WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE FROM OUR DEM LEADERS?????

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

Aside from a Kucinich floor speech, I'm ONLY seeing brief comments to LOCAL news outlets, WRITTEN statements, and other MILQUETOAST efforts to "ride the fence" on this issue of GROSS INCOMPETENCE.

Meanwhile, Frist and Hastert have gone in front of the NATIONAL PRESS to PREEMPT any independent investigation. DeLay has gone in front of the NATIONAL PRESS to make a scumbag (and widely disseminated) statement that the locals are to blame. Bush and his cronies are in front of the NATIONAL PRESS everyday to hammer home the "blame game" and "not the time for investigation" memes.

Way to go WORTHLESS DEM LEADERS! Once again, your inaction and TIMID BULLSHIT has allowed the Repukes to re-frame the issue and obfuscate the truth. And, one wonders why the "wimp" perception pervades our party?

And...DON'T GIVE ME THIS BULLSHIT ABOUT THE CONSERVATIVE PRESS and WE CAN'T GET AIR TIME. That is a lame, lame, lame excuse for general inaction and a lack of media savvy. Trust me, if Hillary, Kerry, Dean, or Biden called up CNN or any other news outlet other than Faux and said that they were going to make a MAJOR statement about the hurricane debacle...I WOULD BET MY HOUSE that they would get air time.

Sorry to rant. I'm just SO FUCKING SICK of general Dem inaction on a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO RECAPTURE OUR COUNTRY.

JB

[Yavin4]

1. SHHHH! You Will Wake Them

They're still not sure if it's okay to criticize the president. They still think that this is 09/12/2001.

[AgadorSparticus]

18. YUP!! And it really pisses me off!!!

:mad:

[FloridaPat]

2. I think this goes beyond incompetence. The correct word is murder.

When you have tons of food and water and people with boats and helicopters ready to help and you stop the help at the city line and people die, that's murder.

[ClassWarrior]

3. Didn't you see Nancy Pelosi today?

Geez, do a little research before you rant.

NGU.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

5. Oh, I'm sorry. Kucinich AND PELOSI...NOW WHERE ARE THE OTHER 100+?

You give me TWO examples. TWO EXAMPLES. Maybe we'll give Edwards LOCAL speech a 1/2 example. That's great. I'm sure that these less than a handfull of Dems will do fine against the CONSERTED AND ORGANIZED Repuke propaganda message.

JB

[FreedomAngel82]

8. And also

earlier this week a report was posted in the Kerry thread of Kerry and a few others talking to McCain and pointing fingers. I can't remember who all was involved but I remember Kerry talked to McCain a good bit and fingers were being pointed and this was on the Senate floor.

[ClassWarrior]

15. You said "leaders." Nancy makes half the Congressional leadership.

50%.

FWIW. But this thread really isn't about being fair, so I'll just shut up.

NGU.

[Erika]

4. Yeah, you saw none of them out there handing out bottled water

Maybe they'll wake up someday.

[AlGore-08.com]

20. Gore arranged (& paid for) several flights of critically ill folks to TN

I posted this earlier, in this same forum. (Gore did this at a time when local officials were on TV screaming and sobbing for people to stop giving press conferences and send help instead.)

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/7/164747/4155

From TMP Cafe
by Greg Simon, President FasterCures

On September 3rd and 4th, FasterCures worked with a small dedicated group of people to airlift approximately 270 medical patients and evacuees from the New Orleans airport to hospitals and shelters in Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee. This is the story of how it happened.

On Thursday, September 1^st, my friend Jill Chozen of San Francisco called to ask if I could put someone in touch with Al Gore. Dr. David Kline, the father in law of Jill’s friend Denise Kline, was stranded in Charity hospital in New Orleans. The situation was dire and becoming worse by the minute – food and water running out, no power, four feet of water surrounding the hospital and alligators eating corpses outside. David is a neurosurgeon and needed to take his patients out of the hospital as soon as possible. David asked Denise to find Al Gore for help because David knew Gore from operating on Gore’s son after a life threatening auto accident nearly 16 years ago.

(snip)

We were now desperate to find a contact on the ground at the New Orleans airport to help triage ambulatory medical patients into these planes. FEMA in Washington was non responsive. We spoke to the aide to one of the deputies at FEMA and was told they did not need or want our help since the hospital evacuation was going fine. We looked at the reports from CNN about the conditions at the field hospital at the airport and discounted that opinion immediately.

(snip)

(On September 4th) Mimi was unmovable. We were not military and that was that. She tried to sound grateful for our intentions but she was not going to have outsiders help. I even offered to GIVE her the planes and the crews and the hospitals and let her run it through her NDMS system but she would have none of it. She asked me at least to delay until noon the next day and I said I would try.

