What the Dems really need....

[Bigmack]

Looks like the Dems are going to win (perhaps) both houses of Congress.

What the Dems need to do - even before they win - is to set up some sort of "Keeping It Real" committee.

The job of the committee would be to watch Dem members and get to them before some dumbshit gets involved in some massive scandal and embarrasses our whole side of the Congress. Some senior congressfolks who have a lot of street cred and power who could crush anybody who didn't cooperate. No fucking your secretary, no grabass with the pages, no gratuitous drugs, no unseemly bribes, etc.

Something like the Roman slave who would ride on the chariot with the victorious general in his victory parade and whisper "Remember, you are just a man." in his ear.

Power corrupts....

Let's learn from the Pubs screwups.

[elocs]

1. I don't see much of an example here at DU of keeping it real.

There are so many who are consumed with getting revenge on Bush. They dress it up with the nobility of calling it "justice", but it still is about revenge. They have Bush and Cheney impeached by the House (possible), convicted in the Senate (won't happen), and then marched off to the Hague in cuffs to be tried for war crimes (the #1 Democrat fantasy). Not a lot of connection with reality there. When the Democrats were in power before the Republicans complained that they were shut out so when they took power they did it too, only worse. This is the Hatfields and the McCoys and so I fully expect the Democrats to keep it up and stick it to the Republicans even worse. Yes, power does corrupt, so I would anticipate scandals of all kinds because people never learn, plus they don't think they will ever get caught anyways. It would be nice if things were different, but there is too much of a lust for revenge, for vengeance, to repay the Republicans in spades for everything they have done to us, only to ultimately discover that what goes around comes around.

[TygrBright]

2. We have our share of screwups, and the GOPpies will be...

...pecksniffing them diligently, as the Dem leadership knows. Sooner or later (probably sooner, if I know my GOPpies,) some Dem schmuck will have her or his dirty laundry dragged out and paraded around. There is NO way to prevent it, and setting up some kind of morals-monitoring proctorship in Dem ranks won't help, it will only keep the leadership from building the unity and coherence needed to get down to business cleaning the stables.

What will distinguish us from the GOPpies, I hope, is that our leadership will immediately re-institute a STRONG ethics committee with real teeth, will fairly investigate every credible allegation, and will take decisive action, even against "our own," if warranted.

The other thing we can do to hang onto the momentum and keep the tide turning is to go to work immediately on a POSITIVE agenda, not just investigations and housecleaning. Make some POSITIVE changes that will have real effects for average folks. Repealing the godawful bankruptcy bill would be a start, and/or raising the minimum wage, and/or eliminating a largish chunk of corporate welfare expenses from the public budget and using the money to pay down principle on the national debt.

THOSE are the things that will generate solid support for a Dem majority. Yes, we have to hold the shitheels who damn' near destroyed the Constitution and trashed our standing in the world accountable, but that can't be seen as the only thing or even the main thing that a Dem majority seeks in its first few months in office.

concernedly,
Bright