18 Democrats Voted To Enrich the Rich…

[The Whiskey Priest]

This is one more nail driven in the coffin of the American Dream. A dream that held that if you worked hard, sacrificed your children might have a better life. That day, if it existed, is surely now over. We can thank the Ultra-conservatives, neo-cons and neo-libs for the coup de grace. In reality what we have is a major revival of the Federalist dreams of Alexander Hamilton which envisioned a ruling class in the country based on wealth, property and inheritance. Its no longer how hard you work, lord knows most of us are working as hard as possible, no, today it is decided in the maternity ward…if you come out of the correct womb you win, otherwise, you are a beta, alphas are superior, betas are workers.

Take a look and know the faces of the traitors. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060203/ap_on_go_co/senate_rollvote_taxes

[upi402]

1. Here's the DINO list

Democrats Yes

Baucus, Mont.; Cantwell, Wash.; Carper, Del.; Clinton, N.Y.; Dayton, Minn.; Feinstein, Calif.; Inouye, Hawaii; Johnson, S.D.; Landrieu, La.; Lincoln, Ark.; Menendez, N.J.; Nelson, Fla.; Nelson, Neb.; Pryor, Ark.; Rockefeller, W.Va.; Salazar, Colo.; Schumer, N.Y.; Stabenow, Mich

from link

[in_cog_ni_to]

6. DiFi! Mark Dayton???????? Menendez???? SCHUMER??*&^%$

Debbie Stabenow???*&^%$

WTF? What is wrong with those people?

The other DINOs on the list are the usual suspects. What on EARTH is Landrieu thinking?????*sigh*

[Tigress DEM]

55. Dayton and Clinton.

Two thoughts.

1) They are both in the tax bracket that benefits. Coud be simple greed.

or

2) Bills like these usually have something attached that if crushed with the NO to the tax increase may not get another round. Could be body armor for the troops or something. This whole set up all votes as a lose - lose proposition for DEMS has been elavated to an art by rethugs.

Still Dayton is my guy and I don't care if his ass is on the way out of the Senate seat. I want an explanation.

[Ladyhawk]

63. I expected DiFi to be on the list.

She is definitely a corporate whore.

[natrat]

73. wake up--- DIFI is a full on scumbag

[TInCanCommunications]

14. Stabenow will be getting a letter from my home

How in the hell are we supposed to support these pukes????

[upi402]

36. I know what you mean. I don't support DINO's

It's too damn sad. I end up feeling betrayed.

[rucky]

35. Do they all take turns acting like DINOS?

so nobody has to take the brunt of it?

do they draw straws every time, or do they have a "chore wheel" like we did growing up?

[OnionPatch]

58. I think you're onto something

n/t

[abex]

87. i do too

some get to play liberal heroes one day so they can show their true colors the next. confusing to the rank and file to say the least.

[Craig3410]

71. Good old Lincoln/Pryor! Making me and my state proud!!

(Do I really need a :sarcasm: tag?)

[tatertop]

2. we must ponder this deep and hard

the time to leave the USA may be now

[upi402]

5. I asked myself, "was I right about * and everything else too?"

answer; YES

I think it's the right decision to work towards an organized departure, before it becomes a scramble.

[tatertop]

8. It really really hurts me to think this way

[upi402]

13. i consider myself a patriot. if there were a way to change it i'd stay

[tatertop]

27. this is a hard call

[upi402]

29. the hardest

I have akid, so it makes it more requisite, AND much more difficult. My ex wife is not politically aware at all. She is in a union and yet asked me what I think of Reagan when he died...

I have some splainin' to do.

[tatertop]

78. O boy. The truth of the matter is so bizarre it seems like science fiction

[niyad]

3. here goes another call to my idiot salazar.

[Nutmegger]

4. At least I don't have to phone LIEberman!!!

:woohoo:

It sucks though, it really does. Meanwhile students (such as myself), workers and everyone in between are getting a screw job thanks to Bush Inc.

[FreedomAngel82]

12. Now that is a shock!!

Chafee voted no again on a republican bill. Wow. I'm surprised.

[neverevergivein]

7. Are you freaking kidding me?

Unreal. Just unreal.

[moondust]

OMG.

The freaking ijits from OK voted No yet 18 DINOs said Yes? Pass the smelling salts!

[qanda]

9. Why?

I don't understand this vote at all.

[Pirate Smile]

11. It was a vote for tax cuts. It was NOT a vote for those atrocious budget

cuts that were passed solely by Republicans - without the vote of one Democrat.

edit to add - Republicans voted for the tax cuts AND voted to cut poor and middle class student loans, medicare benefits and other aid to the people that need it.

