Harry Reid thinks we are idiots.

[elizm]

The deal was struck don't you think? The Children's Health Insurance bill passes so Reid can boast about what the Democrats got done and the Dems cave on the eavesdropping but blame it on the Republicans thinking we are too stupid to realize he is not mentioning the 15 Dems who voted for it. I am no longer a Democrat...as of this day....

The Day the Music Died...http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/3/21582/80945

[SoFlaJet]

1. and vote for whom

republicans elizm? It's almost ALWAYS been a choice between the lesser of two evils when it comes to voting anyway. The lesser continues to BE democrats-for me anyway.It wasn't always that way but Bush made it so

[elizm]

3. I didn't say I would vote Republican...

...I will still support the candidate of my choice that I think will be the best for the country..but I will not call myself a Democrat ever again. I am ashamed of it.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Vote for a Republican? I'd sooner slit my wrists. However, the Dems are shocking me

I cannot believe they would vote for ANYTHING that the GOP or Bush would want, and which would hurt Americans, but they're doing it.

[saltpoint]

2. I've never played poker with Joan Didion but there's every indication

that she's a formidable contender at any table.

In one of her books she summarizes a life strategy using poker as a metaphor. She writes, "You play the hand you're dealt and you stay in the action."

I hope you will know many of us share your disappointment in that vote but hope more that you will continue to be a Democrat.

The road of independent breakoffs gets very lonely very swiftly. Ralph Nader is respected for his intelligence on these boards, but deeply reviled as well. Barry Commoner in 1980 was at least as intelligent as Nader and is virtually forgotten.

I'm not asserting that we Democrats are perfect. I'm asserting that the United States under a Democratic administration will be better to live in than under the Repukes.

I think the polls bear this out. 2008 is not going to be a very good year for Republicans. And if Bloomberg chooses someone like Hagel or Nunn as his veep and makes an independent run, he's not going to get very far. I see a Bloomberg-Somebody ticket carrying exactly 0 states in the electoral college.

[OHdem10]

11. There are a lot of People Changing Independent

As things stand right now Bloomberg just might make a go of it.

IMO, WE HAVE PROBLEM.

Conservatism is enough to send to a sick bed.

Yet, the Democrats continue to give us warmed over Conservatism.

Paygo can be a good thing for the deficit. It works best
when you have a Cooperative President and his party.
Yes, it worked with BILL CLINTON and Republicans. That
was a special circumstance. Bill Clinton had been elected
with less than 50% of the vote. Therefore the Media could
hammer him if he did not cooperate. Gingrich came in and
the Media would hammer him if he pushed too far. You had
two rational leaders.

I am sorry this congress at times seems clueless. They put
themselves under the constriction of Paygo with a President
who does not always appear rational, yet is a super politician.
He tells them to jump and they say how high. If he is
a lame duck, God Help us if he gets a little more strength in
that leg. Reucing the deficit is a noble enterprise. But it
also to be noble depends on how they reduce the deficit.
This War is going to have us crippled economically for years
to come. Yet Money goes to Iraq like water through a sieve.

Locking themselves with Paygo which will benefit GWB, it appears
the Democrats are doing Bush's dirty work for him and giving
the Republicans materials for Political Ads. Yes, the President
gets to tout any reduction of the deficit. Just the way things
work in DC.

Meanwhile they scroung around robbing from Peter to pay Paul.
Taking from Senior and American Children to give Welfare and
Health to Illegal Immigrants.

I am as liberal as they come but our party is missing the boat
and has been for years. Here is a line from a 20 something
year old guy from the Northern Part of US.

He wrote a book called "US White GUYS".

"Us White Guys are willing to help the kid from the ghetto
Even help the kid from the Barrio
and yes the Kid on the Reservation

WE ASK YOU
Please do not forget the White Kid
from the trailor park.


Until we understand this Immigration and Many other Issues
are simply going to divide us.

[saltpoint]

14. I don't disagree that many voters are frustrated with the two main

parties, but I make the case for the Democratic Party because it's come the farthest on social issues. The old Democratic Party, even into the early 1970s was still trying to fight off segregationist attitudes. Those telephone recordings between John and Robert Kennedy and various Southern Democratic governors is the history of those times distilled into a few sentences. Tense, loaded with context, and predictive of what was going to happen in Detroit, Los Angeles, and other cities.

History took the Kennedys' side. History honors Dr. King, and properly so. It does not honor Kissin' Jim Folsom and Footsie Britt and the early George Wallace and Lester "Ax Handle" Maddox. That bunch.

The Civil Rights legislation was a Democratic initiative. Johnson had to strong-arm several folks to get it passed, but he did it. He's remembered as the sad, overwhelmed, and outflanked commander in chief of our escalation in Viet Nam but more appropriately, he should be thanked for his work on civil rights legislation. It changed America from what it was before Eisenhower to the more-level playing field today. Barack Obama contends for the presidency on the noble spirit-energy of the nameless men and women who defied those early governors.

When I was much younger some governors stood at the entrance of colleges and schools to block the entrance of black students to those schools. By the 1990s, a Democratic governor asked Afro-American poet Maya Angelou to read at his Inaugural.