I called Steve and told him to delay the planes. I called Al. It was 2 a.m. in Nashville. He was planning to leave for Dallas at 4 a.m. to meet the plane. I told Tipper what was going on. She said, “Greg, you can’t delay it now. It’s too late, the doctors are flying in here to fly with Al to Dallas.” Al got on the phone and said we could not delay. I tried to scare him. What if something went wrong with a patient on the plane? What if the military did not cooperate on the ground and no patients got on the plane? He refused to budge. Col. LaFon could handle the patients and Al would trust that when they landed they would break through the resistance and succeed.

(snip)

Over the next three hours (from 2a.m. to 5 a.m.) I was called by an array of Majors and Lieutenant Commanders telling me to stop. (“I don’t mean to be rude, sir, but you must not do this. You must stop this now.”) Major Webb from GPMRC (don’t ask), Grant Meade from ESF. Major Lindquist from TRANSCOM (at last!) all telling me they would not cooperate and they did not know how we had gotten permission to land. I never mentioned Gore’s name because no one ever asked me who was paying for the flights or how we had come so far.

Finally at 5 a.m. Major Lindquist said if we landed he would not put any patients on the plane and we should expect no cooperation and there was no place to store the plane so we would have to leave.

(snip)

(On Sunday the 5th, after evacuating 270 people from NOLA) We decided not to return to New Orleans because the medical patients we could take had been helped. (We could not take bedridden patients on stretchers on this plane.) Gore said that on the second trip to New Orleans, the doctors at the airport told him that the evacuation of the first 90 ambulatory patients had been the tipping point in their ability to adequately care for the other bedridden patients. They also noted that the military evacuations did not really pick up steam until after we “motivated” them with our private effort.

Of note:
Throughout the entire operation in Tennessee, EMS operations in Chicago had stayed prepared to handle patients or evacuees. None ever arrived because the military did not want us to use Chicago. The volunteers in Chicago were amazing in their desire to help. Mayor Daly had been rebuffed earlier when he offered a complete mobile hospital unit for the airport and a tent city as well. Sen. Barack Obama called Gore and asked how had Gore managed to land in New Orleans when the Senator had been refused landing rights to help.

(more... )

[Moderator]

37. AlGore-08.com

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted newss source.


Thank you.


DU Moderator

[Whoa_Nelly]

6. I agree with you

I posted something very similar in the sharing of a letter I wrote to the DNC. Though I totally respect the mods here at DU, my post was locked and labeled "flame-bait" by a mod.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

10. They may lock this one as well. But, until we DEMAND spined Dems...

...nothing will change.

I'm READY for a third party progressive candidate (that's NOT Nader). Our country needs a STRONG counterpoint to the fascist Repuke and DINO cabal.

JB

[Whoa_Nelly]

32. Looks like your OP is still going in GD...lol

Posting as #32 here...I only made it to two replies (one of those my own) before my thread was locked.

[firefox]

33. Democrats have spines

The people are for universal health care and the Dems stand up against the majority. The people are for getting out of Iraq and the Dems stand up against the majority. Over 4 in 5 Americans are for medical marijuana and the Dems in Congress stand up against that overwhelming majority.

There is a very good CounterPunch article titled "The U.S. Needs to Start Over-Failing at War, Peace and Dignity" that includes this paragraph- http://www.counterpunch.org/labotz09032005.html - Unfortunately, and this is characteristic of failed states, there is no political alternative. When the state has failed, it is because the existing political parties had failed­all of them. Throughout the last 25 years of war and peace Democrats and Republicans, Carter and Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush, have pursued the same fundamental policies. Both parties have acted to deregulate the economy and to dismantle social welfare programs.

Anyway, you can add Cynthia McKinney to your extremely short list- http://www.counterpunch.org/mckinney09032005.html

[FreedomAngel82]

7. I think you missed Nancy Pelosi

She's been pretty vocal.

[Erika]

11. Yeah, a sentence a month

We're just full represented, right?

[ClassWarrior]

36. At least it's a coherent sentence. Which is more than I can say...

...about this post.

:silly:

NGU.

[Lindsay]

9. The Congressional Black Caucus has spoken up.

And at least some of them were in New Orleans. Don't know if they were handing out water, but I'm pretty sure they didn't require a number of firemen to back up a photo op.

There are assuredly a number of Dems who are indefensible, but we owe it to those who aren't milquetoasts to give them credit where it's due.

[Erika]

13. My hat's off to them

Now what about the rest of the Dems?

