Pro-business dems (bankruptcy letter signers) ticked about criticism

[Rose Siding]

John Podesta, president of the progressive Center for American Progress (CAP), faced pointed questions from lawmakers at last Thursday’s New Democrat Coalition (NDC) meeting about an inflammatory e-mail his organization sent to liberal activists and bloggers.

In a March 9 e-mail, David Sirota, a fellow at CAP, accused 16 pro-business Democrats of supporting bankruptcy-reform legislation because they received political contributions from the commercial banks and credit-card companies that stand to benefit if the legislation becomes law.

The e-mail coursed through the blogosphere and generated angry phone calls from liberal activists to the offices of the 16 centrist Democrats. Sirota, a former minority spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, criticized 16 of the 20 Democrats who wrote Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) March 7 urging him to bring bankruptcy reform to the House floor.
...
Some participants said they were looking for more contrition than they received from Podesta and wanted assurances that his organization would abstain from attacking centrist Democrats for their pro-business stances.

http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/032305/podesta.html

[smoogatz]

1. Contrition? WTF?

What, now they don't want to hear from the people who voted them into office? After selling out their most vulnerable consituents? Fuck 'em.

[Al-CIAda]

2. Fuck em eom

[Jacobin]

3. What? They don't like to talk about being bribed?

Well, fuck'em. They shouldn't have taken the bribe money.

[missouri dem 2]

4. If they think they are mad they should talk to me.

Corporate whores, money grubbing weasels, sell out revolving sob's.

[peacetalksforall]

5. Contrition....how ridiculous. They need to apologize to the country.

The corporations are taking them and us....DOWN!

[leanin_green]

6. Pro-business=Corporate lackey.

[Eric J in MN]

7. Thousands of oridinary people with medical bills and

other harships will be hurt for real by the bankruptcy bill, and they're boo-hoo-ing over criticism.

[loudsue]

8. DINO's don't like being called on their repuke values.

:shrug: My heart just doesn't feel like breaking when I hear them whine! :shrug:

:kick:

[madfloridian]

9. Is that the New Dems listed in this article at TNR?

http://www.tnr.com/etc.mhtml?week=2005-03-06

Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher
Rep. Adam Smith
Rep. Ron Kind
Rep. Artur Davis
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
Rep. John Larson
Rep. Stephanie Herseth
Rep. Dennis Moore
Rep. Mike McIntyre
Rep. Joe Crowley
Rep. Jay Israel
Rep. David Wu
Rep. Diane Hooley
Rep. Melissa Bean
Rep. Jim Davis
Rep. Harold E. Ford, Jr.
Rep. Ed Case
Rep. Jay Inslee
Rep. Shelley Berkeley
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks

[bread_and_roses]

10. Bravo for Sirota! And as for "abstain from attacking centrist Democrats..

...for their pro-business stances," well, NO, I don't think so. Because they have a "D" behind their name they are not to be criticised in the name of Party unity? What good does that sort of "unity" do us? I think I'll write to Sirota and Podesta and tell them to keep up the good work, keep naming names, listing contributions, stating the obvious.

(edit for typo)

[Rose Siding]

22. If the centrists are this huffy about Sirota in public,

imagine the behind-the-scenes knives they'll throw.

I'll write too!

[cestpaspossible]

11. What a total lie. They weren't attacked

' for their pro-business stances ' , rather, the amount of campaign contributions they received from banking and credit card companies was publicized.

[TayTay]

12. I am proud of CAP for doing this

Democrats have to know that someone is watching them and their votes. Democrats have to stand for something and are not sell-outs to corporate America. The Bankruptcy Bill seems to me to be as good a litmus test as any on basic Democratic issues.

That said, I would still vote for anyone of these Dems before I would vote for a Rethugs. At least they are right more than 40% of the time. (What a sad friggin commentary on these times that is.)

[Mandate My Ass]

13. The Col. Sanderses of Dems question the clucking chicks on their way

to the deep fryer.


"According to an aide familiar with the meeting, one lawmaker said, “There is a school of thought out there that we should ‘shoot all the centrists,’ so John, are you of that school or do you want us to just go ahead and shoot ourselves now?”

.........

