Where are the Dems refuting Bush's "We need to fight them over there"?

[brentspeak]

As I'm sure most of you are aware, Rove's latest slogan for Bush to repeat-repeat-repeat (until it becomes "truth") is "We've got to fight the terrorists over there (in Iraq) so that we don't have to fight them over here, on American soil." (As if the bin Laden crowd is stupid enough to expose themselves that openly).

Why aren't the Dems getting on message to refute this utter nonsense? (I won't mention the media's refusal to critique Rove's B.S. - that's another story).

[Trajan]

1. Where are ANY Dems ...

when it comes to refuting this assinine regime ? ...

They seem to clamor for one thing: who can run fastest to the microphone to embrace the GOP agenda ....

[wli]

2. yep, only the DLC gets any airtime n/t

[thereismore]

3. Dems are useless. If there were any dems, there would not be a war. nt

[AtomicKitten]

4. Cuz the Dem with the biggest balls

right now is Hillary Clinton and I guess it wouldn't be very ladylike to speak out or show some semblance of a backbone. Weasels. I had high hopes for Barack Obama but he has faded into the woodwork and become a good 'ol boy just like the rest of them. Paul Hackett is the example they should follow.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Saying Hillary, or any other woman needs 'balls' is like

telling a black person, "that's awfully white of you!"

It's in an insult.

[AtomicKitten]

16. Actually

I said she IS the Dem with the biggest balls.

Never said "needs."

Your point?

[Captain Hilts]

28. She doesn't need 'balls' to have fortitude.

To say she needs male anatomy to be morally strong is an insult.

The ultimate compliment for a woman isn't to say she's more like a man just as it isn't a compliment to tell a black person they're white.

[AtomicKitten]

34. come on

MookieStinks, lighten up. I'm a female, for crissakes; it's just an expression.

[Captain Hilts]

36. No, it's not just an expression.

Your rude take on my name doesn't do you or your comments any credit. I, too, am female and don't think I need 'balls' to be strong. Perhaps you do...

[AtomicKitten]

37. I don't like you.

Go away.

[gokar]

43. I will drink to that

:toast:

[eridani]

47. But women DO have balls--

--we just wear them high and inside, so to speak.

[lancdem]

8. I think when the recess ends we'll see

more Dems. At least I hope so.

[bvar22]

18. When has Hillary condemned the Bush* War?

The last I heard, she fully supports the Bush War on the Iraqi People. She even wants to EXPAND the military!

[howmad1]

24. Seems to me.......

...the only Dem with balls today is Chuck Hagel. What a sorry ass political party the dems have become.

[Child_Of_Isis]

5. The Dem's are terrified of this Admin.

I think they fear for the safety of the populace also. So they keep their mouths shut and hope the republicans clean up their own mess. They know that we are dealing with madmen.

[Frances]

6. I resent this post

Dems have spoken up. The MSM doesn't cover them. Several Dem politicians have gone to Camp Casey. A number of mothers of children killed or wounded in Iraq have gone to Camp Casey. But you wouldn't know it from the main stream media.

[brentspeak]

10. Don't blast me

I know it sounds like I'm being unfairly critical of Democrats. And I'm the first one to get mad when people here suggest we shouldn't support Democrats because of Reason "X" (I even support some of the DLC crowd - not all, but some).

But it shouldn't be too hard for about twenty Democrats to stand together on the Capitol steps and hold a press conference calling Bush on his latest fake slogan. Something like that is guaranteed to get press coverage. What bothers me is that Democrats seem unwilling, after all this time, to get together on message. The Republicans get on message every single day. Why can't our people do the same?

[AtomicKitten]

17. I agree.

They are terrified of invoking the GOP Wrecking Machine on their asses.
That's BS. None of them stood with Cindy Sheehan. It's almost as if they are afraid to speak out. That's why someone like Paul Hackett is so refreshing. You would think the Dems in Congress would have gotten a clue from his success. Nobody is against the Dems in Congress, in fact, quite the opposite. I just fell like getting behind them and giving them a big shove.

