Love Your Congressional Democrats

Let us love our congressional Democrats. Let us appreciate them. Let us praise them. Let us recognize that they are fighting the good fight. For goodness sakes, let's even have a little sympathy for them!

In less than a year, the Democratic Congress has accomplished quite a bit thanks largely to the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid. Most importantly, these successes would have certainly not happened without them. Democrats have passed and gotten signed lobbying and ethics reforms, an increase in the minimum wage, a massive increase in student aid, legislation to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations, and other initiatives. Not too shabby.

So give them some love. Send them a card. How about a flower? They have a heavy load to carry for all of us.

The congressional Democrats have three tasks -- stop Bush, pass legislation, and define the choices for next year's presidential election.

The first task is the easiest -- stop the right wing dead in their tracks; emasculate George Bush and Dick Cheney and all the rest of 'em. Without the Republican rubber-stamp Congress, the White House is done with tax cuts for the rich, starting new wars, and facing no questions about their secretive & even illegal behavior. If nothing else, we should give thanks that a Democratic majority can make Bush's final two years a failure at pushing the right-wing agenda even further.

The second task for the Democratic Congress is the hardest -- change policy; pass legislation. They've done a pretty good job despite Bush pulling out his veto pen like a cowboy with a phallic insecurity. He vetoed only one piece of legislation in his first six years because the Republican Congress gave him everything he wanted and nothing he didn't. Let's hope he's getting hand cramps now.

This veto power, which is the right-wing's way of stopping us dead in our track, is the reason the third task is the most important. Setting the stage to win back the White House means defining the issues and emphasizing the dramatic differences between where Republicans have taken the country and where the Democrats will take us. I am still angry, as former National Field Director for Al Gore, with those in 2000 who said there was no difference between him and Bush. The congressional Democrats now can that argument off the table for 2008.

In fact, our congressional Democrats are often winning the message even when they lose the legislation -- children's health care, stewardship of the environment, fiscal discipline, tax policies that help lower and middle class Americans, putting a brake on corporate-run government, civil liberties & civil rights, and stopping this madness in Iraq.

Yes, sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's a whole lot less fun. Sometimes it's like taking the medicine that makes you feel worse than the illness.

But when you get frustrated that we are still fighting a war in tiny little Iraq that has taken longer than it took the U.S. to beat the German & Japanese Empires simultaneously in World War II... When you get annoyed that there are no impeachment proceedings and want to spend time and money on fighting House Democrats in a primary.. When you are angry about wiretapping and war funding and gas mileage ...

Send your congressperson a note. Send your senator a prayer. Send them some love. Lots of that good old tree hugging spiritual flower power godly warm and fuzzy love.

Donnie Fowler
Palo Alto
CherryTreeMobileMedia
Fowler & Crumley, Inc.

Comments

[DrColes]

What a failure, and disappointment. No, matter your political party affiliation, and setting aside your thoughts on issues. We all need to remember what it is to be an American Citizen. We need to make sure our elected representatives obey their Oath of Office and keep their Oath of Allegiance. See http://tinyurl.com/2znnvl Know whom you are voting for.

[Mrrar]

I might be willing to send them love if they did something substantial like stop the extension of Fisa laws and forgiving of the TeleComms who illegally sold us out while using their monopoly over the lines _we_ paid for them to create to force our country into falling further and further behind in the technological revolution.

Or I might be willing to send them love if they didn't happily captiulate in regards to war funding.

Or maybe I'd send them love if they did the central thing for what they were elected, while they send out Emanuelle to tell me that's _not_ why I voted for them, even though, you know what? That _is_ why I voted for them.

Or maybe I'd be willing to send them love if they had the courage to represent the 70-80% of the country who believes one or another way, instead of bloody well giving in every frigging time someone says Terrorist, 9/11, or troops.

They have left me empty and cynical-- this from someone who tears up listening to Imagine.

Keith, 24, MSIS at Gatech.

[OtayPanky]

There are times when little bitty steps are appropriate - and times when they are a sign of cowardice in the face of evil.

I guess it's up to each of us to decide what kind of time this is.

A precious few dems in the Senate and House (Feingold and Kucinich come immediately to mind) seem to have the courage of their convictions, and know the hour is late, and action is needed.

Most are more like J Alfred Prufrock:

===

Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet—and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
.

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.

===

I wish it wasn't so...really and truly.

[breakfast]

Get real.

This Congress has done next to nothing.

And impeachment is still "off the table."

If there actually is an election in 2008, they, and all incumbents, deserve to be voted out of office.

Impeach....and purge.

[blankmw]

I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for my poor, unloved Democratic members of Congress right now. There's is a job that they invested a lot of time, energy and money into obtaining, and they have a sworn duty to represent us which they currently aren't. They haven't stopped this god-forsaken invasion, and they haven't been able to stop this horrendous so-called "president" from amassing and abusing power like there's no tomorrow. He's spent so much of our taxpayers' money on this war, handing it over to the likes of Haliburton, Blackwater, etc., that it's actually nauseating. And the cost in lives and body parts is appalling. Why can't Congress just DEFUND THIS DISASTER? Let the Government shut down. It just may save somebody's life.

[desertdweller]

You are right! I think it's unfortunate that the born-again Naderites among us are pissed off that congress hasn't impeached Bush/Cheney. What they fail to realize is the the Democrats in the house and senate are not ruled by iron-fisted leadership, and therefore are not artificially united like their republican counterparts. The votes are simply not there. Has it occurred to anyone that the Dems are keeping their powder dry for another day?

[BBackSoon]

Each time the Repugs decide to derail a bill they simply say the word and that word is Filibuster. At that point the Dems cave and everything goes back to square one and we move onto something easier or apparently easier. Make the Repugs spend the night. Make them stand up and be heard to derail even the most common sense legislation. Sure they will spin it but we need the Dems to try. To force the hand, to make the bad guys show just how they are controlled by Buschco and Big Business.

