We Dems are acting just like the guy Cheney shot in the face ...

[JoePhilly]

We feel bad ... for "Cheney". We need to apologize to "Cheney". Because we know he feels terrible for shooting us in the face.

Except we Dems are worse, because the GOP shoots us in the face repeatedly. They call us Commies, Facists, Socialists. And we weakly claim no no.

The GOP kicks us when we are down. Even if the GOP has a tiny majority. They love to do it. They scream UP OR DOWN VOTE when they don't have the votes. And we apologize. And then they claim we hate America ... hate the troops, and we "fight back" by voting however they want. Sorry GOP, we didn't mean to upset you.

And then they threaten to end the filabuster ... and we apologize for even considering it.

They block the seating of Al Franken for 6+ months ... and we apologize for wanting to seat him before the GOP is comfortable with that. But we will race to seat the GOP's Scott Brown to make up for our desire to seat Franken more quickly.

We have a HUGE majority .... and yet we give the GOP an equal number of members on the Senate Finance negotiations. And then we apologize when the GOP members on that panel invent death panels that kill what seemed to be an agreement.

And then ... after we apologize to the GOP in an endless loop ... we also whine when we don't get every single thing we want IMMEDIATELY.

We on the left have no discipline. We are like little yippy dogs fighting over a bone ... and as we get tired and give up ... the GOP Dobermans lick their chops ... and they take the bone.

We could pick up the bone and walk off with it ... but we'd rather squabble with each other and apologize to the GOP for having delayed their ability to walk off with it.

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. I'm glad I'mnot one of these "we"s of whom you speak!

n/t

[JI7]

2. what is this "we" crap, and the Brown comparison to Franken is stupid

Franken's race was close, very close. idiots were saying Franken should be more like Roland Burris, but look at where the 2 guys are now. Franken has more respect and taken serious unlike Burris who will be gone soon

[JoePhilly]

3. Let me explain Franken to you ... and why I mention it.

Franken won the official recount.

The GOP Governor then said he would not certify until court cases ended ... he did all he could to delay too.

Franken could have been seated.

The GOP then began an endless court case. It was clear very early that Coleman was NEVER gong to win ... the GOP used every challenge they could ... short of the SC ... which they knew would toss the case ... they knew even the conservative SC members would toss it.

My POINT is that the GOP pushes EVERY advantage, regardless of how small, or even non-existent.

And we apologize.

[JI7]

4. i never apologized, and your point shows that Repubicans failed

since they still ended up losing, Coleman became very unpopular along with the party in the state.

Franken is Senator and has shown that he excels in policy making. more so than comedy and he is good when it comes to comedy also.

you want him to act like Roland Burris who isn't taken serious.

[Wapsie B]

5. That explains it very well. They push it every way they can and Dems apologize.

Does anyone in the Democratic leadership have a clue?

[JoePhilly]

7. Not just the leadership .... US ... the base too ...

We fight US ... we don't fight them.

And if I, ME ... don't get what I want NOW, NOW, NOW ... I will take my ball and go home.

And then blame every one else.

The problem is not Obama, or the Congrress ... it is US.

Obama said ... WE ARE THE ONE'S WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.

But WE ... can't focus for as long as it take to microwave a pop-tart.

[ibegurpard]

27. how do you propose that WE fight them?

when our politicians are busy compromising with them on everything?
you are all over the map in this thread.

[niceypoo]

6. Battered wife syndrome

[quantass]

12. +1000

[JoePhilly]

13. Another good example

[ShortnFiery]

8. Who else was horrified when President Obama COMPLEMENTED Senator Grassley ...

on his efforts with the Finance Committee? At the very same time, while obviously unknown to Obama, Grassley was talking smack about all aspects of this bill, i.e., "Kill Grandma."

Who is keeping President Obama in this BUBBLE?

[JoePhilly]

9. I was ....

But ... if you are HONEST ... Obama ran in part on reaching out to the other side.

So you can not blame him for doing so, at least early on.

The question now is how do WE on the left show him that we will support him ... if WE back up ... do you think he will go father to the LEFT???

The GOP has incredible message discipline. And when push comes to shove, they will discard any prior position to get what they want now.

They do this to maintain power now ... so that they can get what they want down the road a little later.

We seem to have no ability to separate STRATEGY and TACTICS.

If you play Chess, you get this. Simply try to win a game of chess and not lose a single piece in the process.

You will LOSE every time.

[Joe Chi Minh]

23. Sometimes, tactical withdrawals are really defeats. Even routs.

[centristgrandpa]

19. to your question...

" Who is keeping President Obama in this BUBBLE? " obama

[JoePhilly]

24. Obama ran on reaching out ... he has to try ... but ....

The Dems have caved in totally, across the board.