[Telly Savalas]

30. Sheila Jackson Lee and Maxine Waters have stood with Cindy Sheehan.

It's not BS.

[AtomicKitten]

35. I stand corrected.

I actually am self-employed and work 7 days a week.
I really do try to keep up.
And I don't support the pink-tutu theory, for the record.

[Telly Savalas]

39. It's cool.

It's not like their Crawford visits are making the front pages of the Times or anything. I thought I remembered reading about them here, but still had to google to verify.

The "pink tutus" comment wasn't meant to be directed at you.

Cheers.

[AtomicKitten]

41. Thanks Telly!

I am a hardcore full-on Democrat, and I get so frustrated watching this stuff from home when I really feel like breaking something over the nearest Republican's head! Aaarrrggggh!

[gokar]

44. I think we are talkin about PROMINENT dems.....

Hillary, Kerry, Kennedy, Edwards, Gore, Clinton, Reed,.....all
those nationally known elected pols.

[Telly Savalas]

31. A lot of people here choose to ignore the dissent when it occurs...

because whining about "pink tutus" requires a lot less thought than accepting the more complicated reality.

That said I think brentspeak makes some good points in post #10. The problem isn't so much that all the Democrats are being doormats. Rather, the non-conservatives struggle to coordinate their message and media strategy.

I'll concede that the media might stack the deck against them a bit, but it's still no excuse. Holding events like brentspeak suggests is a necessity. A lot of them would likely be ignored, but if we have creative ideas and keep plugging away, the message will get out. More than "serving their corporate masters" or other such bullshit, the media loves a compelling story. That's why Sheehan's getting press.

[aquart]

9. Nobody wants to be the sacrifice.

The first Dem to say "OUT NOW" is the one who gets slammed for making losers out of us. See, if we just keep throwing good money after bad, and live soldiers to make the dead ones meaningful...why then we'll be winners, of what we don't know, but we gotta be winners.

Someone has to craft language that will allow us to lose a war. Language that will stand up to vicious attack. Got any?

That's what the hungry Dems are wrestling with.

[bvar22]

20. There is an organization (small) of "Out Now" Democrats.

They also support Universal HealthCare, No NAFTA, Regulation and Oversight of the Worst Corporate Excesses, LABOR unions, Living Wage, Environmental and Human Rights FIRST.

You can find them here:

http://www.pdamerica.org/

[Karmadillo]

11. Isn't this the position of most leading Democrats? More troops,

stay the course, we're the better war party.

[aquart]

42. ARGHHH!

[Poiuyt]

12. Did you see Dana Millbank on KO tonight?

Keith mentioned something about the Democrats and the anti-war movement protesting the Iraq War, and Dana said "Well, the anti-war movement at least. The Democrats, for some reason, have been afraid to speak out against the war." I can't remember the exact words and situation, but that is basically what he said.

[NYCGirl]

13. He said they were afraid to speak out against it because they voted for it

NT

[AtomicKitten]

40. Ironically

this would be the perfect time to speak out since junior's approval rating is in the crapper and the majority thinks the war was a mistake. I don't understand why they aren't on him like stink on a monkey. God knows they would be if the tables were turned. It is so frustrating watching it from the peanut gallery.

[Hardrada]

14. They should be tried too

for aiding and abetting war crimes, crimes which violate the Geneva agreements and the Nuremberg protocols. They are so busy being "good Germans" they are in violation of common humanity.

[brentspeak]

15. Er, you're taking this a bit too far

That, or my sarcasm meter isn't working.

[Q]

22. Perhaps Hardrada is more correct than you know...

...because some Democrats would have been seen as collaborators and treated as war criminals if they had done the same thing in Hitler's Germany. I guess it's a matter of context.