Just rolling over and going after low hanging fruit is not good enough in these important times. I want a party that will strive for the common good. Not just good for the rich and powerful. If that party is not the Dems and we know it is not the Repugs then perhaps we could finally see the start of a third party? We don’t need a spoiler but a true alternative to the status quo.

[mommadona]

You have GOT to be kidding me.

"Flowers and prayers"
Oh, puleeeze.

It is a job.
It is a tought job,
but it is a job.

It is a job they spent a LOT of money trying to get.

Now, they got the job.
Now, they need to do the job.
They have not be doing the job.

Now, they have to explain why they are NOT doing the job.

And, if they can't explain why they are not doing the job, then they need to leave the job.

It's a JOB, folks. It is a job.

[bahamut]

"Leadership" of Pelosi and Ried, What fricken leadership? They have the power to stop the war, simply don't fund it! They don't because they lack leadership and the courage to do what needs to be done.

They also have the power to prevent more abuses on American civil liberties, by not voting for the measure.

So please stop the bitching about how they don't have the votes or that they can't do anything because of those no good republicans. They need leadership, they need courage, none of which is found in either the house or the senate (especially the senate!!).

All they have to do is do nothing...

[charon]

I agree, largely. I think the critics who argue against Pelosi taking impeachment off the table often misunderstand her aim. I believe she did it to focus on getting things done, passing important legislation that will materially improve Americans lives, and not get bogged down in a political sideshow impeachment proceedings like the Repubs did in the 90s. I think she failed to enunciate this aim clearly enough.

I think she felt 1) the Dems would fail to impeach and 2) the media would investigate and reveal to the American people the crimes of bushco. She is largely correct, although those Americans who stay glued to Fox News fail to get a distorted, false picture of what is going on.

In the end, I think she feels that by showing that a Democratic Congress is far superior to the Republican one that proceeded it, she will help get a Dem elected to the White House, and she will extend the Democratic majority in both houses of Congress. She also, I think, feels that she can get legislation passed to materially improve Americans' lives.

No one detests bushco more than I, and I think an impeachment would provide opportunity for discovery. Although I am uneasy with unconditionally removing it from the agenda, I think Pelosi's strategy is not without merit.

I feel that the strident condemnation of her "taking impeachment off the table" is largely off the mark as things stand now. It would be a distraction, and leave otherwise intact the entire rotten bushco machine that is thoroughly corrupt down to many of its lowest ranking members.

[MrLion]

Sorry, no. Congressional Democrats are still 0-for-this­-administr­ation in standing up to George W. Bush, his wars, and his relentless attacks on the Constitution.

In fact, it can be argued that the Democrats have made negative progress while in the majority. They cravenly capitulated on the FISA bill, did nothing to enforce contempt of Congress citations, and issued the president blank check after blank check to continue his war in Iraq. Oh yes, there's the Lieberman-Kyl resolution, which the reckless and immature Mr. Bush just might use as an excuse for bombing Iran.

[jhNY]

By taking tiny steps and moving with great care and caution, soon the democrats will have covered almost no ground at all, disgusting a sufficient number of their former supporters so that by election time, there's a real possibility another republican can be 'elected', thanks to Diebold and a colluding press corps, which is all right because real change makes comfortable people nervous.

Why do we keep sending the beneficiaries of the status quo to shake up the system in Washington? Why do we keep being surprised that they won't really do much besides work for re-election once they get there?

[LittleBrother]

This is a hilarous send-up of all those dopey, pathetic moderate Democrat lesser-evilists who constantly scold, fret, and finger-wag at the rest of us that we'd better buy into their delusions, because they're the only delusions in town!

It's funny because it's sadly true.

[iburl]

I made a couple of corrections to your 5th paragraph, it's almost like you were trying to make a joke instead of making tons of mistakes, were you joking?

"The first task should be the easiest -- stop the right wing dead in their tracks; impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney and all the rest of 'em. With the Democratic rubber-stamp Congress, the White House is not done with tax cuts for the rich, starting new wars, and totally getting away with their secretive & even illegal behavior. If nothing else, we should be totally crestfallen that a Democratic majority has, so far, made Bush's final two years a total success at pushing the right-wing agenda even further."

[Donnie Fowler - Huffpost Blogger]

very clever!

[Ravenlea]

The better part of my spirit agrees that I wouldn't want to BE them and that it is easier to want to get things done than to actually do them. The better part of me knows that there are things about the process in Congress that I don't understand and that there really are people who care passionately about doing what's right. BUT it's REALLY, REALLY hard not to be frustrated as I watch my nation go down the tubes, as I watch my government commit crimes here and abroad and as the perpetrators of these crimes go unpunished. I can almost forgive Congress for everything else, but not for failing to impeach Bush and Cheney. That is a profound failure on their part. And frustrating to those of us who care about the future of this nation and the world at large.

[Donnie Fowler - Huffpost Blogger]

there are three, maybe four, reasons to avoid running down the impeachment path -- first, it would take a year; second, it would really piss off the American people who we need to win the White House back (remember how they turned against the Republican impeachers in 1998?); third, it would distract the Dems from accomplishing anything at all; and perhaps a fourth reason ... what did you think about impeachment when Clinton was under the gun? didn't you argue that it was silly, ridiculous, and without purpose other than to satisfy some partisan hunger?

[iburl]

You fail to see what should be obvious. The american people were disgusted b the Clinton impeachment because it was about lying about sex, something that should never have even been a question or any of the government's business in the first place. A Bush impeachment would be about repeatedly invading american's privacy, in utter contempt of federal spying laws.