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

16. Agreed, but unfortunately these spined Dems are in the minority.

The REAL Dems are in the minority of a minority party. Therein lies the problem.

I love my country, but not in its current form. The 2000 election was nothing less than a coup de etat of corporate hegemony and Repuke christofascism.

I miss President Gore.

JB

[FightingIrish]

12. This looked like genuine outrage to me.

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/nancy1.wmv

[madfloridian]

14. Please stop this. They have been speaking out today.

Almost every other thread here is screaming at them.

If you did not know that they spoke out today you are not paying attention.

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

21. Did occur to you that maybe they are paying attention to US???

Stopping the outrage against Dem inaction may actually reduce their level of current action.

I'd like to think that maybe their staff members keep an eye out for the mood on sites like DU. When they see that their political base and active grassroots are pissed...maybe this spurs them into action.

JB

[Erika]

24. Maybe they should tune in a little more to the grass roots.

[ClassWarrior]

29. "Tune in??" Like with little radar antenna to read our minds??... LOL...

Dammit, you have to LEAD. You have to force them to hear you. You have to grab democracy by the throat and make it work for you. Or you can ~hope~ that they might ~tune in~ to our ~wavelength~...

Sheesh.

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

25. Of COURSE they're paying attention to us. You JUST figured that out??

In a democracy, when the people lead, the leaders follow. I learned that in third grade.

I guess you're really NOT paying attention.

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

30. So how are you planning to lead?

Huh?

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

34. Hmmm... didn't think so.

NGU.

[Erika]

22. No one's screaming at them

Just talking about their lack of a unified voice with a unified message at a unified time. I probably spent more last year in donations than in my life. What did I get for it?

They are heading the same direction now.

[Tsiyu]

17. If a tree falls on a MSM "Journalist's head in the forest.... n/t

[ClassWarrior]

19. Please don't call them the "MSM." There's NOTHING "mainstream"...

...about their twisted agenda of greed and manipulation. Please call them what they are: The Corporate Media.

NGU.

[Lecky]

23. Are you serious?

The Dems have been doing great lately!

Meanwhile...the Republican priorities are giving tax cuts to billionaires.

[faithfulcitizen]

26. this might cheer you up little, from a red state!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2072277

[gimama]

27. It's in the WTF wing o'the democratic party! ;}

I HEAR YA! Although I have been impressed with Sheila Jackson Lee, Maxine Waters,Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Kendrick Meek, Sherrod Brown, Barbara Lee; & KUCINICH regularly tears'em a new one..
Most of these are in the 30Something Dems Or Congressional Black Caucus. Tonite,on the Cspan, they had their weekly hour of tcb, they said they were being flooded with calls, emails, about the National Tragedy & Trauma..demands they HOLD'em ACCOUNTABLE.
Let's do THAT.

Check out Walter Jones r,NC and Ron Paul, r,texas, tho.. these are conservatives, in the REAL sense of the word, & they are speaking OUT. THEY are AMERICAN,before party, & OBVIOUSLY ashamed of the regressives in power.
Do ck out www.congress.org, for contact info & call DC. Also ck out ALL the IRATE letters to 'leaders',on the site..but PLEASE, CALL DC. Also ck out www.indelayspocket.com, help chase that rat out of office.
The petition "IMPEACH BUSH & CHENEY" I posted on DU earlier is up to 25,000 sigs..so are You feelin' better yet?
Be enCouraged..& call the hell out of DC.

[tsuki]

28. You obviously were not watching Reps Meek, Wasserman Schultz and

Ryan on CSpan tonight.

[WinkyDink]

31. Please. Clearly the MIA's ON TV are

Kennedy, Biden, Frank, Edwards, Kerry, Carville (okay, NOT "a leader", but a very well-known Southern Dem), Carter....

Call a PRESS CONFERENCE, GUYS!
Why let the women and minorities carry the Dem ball here????

[weiser]

35. Something is very seriously wrong.....

Have our Democratic Leaders sold our party cheaply..!? Have the Dem's been infiltrated by "in-the-closet" Repugs...!?


They couldn't use the illegal Iraq war to their advantage to win the election and the anti-war movement needed a soldiers mother to drive the cause forward, with little if any Dem leaders support....! And now after the greatest catastrophic disaster to hit us, the Democratic leaders are not producing any knockout punches...!

[growlypants]

38. i just CALLED Pelosi's office, demanding to know when the IMPEACHEMENT

process was going to begin and was GIVEN THE GODDAMN SCOTT MCCLELLAN TALKING POINTS FROM YESTERDAY......"this is not the time for finger pointing, the number one priority is getting help to the people in LA" Im sitting here physically NAUSEAUS!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE GONNA DO!!!