Democrats.com: What Congressional Democrats Must Do This Week

[Hissyspit]

Via E-Mail:

What Congressional Democrats Must Do This Week

As we all know, last week was horrendous for Senate Democrats. They couldn't pass the Dodd bill to restore Habeas Corpus, the Webb Amendment to rest our troops, or the Feingold-Reid Amendment to mostly leave Iraq by June 2008. And then 23 Democrats joined all the Republicans to outrageously attack Moveon for a completely factual newspaper ad.

Until now, we have asked you to write your Representatives about each important bill separately. But when Congress is this busy, there just isn't enough time for separate mailings.

So we're introducing a new strategy called the Democratic Weekly Agenda:
http://democrats.com/weekly-agenda

Whenever Congress is busy voting, we'll try to identify all of the important upcoming votes and put them together into a single weekly petition.

Today's Weekly Agenda includes:

1. Join the 81 Members who have signed the Progressive Caucus "Peace Pledge"

2. Oppose amnesty and immunity for telephone companies that illegally spied on American citizens without a warrant.

3. Oppose Michael Mukasey for Attorney General

4. Oppose the Lieberman-Kyl-Graham-Coleman Declaration of War on Iran

5. Support the Feinstein-Harkin bill to close Guantanamo

6. Oppose Hans von Spakovsky for FEC Commissioner because of his key role in illegal voter suppression, disciminatory and illegal voter ID laws, the illegal TX redistricting engineered by Tom DeLay, and the stolen election in Florida

7. Support the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

8. Investigate Newsweek's report that Dick Cheney is trying to provoke a war with Iran

9. Co-sponsor H.Res. 333 to Impeach Dick Cheney for lying about Iraq

10. Impeach George Bush for at least 10 egregiously impeachable offenses

Send them all to your Representatives with one click:

http://democrats.com/weekly-agenda

And tell your friends!

(Please note: when we get thousands of petition submissions at the same time our server slows down, so just make a note to try again in a couple of hours. In the meantime we're working to beef up our servers.)

[emlev]

1. K&R!

[scarletwoman]

2. It's touching, really, that some people still cling to the notion that the Democrats might actually

give a shit.

No slam meant on you, Hissyspit, I think you're a way cool DUer. And I actually went to the link and sent off my email.

But I know it won't do any damn good.

k&r anyway,
sw

[Hissyspit]

3. I know what you mean, SW. n/t

[scarletwoman]

4. I neglected to thank you for posting that link. So let me kick this with my thanks. (nt)

[autorank]

5. My last official act of the day. K*R

That's the way to do it, flood them with a mini manifesto.

They need it in big print too.

If they let the phone companies off, I'll have huge problems with this, totally.

Great idea!

[jillan]

6. You know what - this is just like the repub play book.

But what the heck - if Harry isn't going to get them together, I am glad someone else is trying to.

[gateley]

7. What about the Biden-Brownback-Boxer amendment? That's coming up tomorrow!

[Senator]

8. K&R&I(Impeach)

[mogster]

9. Ten points that would clean up a bit

K&R :-)

[Hissyspit]

10. .

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. My "anti-war" (D) rep has recently turned coats and supports the "surge".

Brian Baird. He had a well escorted "tour" of Iraq and talked to the brass and operatives. He now supports the surge. He wrote an editorial in the Seattle Times and posted it on his website. Some snippets from the editorial follow.

I have informed him that I have a tender nose and his new stance has exceeded it's pain limits and that his his chance of getting my vote in 2008 are about equal to that of his new found pal mentors "achieving victory".


Washington, D.C. - The invasion of Iraq may be one of the worst foreign-policy mistakes in the history of our nation. As tragic and costly as that mistake has been, a precipitous or premature withdrawal of our forces now has the potential to turn the initial errors into an even greater problem just as success looks possible.

As a Democrat who voted against the war from the outset and who has been frankly critical of the administration and the post-invasion strategy, I am convinced by the evidence that the situation has at long last begun to change substantially for the better. I believe Iraq could have a positive future. Our diplomatic and military leaders in Iraq, their current strategy, and most importantly, our troops and the Iraqi people themselves, deserve our continued support and more time to succeed.

I understand the desire of many of our citizens and my colleagues in Congress to bring the troops home as soon as possible. The costs have been horrific for our soldiers, their families, the Iraqi people and the economy. If we keep our troops on the ground we will lose more lives, continue to spend billions each week, and, given the history and complex interests of the region, there is no certainty that our efforts will succeed in the long run. We must be absolutely honest about these costs and risks and I am both profoundly saddened and angry that we are where we are.

Knowing all this, how can someone who opposed the war now call for continuing the new directions that have been taken in Iraq? The answer is that the people, strategies and facts on the ground have changed for the better and those changes justify changing our position on what should be done.

Regardless of one's politics or position on the invasion, this must be recognized and welcomed as good news.

Our soldiers are reclaiming ground and capturing or killing high-priority targets on a daily basis. Sheiks and tribal groups are uniting to fight against the extremists and have virtually eliminated al-Qaida from certain areas. The Iraqi military and police are making progress in their training, taking more responsibility for bringing the fight to the insurgents and realizing important victories. Businesses and factories that were once closed are being reopened and people are working again. The infrastructure is gradually being repaired and markets are returning to life.

Those problems notwithstanding, to walk away now from the recent gains would be to lose all the progress that has been purchased at such a dear price in lives and dollars. As one soldier said to me, "We have lost so many good people and invested so much, It just doesn't make sense to quit now when we're finally making progress. I want to go home as much as anyone else, but I want this mission to succeed and I'm willing to do what it takes. I just want to know the people back home know we're making progress and support us."

Progress is being made and there is real reason for hope. It would be a tragic waste and lasting strategic blunder to let the hard-fought and important gains slip away, leaving chaos behind to haunt us and our allies for many years to come.

[bvar22]

12. This is a disturbing trend not limited to your particular rep.

This appears to be the official position of the Democratic Party Establishment.

Overheard multiple times on all the talking head political shows:
"Of Course, we are going to be in Iraq for a long time. Get used to it"--Democratic Party

[riverdeep]

13. Take a look at the back of his neck if you get a chance.

It sounds like they implanted a chip in there, the scar may still be visible. "making progress", "mission just about to succeed", "facts on the ground", blah blah blah...

[riverdeep]

14. I don't think we have a chance to block #3,

Mukasey's getting in. Schumer loves him and wants to have his children.
Short of pulling out a newborn from a tote bag and chomping away, expectations have been lowered so much with Gonzo, that Mukasey appears brilliant by comparision.

[silverweb]

15. This is a GREAT mailing list to be on.

I was going to post this, but am glad you beat me to it.

It's time that Congress give OUR weekly agenda top priority, not BushCorp's version and not industry's versions.

Congress works for We the People -- and we need to remind them regularly and forcefully that we expect OUR agenda to be their top priority.