The issue is that those Democrats and Republicans who voted for 'preemptive' war KNEW that Bush had broken US and international law by waging AGGRESSIVE war against a country that posed no threat to our national security. Unprovoked aggression is a war crime.

But the lack of morality and ethics in today's American politics allows aggressive war and torture to happen and no one is punished for it. The fact that the Democratic Leadership isn't calling for prosecution of these crimes demonstrates their complicity.

[Hardrada]

46. Thanks for realizing I am quite serious about this.

The complicity also extends to the MSM and church leaders who feel this war is a good thing. I am sure there are some who are opposed but their voices must not be getting through the Noise Machine.

[ElectroPrincess]

19. The vast majority of our national representatives are

Upper Middle Class and Above. Hell, they *personally* won't suffer at all if this country goes to hell in a hand-basket.

In fact, they would continue vote THEMSELVES raises, more perks and payola with each passing year.

With a few exceptions, I hardly recognize the values of our so called Democratic Leaders in the House and Senate. :cry: :puke:

[Vektor]

21. We're not "fighting" them "over there"....

We're CREATING them over there.

BTW that "fight them over there" bullshit talking point is one of the lamest ever. It's gibberish.

[renie408]

23. Isn't it ironic and telling that...

the Republicans favorite new reason for the war is a gross bigoted blanket statement that completely denies reality? "Them"?? Over "there"?? We are fighting Iraqi insurgents 'over there'. Saudi Arabians took down the WTC. But I guess to Republicans, they all look alike, huh??

[brentspeak]

25. Not to mention

the discrepancy between the latest new reason and one of the older reasons: How can one "promote Iraqi democracy" and "better the Iraqi people's way of life" (older reasons) while at the same time turning Iraqi streets into bloody battlefields in the "hunt against terrorists" (the newest reason).

[renie408]

29. Good observation

[Vektor]

26. That's about the size of it.

What stuns me is how many people are ignorant enough to buy into that nonsensical Bush-speak.

[paineinthearse]

27. Look up Welshterrier2's post about Rep. Jim McGovern (Ma3)...

...speech at Clark University.

Either work with your rep to insure he/she supports a withdrawal or work to replace your rep.

But PLEASE, no more non-constructive "Where are the Dems?" posts! Instead, focus your energy on and report the positive work being done by Reps Conyers, Kucinich, Lee, Tubbs-Jones, Slaughter, Hinchey, Miller, McGovern, Meehan, Woolsey, Lee, Waxman, McDermott, Sanders etc etc etc.

[bread_and_roses]

32. If WE don't say "where are the Dems," who will? Read Q's post above.

I for one will keep saying it. I will not be complicit in "politics as usual" while my fellow citizens are slaughtering civilians in an illegal war for profit and power.

Reps "Conyers, Kucinich, Lee, Tubbs-Jones, Slaughter, Hinchey, Miller, McGovern, Meehan, Woolsey, Lee, Waxman, McDermott, Sanders etc etc etc." do not seem to get a lot of Press. But Kerry does. The Clintons do. Lieberman does. etc., etc., etc.

Read Q's post. I am about to start calling them our Vichy Dems myself.

[paineinthearse]

38. "do not seem to get a lot of Press"

Forget the korporate press, be the media.

Mine the information here or or on your own, distribute it through networks. Cultivate relationships with small- and medium-market editors, yes, sit with editorial boards, write LTTE, write and post to INDY media.

Stop waiting for things to happen, make them happen!

[brentspeak]

33. Point well taken

I've gotten upset at others' anger-at-the-Dems posts, and I probably should've tailored my language a bit better.

[Dr Fate]

45. The strategists who lost the last 3 elections have a plan!!!

The Republicans are falling into their well crafted, silent trap!

Stop asking questions- they are ON IT!!

;)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

48. Because they're a bunch of spineless, feckless, useless,

limp-dicked pussies. We're so lucky to have such stalwart, valiant leaders on our side. :sarcasm: WHERE THE HELL ARE THE DEMOCRATS?