WELL, "THE NATION" READERS CAN CERTAINLY COUNT AS POLITCAL REALISTS...

Me among them.

Posted by w_m_bear at 09/6/2007

The demos are telling the American People exactly whats goin on like it or not. Its all about oil,power,control and dam it we will kill who ever gets in our way, sadly our politicians are at this time all cut from the same cloth, corporate america won when they somehow managed to kill Kennedy back in 63. Does it still sound to absurd?

Posted by unionmade at 09/7/2007

Would a better question be..."As the Bush Administration presses to extend the surge, will Democrats in Congress put partisan politics behind constructive governance?"

Posted by wjmuseler at 09/7/2007

Would a better question be..."As the Bush Administration presses to extend the surge, will Democrats in Congress put partisan politics behind constructive governance?"

Posted by WJMUSELER 09/07/2007 @ 09:41am | ignore this person

You can't be thinking of this criminal administration when you mention "constructive governance", can you? As for partisan politics, it's high time the Democrats started engaging in it - the GOP's been playing that game with a vengeance for about the last 25+ years. If a Democrat is elected (let's see that'll make 5 in a row for the Dems) and doesn't allow the election to be stolen again, I can hear the wags whining that it's time to "heal the nation's wounds". I'd suggest that the cancer on this nation - the fascists who comprise the Republican Party - must be excised before healing can begin. It's time for the Democrats to use precisely the same tactics used by the Republicans over these past too many years.

Posted by jmusolino at 09/7/2007

JMUSOLINO,

By constructive I mean the antithesis of your post. Neither side has been able to put aside their own politics and address the issues at hand. Both sides would rather use current situations to further their own political asperations.

My point was that instead of being a continual naysayer to any and all points from the Republicans, the Democrats can use their majority and take the high road. Work constructively with moderate Republicans and forge a a government that can actually accomplish legislative goals and govern effectively.

Posted by wjmuseler at 09/7/2007

I am so ashamed that I voted for this bunch of Dems I wish I could teach my dogs to rollover as easy as this bunch of cowards

Posted by rockne1865 at 09/8/2007

TIME TO RAISE HELL WE DO NOT NEED TO TALK ABOUT LARRY CRAIG! WE DO NOT NEED TO TALK ABOUT MICHAEL VICK! WE DO NOT NEED TO TALK ABOUT FRED THOMPSON! WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAQ! WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT BRINGING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT HOLDING THIS CONGRESS ACCOUNTABLE! AS MOLLY IVINS SAID: We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge. ... We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!" ---From her last column, published January 12, 2007, two days after President Swagger Codpiece McHero's surge speech and 19 days before she died. THE TIME IS NOW; WE DO NOT HAVE THE LUXURY OF DISTRACTION. OUR TROOPS DESERVE OUR ENTIRE ATTENTION TO GET THEM HOME SAFELY. PROUD PROGESSIVE DAN R. TAYLOR THE STREET AND CHANGE ARE NATURAL ALLIES!

Posted by LAWWIZARD at 09/8/2007

TIME TO RAISE HELL 2

A MESSAGE TO THE EDWARDS CAMPAIGN THAT APPLIES TO ALL OF US OR IF OUR LEADERS WILL NOT LEAD THEN WE MUST!

Already the mainstream cowardly media is announcing the surrender of the democratic party to the bush administration regarding the funding of the war.

Senator Edwards for the sake of this country and for the sake of our brave young men and women please! Lead the charge to STOP THIS INSANE WAR NOW! We will follow. We will be with you. As Ben Franklin said:

"Either we will all hang together or certainly we all will hang separately." If this Congress insists on supporting this war then we must bring 500,000 people to Washington to say NO MORE. Call us and we will be there. This campaign CAN be different. This campaign IS different. Call on the other candidates to join with you and if not WHY! No one gets a pass on this. Leaders need to lead. If Ron Paul is cheered at the repub debate just imagine the support the support in the country to end the war. This is a war brought to you by corporate america and WE NEED TO TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY FROM CORPORATE AMERIKA.

CALL, BLOG, EMAIL, DO WHAT YOU CAN. NOW IS THE TIME TO STOP THE WAR IN IRAQ!

PROUD PROGRESSIVE IN ALHAMBRA CALIFORNIA

Posted by LAWWIZARD at 09/8/2007

.........the right won the propaganda war after 9/11 and have pressed their advantage to the maximum. In order to avoid the label "wimps" the Demos became wimps in the process. I wish Murtha could clone himself.............. 400 billion and counting....... 4000 American lives, 25000 arms and legs...........100,000 of Iraq lives....for what?...........................Does anyone know the "real" reason Bush started this war?.....

