policy."
___________ is taking money from____________. Otherwise to the mass idiots, it just sounds like rhetoric.:yourock:

[angryxyouth]

15. Sorry about the bad comma placement.

[IndianaGreen]

18. Congress was corrupted long before!

The GOP has merely turned it into an art form.

Let's not delude ourselves into thinking that corruption is a GOP monopoly!

"Lobbyists are now writing the bills passed by Congress," she contended. "They have infiltrated every aspect of our government. Their money and donations shape the opinions of corrupt lawmakers in a way that public opinion no longer does."

Has this woman been in a drug-induced coma for the past century? Her speech was probably written by people influenced by lobbyists that are upset the GOP denied them a bigger piece of the pie.

[Rose Siding]

20. Slaughter knows what goes on

She's really very decent. Here's her complete voting record:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/s000480/votes/

and her blog:

http://www.votelouise.com/blog

What are the alternatives? It probably wouldn't do much good for the dems to offer themselves as a positive alternative by saying, hell, we're all screwed and you can't trust us to improve things.

[IndianaGreen]

22. You can't cure a tumor with aspirin

Democrats need to tell the truth of how the system actually works, and they need to offer a real cure for it, not just tell us that a change in personnel is all that is needed.

The public holds Congress in very low esteem, and there are reasons for it. How many Democrats voted for the Bankruptcy Bill or the Patient's Bill of Rights? Who were the beneficiaries of those legislative marvels, it sure weren't the consumers or the patients?

[rodeodance]

23. I have not heard anything on cable news about this. Was it covered?

[MadisonProgressive]

26. But I thought they all did it? A freeper told me so...

[paineinthearse]

27. Utterly amazing

The earlier alert - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2353917#2354559 - in GDP garnered 2 replies.

Way to go LBN, raspberries to GDP.