NYT/AP: Poll Shows Support for Democrats' Goals

[DeepModem Mom]

Poll Shows Support for Democrats' Goals
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 2, 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) -- People overwhelmingly support two of the Democrats' top goals -- increasing the minimum wage and making it easier to buy prescription drugs from other countries -- as the party takes control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years.

By a smaller margin, the public also favors relaxing restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a third issue Democrats have promised to tackle during their first 100 hours in charge.

The jury is out on incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Most people say they do not know enough yet to have an opinion about the California Democrat who will be the first woman in that office, an Associated Press-AOL News poll found.

The survey results come as the 110th Congress is set to convene Thursday at noon. Voters last November toppled Republican majorities in both the Senate and House, exasperated by investigations into the ethics of GOP lawmakers and unhappy with the war in Iraq.

Democrats will hold a 233-202 edge in the House and will control the Senate by 51-49....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Congress-Poll.html

[Earth_First]

1. K&R!

[Lawrence]

20. RE: stem cell research

About.

Fucking.

Time.

[mike_c]

2. STOP THE WAR....

Dammit, the whole dem agenda is important, but it isn't going to go away. The war against Iraq is the most important issue in America RIGHT NOW and Congress needs to address it RIGHT NOW. A string of social and political reforms during the first 100 hours is just window dressing while the war goes on. America is committing the supreme war crime-- a war of aggression. Congress MUST NOT waste time rearranging the deck chairs while that crime continues.

STOP THE WAR FIRST!

[Wwagsthedog]

4. Well said !

Let's see if the new Congress can accomplish what the voters insisted that they do: Cure our bellicosity.

[w4rma]

5. They can't do that in that small amount of time. They can do all of this, though.

There is more than just the war going on. The nation still has to function properly.

[mike_c]

8. if they can do all of this in the first 100 hours then they can do it...

...in the second or third 100 hrs. The war is FAR more important.

[w4rma]

11. No they can't. What they are doing in the first 100 hours are all very popular policies that the GOP

has stalled and tricked some gullible people into thinking that they might someday pass them.

Also, all of these policies have been well debated by everyone.

[mike_c]

12. the war against Iraq is STILL far more important....

I'm sorry-- I wholeheartedly support all of those "first 100 hours initiatives" but none of them is more important than ending American war crimes in Iraq.

[w4rma]

15. It doesn't matter. The Iraq War can not be ended within 100 hours. (nt)

[bdamomma]

17. one thing Dems cannot work miracles, they need to do alot cleaning

up after Bush, which won't stop Bush from still making a mess of things. Things will not get done overnight. We have alot of work to do.

[fujiyama]

13. I agree with you about the importance of the war

relative to the other issues.

This is the most pressing and it is what got Dems elected (that and of course the corruption).

But I'm not sure what Dems can do immediately (though they should be steadfastly opposed to this retarded "surge" policy as well as all efforts to increase the troop levels).

Kucinich's idea of blocking funds for the war is one idea, but it's going to require walking a tightrope, considering "cutting the funds for the war" will be spun by the media as "cutting funds for the troops".

[Spazito]

3. Well, it looks like the repubs whining about being shut out in the

first "hundred hours" in order for the Democrats to accomplish the goals surveyed will not resonate with anyone, gotta love it!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Oh, it may resonate alright

Just not in the way they intended.

[Spazito]

14. True, the results of the recent election say to me

the blinders have come off enough people and they now see the repubs for what they truly are and this newest whine will disgust them even more.

[Amonester]

16. I hope they see the repukes for what they truely R:

A "new" old kind of Nazis.

[bdamomma]

18. hey the repigs have brought it upon themselves for being so

subservient to Bush, they will pay dearly for that.

[BR_Parkway]

7. "Most people say they do not know enough yet to have an opinion about the California Democrat "

I thought the spin was "most people are terrified about that woman as Speaker with her San Francisco values" - oh well, another 10 minutes, another Republican lie exposed......stay the course, eh?

[juajen]

9. Did you mean "exacerbated"?

N/T

[IndianaGreen]

10. How about bringing the US back under international law?

As long as the US puts itself above the law, we will be seen as a pariah nation, a threat to the entire world.

How about changing these laws that put the US outside the International Crimes Court (ICC) at The Hague?:

Congress overwhelmingly passed a law in 2002 that prohibits U.S. cooperation with the ICC, restricts U.S. participation in UN peacekeeping operations to situations where U.S. forces are explicitly exempt from prosecution for any war crimes, bans the sharing of U.S. intelligence with the ICC, prohibits most foreign aid to countries that ratify the ICC statute, and authorizes the president to use "all means necessary and appropriate" to free from captivity "any U.S. or allied personnel held by or on behalf of the ICC," including a U.S. military attack on The Hague.

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0102-53.htm

[crickets]

19. Yes. That also needs to be addressed, and soon. nt