Posted by NickatKnigh at 09/9/2007

Truth be known, the US's going to have to stay in Iraq for decades. Why, we're being played like a violin by the Iraqis. Our failure in Iraq from the start has been due to Cheney/bush being outsmarted by the Iraqis. The Chalabi's outsmarted Rummy, Condi and company going in, and now the Malaki's are outsmarting Condi, Hadley, Patreaus and company. The Cheney/bush gang just isn't that smart. They can talk, but they can't walk.

Likewise, we all know there isn't much the Democrats can or will do to require Cheney/bush to change course over there, and the truth is, because our stupid executives [Cheney/bush] broke Iraq, there isn't much America can do and thereby, we've inherited responsibility for resolving this humanitarian crisis; no matter how long it takes. So with that, the Democrats at the very least should offer-up measures towards paying for this costly war. Congressional Democrats could put forth legislation to create an Iraq War Tax with the entire tax burden falling on America's richest to pay for this ongoing war, retroactive back to March 2003. There would appear to be a solid argument that could be made that this extremely expensive war should be paid for with today's dollars; not more debt to future American generations. One would think, too there would be enough fiscally responsible Republicans around willing to support the plan and if need be, override a probable bush veto. It could also prompt Cheney/bush to start to wind down their nutty war.

That should be "slam dunk" action for the Democrats to achieve. It would give them all a viable issue by which to begin building confidence for the Congress before the American people.

Albert Colone Oneonta, NY 13820

Posted by coloneblog at 09/9/2007

Posted by WJMUSELER 09/07/2007 @ 1:30pm | ignore this person

Since when have the Democrats nay-sayed anything from the Republicans? They've surrendered to them constantly for the past 8 years, goin back to their refusal to go after the GOP for that obscene impeachment spectacle. They allowed the GOP to steal 2 presidential elections and a couple of key Senate races, without firing a shot. And who are the moderate Republicans to whom you refer? Who among them has failed to support their party leadership when push has come to vote? The Republican Party is a cancer on this country, and it's high time the Democrats went after them on precisely that point. There is far too much at stake to play nice with a gang of dishonorable thugs and thieves.

Posted by jmusolino at 09/10/2007

My 2008 Plan:

1) Urge EVERYone to vote democratic party 2) Stongly support Progressive party members seeking to be elected 3) Continue to work for peace and to deal with climate change. 4) Don't like a Democrat in your district? Then run yourself as a Progressive! 5) Urge everyone to seek information about Rep. Bernie Sanders (I) Vermont. See what HE is doing that is progressive!

PS: Why ANYONE who works for a living (no silver spoon) votes for ANY republican is a lifelong mystery to me. It just makes NO sense.

Posted by Martino2010 at 09/11/2007

Its easy to win when you've got a double sided coin in your pocket. Go America!

Posted by elucidating at 09/11/2007

Just watching the democratic Leadership in front of the cameras and knowing they will give Bush everything he wants is heart breaking. Will no one stand up for us?

Posted by Will753 at 09/12/2007

The Democrats seem to lack the willingness to stand up and spit in Bush's face. Bush says you lack patriotism if you do not support the troops - sorry, he did not support the Viet Nam service personal. Did He not forsake patriotism to work on some mucky mucks political campaign - that daddy pulled the strings for????? He talks about dirty politics - can anyone re-call any clean politics coming from him (or for that matter the republicians in general???). The talk of a troop draw down isn't even real talk. 2000 by the end of the month - - LESS THAN 1%. Back to pre-surge (that was gauranteed to work) MAYBE - MAYBE "if all goes right" Evade and stall. EVADE AND STALL. Leave it to the next administration - then state had everyone listened to Him (BUSH) we would have won. THEY LOST IT - - - HE DIDN'T. - - - If That Is Not Direty Politics - What Is???

Posted by bbednarz at 09/12/2007

I've got to throw my support behind Unionmade's claim. Corporate America has claimed national polotics, and the military industrial complex has claimed corporate America. As long as we continue to elect the string of poloticians were given, America will know endless war. As evidence, I site the fact that America has been in a state of war since the start of the cold war. With the new "war on terror" we now have a near inifinite number of targets we can attack, as each target we attack will create yet more terror. I think America is still in Iraq for the sole reason that the military industrial complex is thriving and making billions off of the occupation at (heavily) taxpayer expense.

The reason for the rise of the military industrial complex's recent rise in power (over say clinton years) it twofold, one the neocon's are nuts and hardliners, two the world is running out of oil, and the people in charge know it. Therefore, the oil barons have thrown their suppport behind the military industrial complex in a bid to claim as much oil as they can for themselves and take it from other nations. This plan seems to be largely unsuccessful, but the oil barons already control most of the oil that comes from regions controlled by governments that will cooperate with them peacefully. So how do you take oil from an unwilling subject? By force of course.

So, they come up with some propaganda, call their bid for global oil dominance the war on terror, and proceed to follow foreign policies that are guaranteed to make the US enemies in places that have oil but that aren't letting the oil barons come in and take the oil peacefully. They then have their (their, not our) elected officials label the people who inevetiably get angry at them terrorists, and have them attack the country in a bid to make the situation on the ground more friendly to them taking the oil.