Those are initiatives of the Democratic Party and are part of its fabric now. I don't see any minorities or women running for the GOP nomination at all.

That's what I'm getting at.

[WCGreen]

16. It ws Johnson who pushed through the Civil Rights laws...

[saltpoint]

19. Did I not give him credit on that?

I should hav been more clear.

Yes. LBJ twisted all the arms it took to twist to get that through, realizing all the while that the political cost would be enormous.

He was right about the politics.

But more importantly, he did the right thing in getting it through Congress.

[WCGreen]

21. And he traded the future of the democratic party to do what was

right for the country...

That's leadership...

So far, I can't see any of our candidates having that much courage to do what is right...

[saltpoint]

22. If we praise Lyndon Johnson for his stewardship of that legislation

we have to also mightily blame Dick Nixon and his "Southern strategy." It was a cynical, opportunistic, nasty piece of thinking sustained over a long period.

Trent Lott is a walking reminder of what we get when someone like Nixon is in charge.

[WCGreen]

23. Oh yea...

And Kevin Phillips has been apologizing for crafting that message ever since...

[saltpoint]

24. Phillips was introduced to me as a far-right mentality, and it's been a

real surprise to see him decimate the Bush political brand in his recent books.

It's one of those rare cases where a very conservative guy evolves to a more moderated reassessment. He's still no fire-belching liberal (unfortunately), but he's a new and improved version of what came before.

I imagine he isn't very popular at the Bush compound up in Maine.

[WCGreen]

25. His invitation is lost in the mail....

[saltpoint]

26. LOL!

[WCGreen]

15. Well stated...

It's time we all grew up a little and realized that politics is a nasty business where you don't always get what you want...

Hell even the Rolling Stones knew that...

But they also pointed out that you get what you need...

And if the Child Health Care was part of the mix for addressing a temporary fix in FISA, then so be it...

[zalinda]

5. So, passing the Children's Health Insurance bill is nothing?

They can now revisit the FISA bill in 6 months. They may be in the majority, but it's by such a little bit that it's almost worthless. Getting any thing through is a victory.

Do I wish that they played it differently, yes absolutely. I wanted them to for go their vacations, but then I take what victories I can.

zalinda

[partylessinOhio]

7. They hardly work, why did they need a vacation?

:shrug:

Didn't they vote to give benefits to illegals? I don't agree with that. Besides the bill covers more than children so it is MISNAMED.

[WCGreen]

17. It's no a vacation...

It's down time to go back and communicate with constituents...

Being a "representative" means more than isolating yourself in Washington DC and depending on Chain Emails and phony phone calls to give you a sense of your district...

[partylessinOhio]

6. ?

"Harry Reid thinks we are idiots."

Most Americans are idiots to have given up what our ancestors worked so hard to build - without much thought or any fight. They even believe they still have freedom.

:cry:

[otohara]

8. So You Won't Be Voting in Primary

that's too bad.

[elizm]

9. Anyone can vote in primaries in SC. nt

[zazen]

10. comprehensive site to re-register as Independent?

Can't post my own threads yet, but I wonder if a national organization that's pissed off enough about this could organize an online portal through which Democrats could announce they're changing to Independent and then link to their own state and county. That would help facilitate actual re-registrations and it'd keep a comprehensive, visible count of how many voters are doing it. Or is there an effort like this underway? Who knows--maybe there's some brilliant strategy behind their passing this--but if the progressive Left lets this pass without registering some noise (through donations to someone who opposed it, or changing registrations)--the DLC dems will feel even less beholden to us than before.

Maybe this a self-defeating strategy, in that Independents probably cannot vote in Dem primaries and thus more conservative Dem candidates have a better chance of getting nominated. Does anyone know about the larger consequences if such a sea change occurred?

[WCGreen]

18. Then perhaps you should form an Independent Undergorund...

[LittleClarkie]

12. You're leaving over what you THINK MIGHT have happened?

Yes, there were 15 Dems. So did you think that Reid should strong arm his people like Republicans do?

You think he orchstrated those 15 votes? What do you have, a feeling? Is that it? No other proof?

I'm a Dem. Staying a Dem. About to go work for the Dem booth at State Fair.

It's going to take more than a "feeling" for me.

[Meldread]

27. "So did you think that Reid should strong arm his people like Republicans do?" HELL YES.

"So did you think that Reid should strong arm his people like Republicans do?"
HELL YES, ABSOLUTELY!

If it takes someone putting a foot up their ass to do the right thing, then by all means put the boot where the sun don't shine. I don't really care how many Democratic Senators leave the room in tears, if it gets the votes required to save the Constitution, then it is worth it.

However, back in the world of reality we realize that there are jellyfish with stronger backbones than Reed.

[MalloyLiberal]

13. Than you must be BANNED immediately!

BANNED I say!!! You traitor !

*snark*

[Deep13]

29. I don't owe the Dem. Party anything.

I have done much to support them and have been repayed with betrayal.

[Deep13]

20. A fucking welfare bill is no substitute for the Constitution.

Were only idiots if the fucked-up way that Washington sees and does things is normal.

[jillan]

28. My brother calls him Elmer Fudd

:P

[burrowowl]

30. Bye! Bye! Miss America Pie

Yes the Music has died!