“The unfortunate thing about the e-mail is that it questioned the good faith of the Democrats who support the bankruptcy bill. Whenever you question the good faith, that’s problematic,” he said. “But I certainly don’t blame John for that e-mail. I don’t think it was authorized.”

I don't question the good faith of the dems who voted for this obscenity, I only question their bottom line price for selling out the hard-working Americans who will be left on the streets for this piece of crap, class warfare bill.

[madfloridian]

14. Here's Sirota sounding off a little at his blog...

This makes me furious that they would get their nose out of joint on this. I have not heard a word back from Jim Davis, who signed the letter begging Hastert to bring it to a vote. He is running for governor, but I think Scott Maddox is....so Davis is out.

They act like they are above being criticized. Here is Sirota's blog which links to discussion on this at Americablog and Atrios.

I find this outrageous. How dare they beg for this to come to a vote when it will hurt so many people. I think I will contact a couple tomorrow. Atrois is linked and suggests at least one contact.

Here is Sirota's blog with the article "There's no Crying in Politics."
http://www.davidsirota.com/

Here the ones who begged for the bill:

Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher
Rep. Adam Smith
Rep. Ron Kind
Rep. Artur Davis
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
Rep. John Larson
Rep. Stephanie Herseth
Rep. Dennis Moore
Rep. Mike McIntyre
Rep. Joe Crowley
Rep. Jay Israel
Rep. David Wu
Rep. Diane Hooley
Rep. Melissa Bean
Rep. Jim Davis
Rep. Harold E. Ford, Jr.
Rep. Ed Case
Rep. Jay Inslee
Rep. Shelley Berkeley
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks

[Rose Siding]

15. Where'd they get it in their heads that donor info is personal?

Do they think no one will pay any attention to who is funding their careers? That's a very strange complaint to make.

These dems are in for a real culture shock if hearing from the people they represent is so offensive to them.

[madfloridian]

16. It is strange.

I like Sirota's blog. I just signed up for email updates from there. I had unsubscribed from the Center for American Progress for a while, but I just signed up there again.

[autorank]

17. You take the ride you assume a certain level of risk. Too damn bad!

Shut the eff up you cry babies!

[atommom]

18. Did they think no one would notice their letter? People are

following the bankruptcy legislation closely, and with good reason. Of course independent observers are going to make comments if they see something funky going on, and of course activists are going to make themselves heard. I have a rep. on the list myself. I wrote him a polite but unhappy letter about his stance on this bill. If he's whining now, I'm glad I can't hear it... :eyes:

[incapsulated]

19. They want "Party Unity"! lol

“The center could have made the argument on the merits, but it chose to do so in a personal way,” said Schiff, one of roughly a dozen lawmakers who attended the meeting.

“The (NDC) wanted to say, ‘We’re all under the same flag here, and let’s not forget that,’” he said, adding that he felt the meeting ended on a positive note.

Don't take that tone with me, young man!

According to an aide familiar with the meeting, one lawmaker said, “There is a school of thought out there that we should ‘shoot all the centrists,’ so John, are you of that school or do you want us to just go ahead and shoot ourselves now?”

Yes, please.

“The unfortunate thing about the e-mail is that it questioned the good faith of the Democrats who support the bankruptcy bill. Whenever you question the good faith, that’s problematic,” he said. “But I certainly don’t blame John for that e-mail. I don’t think it was authorized.”

Heaven forefend we should question the motives, and campaign donations, of such good people of pure heart!!

Arrogant.

Self-absorbed.

Clueless.

What's not to love?

[fujiyama]

20. I honestly don't know

whether to laugh hysterically or scream in anger over these idiots.

So they want unity, but unity over the republican agenda? I read that letter to Hastert and it was one of the most cowardly, pathetic, snivelling, inexcusable things I've read - that too by members of a supposed "opposition party".

Well, I have something to tell those 16 - FUCK YOU! Unity is a two way street.

What's so blatantly obvious is they want absolutely NO accountability whatsoever. Their thinking is, "Hmmm let me just sign this bill and make these bankers happy because they gave me $X. No one will care".

Guess what? We care and we're fuckin pissed at that!

[NVMojo]

21. Contrition for FUCKING OVER THE LITTLE GUY?? Get real!!!