Timid Democrats, Muscular Unions

Permanent Minority. At a critical juncture in mid-August, Senate Democrats told the Washington Post that they "will not launch a major fight to block the Supreme Court nomination of John G. Roberts Jr." The front-page story quoted "more than a dozen Democratic senators and aides" who remained unnamed but who deflated serious efforts to expose Roberts's extreme right-wing agenda.

Toward the Majority. Twenty unions and grassroots organizations came together to protest the votes cast by New York Democratic Representatives Greg Meeks and Ed Towns in favor of corporate-written legislation like the Central America Free Trade Agreement. At a high-profile press conference, the group released a letter to House minority leader Nancy Pelosi demanding that Meeks and Towns be removed from their committee positions. The pressure sends a message to Democrats that there are consequences for selling out.

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