[TInCanCommunications]

17. Great ... so they can vote for tax cuts and against the spending cuts

and then claim to be fiscally responsible.

I know how that'll play.

Cowardly fuckers.


Green, anyone?

[Pirate Smile]

21. I just wanted to make it clear what the vote was on because the person

I responded to asked.

I don't want anyone to confuse the two different votes.

[TInCanCommunications]

24. Cool

nm

[Pirate Smile]

30. I bet this provision was why some voted for it:

"The central feature of the tax bill, left over from last year's agenda, holds back the alternative minimum tax, which threatens millions of families with higher taxes this year unless lawmakers stop its growth.

Originally intended to prevent the wealthy from erasing their tax liabilities through deductions and credits, the alternative minimum tax encroaches further on the middle class each year. Inflation and recently passed tax cuts have fueled its growth."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060203/ap_on_go_co/congress_taxes;_ylt=AmtsOKR6XUsQNQFyALhWTI.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

This is the Yahoo article on the specific bill:

Senate Passes $70 Billion Tax Bill By MARY DALRYMPLE, AP Tax Writer
1 hour, 20 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Senate passed $70 billion in tax cuts Thursday, one step in an effort that Republican leaders hope will preserve President Bush's tax reductions for capital gains and dividends.

Despite the bipartisan 66-31 vote, Republicans and Democrats showed they're ready to lock horns this election year. They spent most of the day wrangling over whether to use the tax bill to debate a long list of politically hot topics, refusing to skip formalities normally ignored by agreement among party leaders.

"This is not a good sign of the times," said Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record), R-Miss.

The central feature of the tax bill, left over from last year's agenda, holds back the alternative minimum tax, which threatens millions of families with higher taxes this year unless lawmakers stop its growth.

[The Whiskey Priest]

31. That was cover for this

The House version of the bill carries a top GOP priority, a two-year extension of the Bush administration's tax cuts on investment income. Though not scheduled to expire until the end of 2008, many Republicans want to act now to give the tax breaks a longer life.

Republicans expect the final version of the bill to extend tax cuts for capital gains and dividends. It will be up to negotiators to determine how to use their instructions to cut taxes by as much as $70 billion over five years to deal with the growing alternative minimum tax and expiring tax breaks for investors.

[SillyGoose]

70. Thanks for posting that article. Can you help me figure this part out?

The Senate's tax bill, which passed 66-31 on Thursday, seeks to stop the alternative minimum tax from falling on more middle class families. It also includes nonbinding language expressing that the alternative minimum tax should be a more important priority than reduced taxes on capital gains and dividends.

Nonbinding. Does that mean it can be dropped from the bill? I'm getting the sense that some democrats voted for this bill because of the alternative minimum tax, but would nonbinding language render it a moot point in some future negotiations?

I ask because of the last sentence regarding "future negotiations":

In an unusual move, senators used the tax bill to authorize more spending for military equipment, along with more money for veterans health care, disability compensation and hospitals. The added spending probably will not survive future negotiations.

[autorank]

52. But if you vote for tax cuts, you guarantee the rationale for budget cuts.

And, OMG! Coburn, R, OK voted NO! Coburn, R, OK, NO. We are so fucked!

[Pirate Smile]

66. I don't support the vote. I was just somewhat surprised at the

vehemence of the reactions - like moving out of the country but I do understand people were talking about it as a cumulative thing, not just one single vote.

[autorank]

77. Move out of the country, no way. Stay and annoy them, fight, win!;)

Incrementalism is the new approach. Any contribtions to the demise of the social contract, like these tax cuts, is now unacceptable. I think it's about time we function as a party but I do get surprised when people are ready to pack their pags.

[napi21]

10. So, Feinstein and Clinton voted YES!

Well, I guess that just crossed them off my list of candidates for 08! I actually had high hopes for Feinstein, but...too bad.

I see Biden voted NO!

Awe shit, I've been saying all along that we shouldn't run a Senator. Now I'm convinced!

[FreedomAngel82]

15. Only John Kerry

He's been on the right track since November 2004. And doesn't he still have the suit in Ohio for August 2006?

[sandnsea]

38. He almost always has been

The only non-liberal things he's ever voted for were some trade agreements, NCLB, IWR and Patriot Act which even Paul Wellstone voted for. And NCLB was Kennedy's bill. He's never voted for all this crap which is why I can't quite figure out where the Kerry hatred comes from. Supporting the kind of trade that even poverty groups advocate doesn't make him a heathen. Just like IWR doesn't make him a warmonger.

