Today, May 11th 2008, how happy are you with Congressional Democrats?

[bryant69]

This question requires no further elucidation.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[bryant69]

1. What is bullshit about this poll? Or is it the Pollster you object to? n/t

[LSK]

6. who are you replying to?

:shrug:

[dave_p]

10. It was a reference to option 6

... by the pollster

[dave_p]

9. All pollsters are evil

Always asking questions, wanting to know stuff. Why can't they leave us alone? It's like they want us to think. They won't be happy till we end up like... er, Greece.

[Rydz777]

2. Pleased with them. Not all - but yesterday 169 of them (and 2

Repubs) voted in effect to end the war (the Jim McGovern bill, D-MA). This was a much higher number than had been expected and is line with what the American people want. Out NOW.

[AndyA]

3. Lukewarm.

They are moving in the right direction, just not quite fast enough for me.

I want to know why Gonzo wasn't under oath yesterday. That was a mistake.

I want to know why Congress is already backing off on taking free jet trips and paid flights from lobbyists.

And I want to know what it's going to take for them to start impeachment proceedings against George Bush and Dick Cheney. To not go after them is an endorsement on all the things they've done wrong, and sets a very bad precedent for future administrations, be they Democratic or Republican.

The average American citizen would not be permitted to get away with such crimes, neither should the President and Vice President.

[bryant69]

4. That's not entirely fair i don't think saying that they endorse because they don't impeach

It is a problem in this country because impeachment is both a political and a judicial process. If we had the Supreme Court in charge of impeachment, I think you'd be right. But out Congresscritters have to make a call about a) whether or not the evidence exists that warrants impeachment b) whether or not they can successfully prosecute impeachment from a political angle c) whether or not the American people will stay behind them through a long and tricky proceeding, d) whether or not they will pay a price from America for doing the right thing.

It's not a simple matter for them, and while I think we are moving closer to an impeachment (thank you Gonzeles) I don't think the failure to start an impeachment makes them complicit. IWR would be a better bet.

Bryant

[Greyhound]

15. Isn't there a legal premise that if you remain silent you're understood to consent? n/t

[bryant69]

16. I would agree with that premise, but don't think Congressional Democrats

have stayed silent. There is a range of responses between staying silent and impeachment.

Bryant

[Greyhound]

19. Yes, there has to be investigation prior to impeachment, and correct me if I'm wrong, bu I think

the proposal to impeach is the mechanism to begin the investigations.

As I understand it, the articles of impeachment are roughly equivalent to grand jury investigations which determines whether to indict or not. Impeachment is merely the indictment, the determination that there is evidence to move to trial, and then the actual trial is conducted in the Senate

[bryant69]

21. That is correct - I'm shakey on the terminology, but the mechanism

seems right.

On the other hand i don't think that the proposal to impeach is the only mechanism to begin investigations. Conyers is doing a pretty good job for example, without impeachment hearings.

Bryant

[LSK]

7. what happened to Gonzo when he was under oath to the Senate?

NOTHING.

[AndyA]

12. Nothing...YET. It ain't over.

The fat lady may be on stage, but she isn't at the mike yet, and she hasn't started singing.

[LSK]

5. I am pleased with them because I understand their slim hold on power

And the FACT that they cannot break filibusters in the Senate.

[hogwyld]

8. Angry

That they have'nt begun impeachment proceedings.

[ThomWV]

11. If They'll IMPEACH I'll Love Every Single One Of Them

[The Stranger]

13. Russ and Dennis?

Those are the only two that qualify.

[peace13]

18. The last of the true American that happen to be politicians.

I sent Dennis money last week. How can we not support him? Russ is pretty amazing as well. peace, Kim

[dave_p]

14. Pleased but wanting more

They said they'd be cautious. Given that, they've made a good start. I want wider investigations to build up the case against the Admin. With only 18 months to go, a start needs to be made on exposing what actually happened under this sham Presidency.

[sandnsea]

17. We could have the Republican Congress back

The problem is a backwards kind of thinking that plagues a certain group of Democrats because of their constituency.

[warren pease]

20. Mainly furious...

I'm furious that Gonzales wasn't asked who ordered the names placed on the DoJ hit list, would have lied or "not remembered" if he had been asked, and would have gotten yet another of the hundreds of passes he's been collecting from our softball inquisitors.

I'm furious that he wasn't placed under oath, even though it wasn't literally necessary, but would have certainly increased the perception that serious fucking business was taking place.

I'm furious that the most common response to Kucinich's articles of impeachment on Cheney has been widespread laughter -- and not just by the GOPers, from whom you'd expect it -- but from many members of our fine opposition party as well.

I'm furious that Rice can actually decide whether to comply with a congressional subpoena, when I know that I'd be in jail if I tried the same tactic.