Somewhere along the line of course, their strategists forgot to double check their plans with reality, and ended up attacking the wrong country first. This put a huge dent in their plans, but because these are people that think in black and white, they have not deigned to change their plans. Either that or they actually believe their own propaganda about the war on terror, and I'm giving them waaaay to much credit.

So anyway what's my point? If you actually want change, vote independent/third party. Even some of the people inside the belt loop are starting to say that the national government is a bought and sold subdivision of corporate america. If they are saying it, as out of touch with reality as they are, shouldn't the rest of us have caught on by now?

Posted by shadow master at 09/13/2007

The demos are telling the American People exactly whats goin on like it or not. Its all about oil,power,control and dam it we will kill who ever gets in our way, sadly our politicians are at this time all cut from the same cloth, corporate america won when they somehow managed to kill Kennedy back in 63. Does it still sound to absurd?

Posted by UNIONMADE 09/07/2007 @ 03:31am

You can add Bobby and Martin Luther King to that list. Pretty amazing really, if the power that be in this nation feel even slightly threatened, they put a few slugs into the problem. Shoot the problem, the problem goes away because there really are a only a few who have the guts that have the public attention to really threaten the powers that be.

Posted by Wolfgang1 at 09/13/2007

Most of the Democrats have already signaled that they would support an attack on Iran. (The Senate voted 97-0 (!) for a resolution that endorses Bush's doubtful claim that we're already at war with Iran!) And if Bush drops nukes on Iran (God forbid) many of the Democrats, including Clinton and Edwards are already on record that we need to have that out there as an option, so they only have at best a tactical complaint! Once this happens - and the Dems have gone through a stage of wetting themselves trying to prove how tough and responsibile and supportive of the president in time of crisis they are, they'll be left toothless and hamstrung and on their way to losing the next congress to the Republicans. I wish it weren't so, but the grim reality is that until we can elect representatives who are consciously anti-imperialist, anti-intervention in a principled way, we are going to get taken into one war after another.

We need at least to support the few - like Kucinich - that we have, and in so doing to amplify their voices. We need them very badly, and they need us.

Posted by CAH at 09/13/2007

After Bush has announced he is proceeding with a long term commitment in Iraq similar to the South Korea commitment (50 years and counting), the Democrats now have the perfect opportunity to once again fund the war with a withdrawal timetable. Whether they can overide a veto is not necessary; just keep resubimitting the bill to Bush, so that the money to support our troops is always available. This is the Edwards plan and it can work this time because we will either start getting out of Iraq now or stay for 50 years or more. It is clear that Americans are not interested in staying in Iraq and if Bush refuses to accept that fact, he will single handedly destroy the military strength of this nation and sink the Republican Party.

Posted by Jonesy at 09/14/2007

...What will the Democrats in Congress do? I really had hoped the Dems would come together and do SOMETHING. I was actually genuinely excited when we got both houses. What the heck?

Posted by theplunkett at 09/18/2007

You neglected to add another option to your list. What will (many) Dems in Congress do? They'll roll over on their backs and play dead for Georgie once again. Maybe even let a few drops of urine trickle out onto their bellies, so he can sniff at it and be assured that they're no real threat.++++ The pity about Kucinich becoming President is that Congress is going to lose one of its most courageous defenders of true Democrat values.++++ Hey! Have you seen the video of Andrew Meyer being beat up and zapped with high voltage for asking John Kerry the series of questions: a) If you won in 2004, why did you concede defeat to Bush??? b) If you're against Bush' crazy plans to attack Iran, why don't you join the call for impeachment??? and (here's the doozy) c) Is it true that you belong to Skull And Bones (a secret society with Bush as fellow member)??? THAT's when the cops jumped on him...

Posted by caltemps at 09/19/2007

KUCINICH 2008!! The only one with REAL guts to stand up to the establishment and fight for what is right!!! He has been proven right with everything he has fought for for decades ... people, if you really do your research, you will find that Kucinich is the ONLY candidate running for President that you can wholeheartedly feel good voting for. Kucinich is the ONLY candidate I will ever vote for, even if I have to vote for him as a "write-in" ... www.Dennis4President.com

Posted by Art4Peace at 09/20/2007

I worked to get so many of those damn Democrats elected, it makes me sick at my stomach that they're so dumb, so intoxicated by the stink of power. Yuk. But I'll get with MoveOn and try to elect some OTHER grassroots candidates. But how can I be sure they won't be as dumb and as cowardly as the ones I helped elect in 2006?

Posted by alicecbrown at 09/22/2007

In response to art4peace's comment: How exactly does one write in a candidate on an electronic ballot?

Posted by Billy Reuben at 10/8/2007