[upi402]

43. Pro-NAFTA poverty groups?

Well aint that America.
Kerry was not that stupid, however. I know for a fact he knew what the NAFTA would bring. Ant idiot would. There's no excuse for that one. The others have a claim to value at least, or deception victim argument.

Not NAFTA, no way.

[sandnsea]

46. International poverty groups

Yes, they are advocating trade as a means to improve economies in the most poverty stricken parts of the world. They're advocating ground up trade though, not corporate trickle down. Because Kerry has always fought for environmental, labor and human rights standards in those trade bills, I know that's his intention too. I also know that a Democratic President would have invested in new technologies in this country so we would have had new industries to work in so that the outsourcing wouldn't have hurt so badly. They should have foreseen this shit and fixed these treaties before Clinton left office, but it wouldn't have done anything about Bush sucking the country dry for his corporate buddies anyway. That's just what they do, one way or the other.

[Tigress DEM]

56. Kerry is MY President, but I understand some of the angst.

He's like the father who is a wonderful man, but goes to work and lets his wife beat the kids in his absence. Kids and wife know he knows, so the betrayal and lack of spine even if unspoken condem him for his part in the pain and fear.

He would have garnered our full faith if he had fought tooth and nail for the 2004 Presidency even if he'd failed. When people are upset it's because he didn't even try.

God, to imagine HOW differnt things would be if Kerry had gotten things cleared up back then .... Part of it is our own fault too. Couldn't see past the "anyone but Bush" mentality to the solid man Kerry is because we're somewhat close to the soud bite disease ourselves. Kerry didn't have the glam we expect in a candidate and he kept picking the high road in a dirty political campaign.

We still DID elect him and the way he's acting recently shows us we weren't wrong to vote for him.

[shanti]

48. hold on now...

i hate this as much as you, but let's see how she votes on the patriot act extension. if she votes yes on that, it won't matter how she voted on this one.

[natrat]

75. they mix it up -one day difi votes with the pigs next its hil etc etc

enough to ensure passage--these people suck

[seabeyond]

16. all it said was tax cuts. tax cuts to whom? anybody know

anything about the bill?

[TInCanCommunications]

19. Does it matter?

Tax cuts to anyone when Massive spending cuts are on the table is ludicrous.

[seabeyond]

23. shruggin shoulders. i still like to be informed

to know fully what i am bitching about. wouldnt be bitching quite as loud and hard if it were to small business being encouraged to give employees health care. (and i know that isnt what is happening since so many repugs voted.) just saying. i like to knw facts

[TInCanCommunications]

26. I hear ya

It's just demoralizing all the same.

I'm the editor of a small newspaper in a very conservative town south of Ann Arbor.
I doubt my very republican publisher would mind if I call up Stabenow's office and raise hell.

[Pirate Smile]

34. Check post 30 above. I linked to an article on the bill.

Just to clarify because I didn't think it was very clear exactly what the bill was the Senate voted on.

[sandnsea]

44. It extends the 2003 tax cuts

I don't remember what that round of tax cuts did. They all should have voted no, but I bet a few voted yes because they had voted yes in 2003 or because there was something specific for their own state. I suppose we should go over it, one by one to see if any of them had a legitimate motive. But I'm too sick about it to do it now.

[natrat]

76. please with the ammount of bribery going on these days

[Tigress DEM]

57. The same tax cuts we've been fighting all this time.

They are weighted by income, so the rich benefit the most and it is really a terrible discrepency. The top 1 % of US population hold 57 % of the wealth now. And with the capital gains tax revamped they keep it, pass it on to their kids and create an aristocracy - making it almost impossible for the average American to get into the game at all.

Then the magic number for tax cuts to really be more than enough for a dinner out or a short vacation is $300,000.00.

Anyone making less than that doesn't get enough back to even call it a tax cut AND the pRes shifts the tax burden to those in the middle class, those making under $300,000.00, to make it up for the programs that get cut because states wind up pushing property taxes higher and the rich have the accountants searching for loopholes and such so they don't pay much tax anyway.

Those corporations that hide out in the Bahamas so they don't have to pay US taxes? Some of them get money back in this deal. Sound fair to you?

[TheFarseer]

18. Is this for new tax cuts?

or to keep the old tax cuts?

[Dhalgren]

20. We're fucked. This is our "stab in the back' part 2...

[Pirate Smile]

25. What do you mean?

I think it would have been a stab in the back if they voted to cut students off student loans and poor people off medicare, etc. That wasn't this vote.

