Rice isn't the battle

[accipiter]

Dems made their points. It's time to move on. Even if we defeated her Bush would just put up another neocon. The end result is the same.

The fight will be over SS. Smart Dems keep their powder dry for the real fights.

[stray cat]

1. You're right. The real battles are yet to come

The democrats wanted to expose the lies of this administration and get them on record. They have done exactly that and maybe they even helped wake up the media a little.

Now if somebody can get some of the republicans to think for themselves. The real media slant should be that the republicans are so partisan they embrace everthing Bush does without an independent voice. They are abandoning their original purpose to act as a check and balance to the administration.

[cestpaspossible]

2. Win or lose, the 32 were wrong to vote to confirm.

It doesn't matter if "even if we defeated her Bush would just put up another neocon" -- that doesn't make voting to confirm correct.

She's a perjurer, with a proven record of failure. There is no excuse to vote to confirm her as the person fourth in line for the Presidency.

[Lefty48197]

3. The people who want to go to war over Condi are very naive

The Democrats in Congress have many battles to fight over the next four years. Some are very important, others are EXTREMELY important. We have to "pick our battles".

[Padraig18]

4. Rice and Gonzales are SYMPTOMS; the sickness is deeper.

We should keep our powder dry for SS, electoral-reform, etc. .

[martymar64]

5. Wrong! We need to fight them every step of the way.

There is not a finite amount of fight to be "conserved" for later. To appease them now is to weaken us for the more important fights (think Chamberlain and the Sudetenland.

[moggie12]

6. I agree (although I would've preferred more Dems voted "No"

But hey, 13 is way more than I ever expected so I count it as a very good thing.

Now, onto the next order of business: Has everyone signed that petition Harry Reid sent out? In addition to fighting SS, the Senate Dems have proposed 10 important pieces of legislation and have asked that we sign our names in support.

If you haven't signed yet, my earlier post has the link. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1525891

[Wrinkle_In_Time]

7. You are correct that she isn't "the" battle...

...but she is one of the battles in the U.S. political theatre right now.

Her confirmation was worth fighting. Didn't you see her squirm? Regardless of the inevitable result, I applaud the decision to vote against her confirmation. It really doesn't cost her opponents anything and I think it gains them a lot. It even got some "steno pool" media coverage.

I totally disagree with the sentiment that some posters on this forum have about how elected Dems should be "picking their battles" or "keeping their powder dry" or other such poor excuses for inaction.

This type of action is inspiring.