I'm furious that Rove is still walking the streets when he should have been in prison -- or possibly executed -- some time ago for treason in the Plame case. Not to mention a few hundred other gross offenses against the laws of the land.

I'm furious that Bush, with a 28 percent approval rating and a Democratic House, is still able to call the shots and tell Dems to piss off if they don't like it.

I'm furious that Cheney -- who should now be dealing with impeachment charges -- is slithering around Iraq muttering football metaphors, lying at every opportunity about how just great things are going, and will go on to tour fascist, repressive oil-rich states around the Gulf because black gold trumps human rights every time for these vile sociopaths.

I'm furious that Pelosi gave Bush the ultimate pass by taking impeachment "off the table" as one of her first public statements after assuming the Speakership, and continues to maintain that there's no time for impeachment when there are so many other pressing issues -- which, Nancy m'love, would almost all disappear overnight if top administration felons had to worry about defending against impeachment rather than spending their evenings playing the real life version of Risk.

I'm furious that only 10 or so progressive Dems even considered cutting off funding for Iraq, while the rest of the House "leadership" blathered about timelines and milestones and all the enabling crap they've been dishing, refusing to recognize that while they're fucking around and being "civil," maybe a few dozen more GIs were killed and maybe a few thousand more Iraqis were slaughtered.

I'm furious that they got elected to end the war and investigate BushCo's systemic corruption, yet they refuse to simply cut off all war funding -- despite the fact that the tired "they don't support the troops" whining is so easily countered you'd think one or two of them would have stumbled across an effective sound bite by now, even if only by accident. And their corruption investigations somehow manage to tantalize, but never quite achieve the objective (my objective, anyway; theirs obviously differs).

I'm furious that once again they've taken the progressive vote for granted and feel they don't have to earn it. I'm doubly furious that my own Congressperson keeps sending self-congratulatory emails and postcards about all the great things she's doing on identity theft and amphetamine labs and such -- while completely ignoring Iraq, health care, impeachment, GOP corruption, and pretty much anything at all of critical importance to the continued survival of the US as a representative democracy.

I'm furious that there's even such a thing as the DLC, and that it apparently has significant clout within a party that's supposed to represent the interests of "the little people."

I'm furious that Dems now suck up to the same corporate bribers as does the GOP, and more furious that their voting records show dramatically increased loyalty to their corporate "donors" at the expense of the needs of everybody who doesn't happen to have a few million socked away.

I'm furious that Conyers talks about "bread crumbs" rather than treason and massive abuse of authority, as if it's all a kindergarten game and, nudge nudge wink wink, we're just going through the motions here, sticking to the script, and let's all go have a Glenfiddich or three when this boring crap is over.

I'm furious that, after getting screwed out of the white house twice, Democrats still don't seem interested in using their considerable powers of investigation to find out the who, what, when, where and how of it all and put the perps in prison. Hell, Bobby Kennedy Jr., with maybe a thousandth of their resources, pretty well proved BushCo stole it in 2004, how it was done, and who did it. Why hasn't he been called to testify? Why doesn't Kerry, of all people, whisper in somebody's ear that maybe it might be interesting to dig a little deeper there?

And I've been beyond furious for six-plus years that I'm expected by the entire US political, doctrinal and institutional establishment -- including the fucking Democratic party -- to "just get over it."

Never, you spineless fuckers. Never in this lifetime will I get over the catastrophe you've unleashed on the planet by your unwillingness to confront these pathological liars and fight for the truth. And never again in this lifetime will I trust a Democrat to represent me. If their interests and mine line up from time to time, great. But I will always understand that that's only a happy accident and doesn't constitute a pattern.

Ahhh... fuck it. So much fury; so little disk space.



wp

[bryant69]

22. So would you vote for Democrats in the future?

For Congress or other offices?

Bryant

[warren pease]

23. Well, I'm not into ritual suicide, so...

yeah, I'm kind of stuck with them. My response to the dismal bunch now allegedly representing me is to find a progressive Dem or third-party candidate and work like hell for them in the primaries in hopes that my own relatively useless Dem congresswoman doesn't get another chance to sit on her highly paid hands for two more years while pretending to represent the progressives among her constituency.

However, I'm not insane enough to ever vote GOP, nor vote third party if that would risk enabling a GOP victory. Ultimately, I see the choice as between the American fascist party and the American business party. They're both dedicated to advancing the objectives of the corporations who fund their campaigns, but the GOP goes a step further in its slobbering lust for corporatism, as well as their obvious delight in conning the general population out of everything they own and transferring that wealth to the upper two or three percent. On top of that, their nasty little inner fascists compel them to abridge or eliminate the rights and freedoms that should be the birthrights of all American citizens.

Hell of a choice, though. I suppose it's only fair that the rich have political representation. I just dispute the fact that their needs should be the exclusive concern of the only two viable political parties in this country.


wp

[michreject]

24. Gridlock

Nothing positive is being done.