Is everyone clear on what this vote was about?

[Dhalgren]

80. The vote I was talking about was the extension of the tax

give away to the wealthiest class in the country. The extension of the tax package that forces the poor and middle class to subsidize the rich. That is the vote that these 18 Democrats used to stab us in the back.

[depakid]

22. So, if thees dems hadn't sold us out (yet again)

The bill wouldn't have passed.

"Voting "yes" were 18 Democrats and 48 Republicans."

Until the party takes action to get rid of (or at least punish) most of these DINO's, it's destined to remain irrelevant.

Forget 2006- with the pathetic actions this week- it's a total lost cause-

Start thinking long term. And start making life tough for the people who've done as much to cause the problems by legitimizing and enabling far right policies.

My DINO might win- but it won't be with my vote- and it'll be in spite of at least an LTTE that the Oregonian will be likely to print.

[Buck Rabbit]

95. Wyden voted No. Did I miss something?

The only one we can take this out on is our Rino Gordo Smith, who amazingly got scolded big time in an editorial in the Republican owned Oregonian over this vote.

[G_j]

28. Check this out

Santa's list: Which Dem Senators are Naughty and Nice
by Zodiak Ironfist

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/18/19162/775

and this:

ProgressivePunch is a non-partisan searchable database of Congressional voting records from a Progressive perspective. But we're convinced it's extremely useful irrespective of anyone's political positions.
We show the performance of members within 160 different issue categories, and detailed vote descriptions, thereby empowering you to zero in on what matters to you. To see how progressively your member has voted or explore a policy issue that interests you, select from a search option below.

Most 2005 votes now posted
http://www.progressivepunch.org/

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

32. Cantwell keeps giving me reasons not to vote for her.

IWR, Alito, now this. She can stop any time. I already decided not to vote for her sorry ass after her vote for the war.

[leftstreet]

37. I think she's probably toast.

Which is sad, because her seat will end up in the hands of her Republican contender.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

39. Perhaps. But, being the "not as bad" candidate isn't good enough.

[leftstreet]

42. Yep.

I won't vote for her.

So it's sad.

[fujiyama]

88. YOu know aa few months ago

I mightt have started arguing with you for that. I would still urge you to vote for the Dem (nose holding and all) against ththe puke in any situation...

But I understand the frustration and angerr tthat is brewing in the party because I share it! A few of them seem to be selling us out repeatedly. It's indefensible. My senator voted for it too, which pisses me off (she also voted for the bankruptcy bill), but she's been ok on IWR and Alito (voted against cloture and Alito as well). I'll vote for her, not very enthusiastically, but just so some lunatic won't win my state.

I'd have a harder time votting for DiFi or Lieberman thouugh. I don't know if I'd be able to acttually do it.

[raysr]

89. She must going

for a scorched earth policy, "If they're gonna vote me out I'm gonna fuck 'em".

[fooj]

33. Looks like Saturday afternoon at the club!

:grr:

[sandnsea]

40. Hamilton's Federalist Dreams

That's exactly what I've been thinking lately. We need to remind Americans that in 1789 the federal government was not the Federalism Hamilton spoke of. Federalism was the Presidency and Congress was the voice of the people, through the people and the states. Giving the Executive authority over Congress is destroying representative government, that "of the people" thingy. We're destroying the very democracy we're most proud of.

[WCGreen]

41. This was to make the 2003 tax cuts permenant.....

Voinovich, a Senator from my state, must be having second thoughts about the country he is leaving to his grandkids......

If you were ever considering voting for HRC for pres......

[sandnsea]

45. Stabenow

Was there something specific in there for the auto industry? We really should know which ones were just dicks and which ones had a legitimate reason that would have trounced them in Nov.

[PassingFair]

86. It was her turn on the big DLC wheel of misfortune.

They mix it up, but they do the math first.

[insanity]

47. 18 more people who still don't get it

The middleclass is the backbone of America and when it snaps all the rich people are going to be screwed too.

[clitzpah queen]

49. WTF???? Clinton and Schumer - BOTH Yes on this - Big Money Talks

Their Bullshit walks. Time to Call them up for some explaining to do......

[Susan43]

50. I'm shocked!

First Maria Cantwell voted for cloture and now she is voting for that bastard of a budget.

It's time to take a good look at her opponent.

I am so disgusted I'm just nauseated.

[TheModernTerrorist]

51. what the hell? STABENOW????

Why would SHE vote for this?

I need to know. I'm mailing her...