Including US ... we on the left (non-elected folks) bicker so much that we help the GOP.

The ideal of a TACTICAL advance makes us scream ...

The ELECTED DEMS ... they hear us ... but we are so uneven, they don;t know what to do ... they have no confidence that we have their backs if they take a strong stand on X ... because 50% of US are screaming that they need to take a stronger stance on Y. Fill in X and Y however you want.

We on the left do not have the patience to microwave a pop-tart.

And we need to develop that discipline.

[centristgrandpa]

29. leave the pop tart out of my pudding...

X= main street americans aNd y= corporate america. x gets pennies and y gets trillions, do the math while small mom&pa business fall everyday, what has corp. america done with all our tax monies? the repubs are obstructionist with nothing yet they are in the lime-light while the democrats who are diverse and offer more are consider by many to be lame-brain, seems like the repubs are winning without offering nothing, whats wrong with this picture? i side with this president regardless but he needs to lead with main street Americans in mind...

[DaveofCali]

10. Bipartisanship is BS, call it what it is

Do you want a Roosevelt (both Theodore and FDR) or do you want a Carter or Kerry?

Democrats HAVE to throw this bipartisan BS out the window. Voters like fighters, and Democrats being populist fighters rather than bipartisan weaklings will do FAR more for the Democratic Party's image.

Democrats have to show passion and claim the populists' mandate and wield it like a sword, cutting down anything in its path. Obama and the Democrats SHOULD be riling up the people, forcing AND televising a Republican filibuster, organizing media against the Republicsns for stonewalling things like Health Care Reform (hint: Remember the Clinton vs Republicans in early 2006, the govt. shutdown because of the budget bill stonewalling, Republicans lost in 2006 and Clinton won reelection), and organizing protests against the Republicans in their home states as well as DC, to bully the Republicans to stand down. You can't fight a bully any other way than standing up to them, and that's what the Democrats HAVE TO DO.

The Democrats HAVE to become more partisan to get things done and stop making friends with the Republicans, because ultimately the American people are far more important than the friendships that senators from both parties have with each other.

See, Democrats in being more partisan COULD ESTABLISH A 30+ YEAR REIGN OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY VALUES LIKE DURING AND AFTER FDR. This is an opportunity that Obama and the Democrats are squandering! Reduce the Republicans to a pro-greedy anti american party, and make that label stick for at least a generation!

If I were a Democratic strategist, I'd recommend that the Democrats do everything possible to claim the populists mandate, establish a relationship with voters, organize voters to fight against the Republicans in order to get things done, with help by organized "foot soldiers", and these foot soldiers (former campaign volunteers for instance) would aggressively oppress the Republican Party and remind everyone how much damage the Republicans have done and that the Republicans can't be trusted, to essentially brand the Republicans negatively and make sure that that branding sticks. Treat the Republicans as an aggressive, rabid party that needs to be controlled and ostracized, until their party fundamentally changes their values at least. In that way as well, politics in America can be forced significantly farther to the left than it is now.

[JoePhilly]

14. Agree completely!!

[quantass]

11. THANK YOU! Off to the Greatest Page for You!

[cleveramerican]

15. its a sad story

really breaks my heart to agree with you.

[lunatica]

16. You go ahead and keep apologizing if you want

I've stopped being part of the 'we' consciousness since 2006 when Nancy Pelosi took impeachment off the table.

[JoePhilly]

17. You won't see me apologizing either ...

I've spent most of my "net" time debating the far right on other sites, like USAToday, for the last 4-5 years.

But I'm starting to think I need to refocus on the left ... we can't get out %$#$ together to save our lives.

We have the largest Senate majority in decades, and we act like the numbers are reversed.

[Blue Owl]

18. We've been "peppered" with "bipartisanship"

Thank you sirs, may we please have another round of shrapnel in the face?

[LatteLibertine]

20. The answer

is to vote incumbents out of office regardless of D or R tag until we get ones that are willing to represent the best interests of 90% of United States citizens over the most wealthy minority. Wall Street has the cash however we have the raw votes. All of them could vote for a candidate and not have the numbers to put them in office.

It might take a while for them to get the message and eventually they will get it. Obviously, ignore their rhetoric and examine their deeds/record.

[JoePhilly]

21. You will end up with the Rs, in charge ... .again.

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. I do apologise for blocking your line of fire.

[timeforpeace]

25. I laugh every time I read the words "guy Cheney shot in the face".

[ibegurpard]

26. We?

I think that you mean the Democratic politicians in Washington.

[Honeycombe8]

28. Truer words were never spoken. nt