Why was there so little opposition from Democrats to Hayden?

[joemurphy]

The Republicans are self-destructing, but that doesn't mean we should abandon our principles.

[marmar]

1. Mike Malloy is blowing a gasket about that as we speak...

:scared:

[Eric J in MN]

2. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) implied she would only vote for Hayden if he

left the military, then voted for him without him leaving the military.

[marmar]

7. DINOanne? No surprise there.

:argh:

[atreides1]

8. Her husband needed those government contracts

Besides who can afford a 1.6 million dollar house on a Senators' salary?

[Daphne08]

17. DiFi needs to go! n/t

[Ilsa]

24. She really blew it, IMO. She is no longer trustworthy as far as

her word is concerned because of this.

[leesa]

38. She also spoke out against illegal wiretapping and then voted for the

primary architect. She is a whore for the corporations and for Israel. She is rich and intends to get richer and stay that way. She agrees 100% with everything Dubya does.

[atreides1]

3. Haven't you heard

They're keeping their powder dry, for something more important.

[Psephos]

4. As a practical matter, who would have we gotten instead?

I think a lot of Dems are saying the lesser of two evils here.

Peace.

[atreides1]

13. How is he the lesser of two evils

He's in "Death Squad" John's pocket and his umbilical cord is right up Rummy's ass. The first time that a slick White House lawyer tells him it's perfectly okay to assasinate American citizens, because the president has that right, he'll fold just like he did with the NSA wiretapping.

This man has the capability of being the next Heydrich to Negroponte's Himmler!!!!!

[Psephos]

32. I wasn't taking a position here, just answering the question

Seriously, though, who do you think they're going to nominate? Someone from the left? That's why we need to win the White House in 2008.

The Heydrich/Himmler stuff has got to go, btw. The repugs are people with different politics than ours, not Nazis. It does us no good to call every last one of them Satanic. Maybe you can show me an example where that kind of demonization talk leads to good?

Peace.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jim Sagle]

10. Excuse you? This is NOT the Maoist Underground.

[Beelzebud]

12. The ones that voted FOR the spy chief of the NSA ARE fascists.

[Jim Sagle]

14. Simplify much?

The Dems who voted for Hayden are obviously not fascists. They're yellow.

[Beelzebud]

15. Fascism relies on the weak to get their job done.

[Jim Sagle]

23. Yes, they're enablers. Just trying to be precise -

for all the good that does any of us. ;(

[Beelzebud]

30. Agreed. That is the saddest part. They enable....

I didn't mean to jump down your throat... I'm sorry for that.

I think we both agree. Without their enabling, the fascists couldn't win.

[AndyTiedye]

6. Because the NSA Has Been Monitoring Them All for Almost 6 Years

[Doctor_J]

9. Because they don't represent the people ,and are nearly invincible

Look at Fineswine in California. She's one of Smirk's enablers, from a very blue state. Tell me what the chances are of unseating her with a Boxer-like Dem. Zilch

[spindrifter]

11. There are several things

going on--saving for when they need to pull out all stops; some of the original arguments have not held up--i.e., he's military--when in reality there have been other military persons who were CIA head, there will be a huge constitutional battle brewing over all of the NSA/spying issues and they don't really have to do with Hayden the man.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Not arguing here ...... but what 'several things' are going on?

[spindrifter]

19. Not taking it as an argument,

1) discredited early arguments
2) impending constitutional battle
3) Hayden the man

[atreides1]

18. Hayden is in it up to his eyebrows

One little bit of history for you, it's been almost 25 years since the last CIA director was still in uniform. Hayden the man let some slick White House lawyer convince him that wire taps without warrants were just fine, because George said they were, not exactly a great picture of someone concerned about upholding his oath to the Constitution. With that in mind, how much will his word actually be worth when he gets sworn in as the CIA director?

Hayden, Negroponte, Gonzales, and Bush are all part of the NSA/spying issue.

[spindrifter]

20. How much is the

word of any "spook" worth? The very nature of the job is dissimulation.

[blm]

21. Actually, Feingold and Kerry did speak out publicly against confirmation

making highly charged comments against Hayden and I am surprised that others weren't moved to do the same. But, then the media does its thing.

Whenever the media can keep the heat down enough, and not give much airtime to the dissent, they get to shape the debate for the vote.

[LincolnMcGrath]

22. Keeping their powder dry?

still

[joemurphy]

25. Acquiescing in his appointment is one thing...

The Republicans had the votes to get him through, I suppose. But why a Democrat would vote FOR Hayden baffles me. This guy was running a warrantless wiretapping program avoiding the FISA courts for no reason and then gathering intelligence on the phoning patterns of millions of U.S. citizens.

Maybe he was being a good soldier. But we obviously need someone running the CIA with a tad bit of spine. Tenet didn't have any and we got the Iraq War. Why should a Dem vote for another invertebrate?

[IndianaGreen]

27. Lieberman and Biden voted for Hayden

Well known DLCers Bayh and Hillary voted against Hayden. Why didn't all the other Democrats vote against Hayden? I understand Lieberman's vote, he will never go against Bush. Biden is just a clueless imperialist without Joementum's real hair.

[joemurphy]

28. Levin and Leahy's votes are harder for me to figure. n/t

[Vidar]

40. Those were bitter pills to swallow.

[marmar]

26. Here are the "no" voters:

NAYs ---15
Bayh (D-IN)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Obama (D-IL)
Specter (R-PA)
Wyden (D-OR)

[tulip]

33. All my favorites!

:)

Glad to see that there are still some Democrats with their constituants in mind.

[bdamomma]

37. one question did specter vote

No on another thread here, they said spector voted for Hayden.

[Olney Blue]

29. These are the senators voting Nay (spector was a protest vote)

NAYs --- 15
Bayh (D-IN)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Obama (D-IL)
Specter (R-PA)
Wyden (D-OR)

[shell5960v]

31. I am so incredibly sick of this .....

Yes! Democrats are not acting on THIS (today, it is Hayden, but for the past 6 years, it has been many other things) -- they are "keeping their powder dry" for something IMPORTANT! BULLSHIT! They are scared rabbits -- I say, for starters, vote ALL out who voted FOR Hayden. Then go from there.

Who cares if they have a D behind their name rather than an R. ALL those who act like fascists (or support them) are Republicans. And they must ALL go.

[bdamomma]

34. Specter voted NO

now that is weird, like Mike Malloy just said we have no opposition party, everyone has to just "fall in line", sorry, I will not do it.

[life_long_dem]

35. Welcome to DU...

What is the shelf life of dry powder? LOL
It must have expired, that's why they don't use it.

[leesa]

36. Because they are rich and they approve of Bush's dictatorial takeover

Go Corporations!! Ask Diane Feinstein, who acknowledged the anti-constitutional tragedy of the illegal tapping and then proceeded to vote for its architect. They're making money, man.

[jerry611]

39. Because Dems are just about as equally corrupt

Both political parties are bought and paid for. Both are ran by rich white men.

[Zhade]

41. Why was there so little German Democratic opposition to Hitler?

NT!

[Clarkie1]

42. I think some saw him as an experienced, capable administrator.

Who would do a better job of running the CIA. Feinstein said there are very few people in the world capable of running the CIA effectively. I don't know if that's true or not, but I think that's why some Dems voted for him. They saw him as the best choice under the circumstances.

And, we can still have our congressional investigations on illegal wiretapping once we retake the congress. Hayden was advised by Gonzales and others the program was legal when he carried it out, and that's where the focus of the investigation should be...the higher-ups. We really do need an investigation resolve the issue.