[OneBlueSky]

53. and on the same day they voted to cut Medicare, Medicaid and . . .

student loans . . . disgusting and disgraceful . . . whichever progressive runs against Hillary in the primary has my vote . . .

[jus_the_facts]

54. who gives a flyin' fuck through a flamin' hoola hoop anymore.....

....every day this whole goddamn week...not to mention the last 6 yrs. or so...it's been proved the gov't is completely FUBAR and there are NO SIDES...wake the fuck up and smell the excrement. :eyes:

...when in Rome... :nopity:

[Justice Is Comin]

62. It's like we're on a

goddamn roulette wheel and we never know if we're going to end up on red or black.

[bklyncowgirl]

59. This sort of slipped under the radar screen.

Menendez will be getting a little note from me. These tax cuts are bad for America.

[Hubert Flottz]

60. The Important thing is, that ...

The King got what he wanted!

Edit: The Duke Of West Virginia always votes to hand EVERYTHING to the GOP that they want. He kept quiet about the spying for a year, so Bush could win.

[Cobalt Violet]

61. NO Shillery in 2008.

:puke: Why don't we just nominate a republican. I will not be supporting her.

[LincolnMcGrath]

64. How about it Anti-Progressives? Pro-DLCers? Run4Center Types?

To busy blaming the leftists for all the Party's failures to check in here and discuss this? :puke:

[LincolnMcGrath]

65. Still Waiting................

[LincolnMcGrath]

85. I'm STILL WAITING!

[LincolnMcGrath]

91. I'm STILL WAITING!

[Skidmore]

67. If you want to discuss this with Landrieu, she's on CSPAN WJ next

This morning.

[jus_the_facts]

83. She's got her head so far up the repukes asses she's blind..deaf and dumb.

....there is NO talkin' to her...she's ABOVE it ALL...at least until she LOSES...don't even think changin' her party affiliation will help her in the end. :nopity:

[greatauntoftriplets]

68. Coburn and Inhofe voted with most Democrats?????????

THAT is a shock!

Happily, my two Democratic senators voted no.

:D

[Justice Is Comin]

69. I heard somewhere that Boxer

was going to try and slip something into that bill regarding the spying. At least that's what I think it was. I heard she was going to propose something that had nothing to do with taxes and slip it in there.

I wonder if she did. :hide:

[natrat]

72. figures that old dried scumbag prune DIFI is on that list nt

[bigwillq]

74. I'm glad that Dodd

and Lieberman voted "No". But I am still not voting for Lieberman this year.

[Pirate Smile]

82. Connecticut sounds like it will be very interesting this year.

Here is a diary on Shays and Lieberman from Daily Kos.

Shays should get his ass kicked this time by Diane Farrell.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/3/94916/24035

[ariellyn]

79. "No": Durbin and Obama. Good to hear. nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

81. Given that something like 1/3 of the folk on the Hill are Millionaires...

why should we be surprised?

[2Design]

84. notice hilary clinton (faux dem ) voted for the tax cut

she is not a dem - she has been leaning more and more toward bush - for bush and just in his back pocket

[iconoclastNYC]

90. We can take back the party. We will. We must.

DU helps. MoveOn helps. Bloggers help. Michael Moore Helps. The internet has us linked up and we've just started our project to take back control of the party for the people.

[Sparkman]

92. IF BOXER were to run for President...gotta luv the girl that hangs her ass

on the line EVERY TIME. I gotta blow her a big kiss.

[Sparkman]

93. What's the cut on deficit borrowing for the central bank loans?

[onenote]

94. So let me get this straight: if these 18 Dems are DINOs

And six of the Democrats that voted no are DINOs anyway because they are DLCers (Bayh, Conrad, Biden, Dodd, Dorgan and Lieberman) and three others (Byrd, Akaka and Kohl) are DINOs because they voted for cloture on the Alito nomination. So that mean there are only 17 real Democrats in the Senate according to folks who like to toss the DINO label around. (Of course, if you factor in the votes cast for the IWR by Harkin, Kerry, and Reid, you're up to 30 DINOs and only 14 "real" Democrats).

Man, its tough to be a "real" Democrat in the eyes of this group.

onenote

[KamaAina]

96. Eurghh. Inouye, or as we sometimes say, "In-Your-Way".

Meanwhile Akaka, who did the right thing here, is facing a primary challenge from platinum DINO Card holder Rep. Ed Case, while repuke Gov. Lingle stands aside with that little smirk of hers, a million-dollar war chest (half of it raised on the mainland) and no credible Dem opponent. What is Case thinking?