Bob Geiger: Where are our Democratic leaders?

[IChing]

We liberals do a lot of lamenting the total takeover of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government by the Republican party and spend endless hours debating what Democrats can do to regain control of the national agenda.

How about this? Show some genuine leadership in a time of crisis. With our citizens dying in New Orleans, as if the Crescent City were some third-world backwater unworthy of humanitarian attention, where the hell are our Democratic leaders?

Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has been one of the few who yelled loudly at the beginning of last week. "It was not enough for the president to bank his plane and look at the window and say, 'Oh, what a devastating site,'" said Lautenberg "Instead of looking out the window of an airplane, he should have been on the ground giving the people devastated by this hurricane hope."



Their web sites all have the same empty sympathetic phrases: "My heart goes out to all of the families in our Gulf States who have been hurt or impacted by Hurricane Katrina's devastation."

Impacted? How about killed?

A quick tour of every Democratic Senator's web site finds very little true outrage and mostly a lot of blah-blah-blah that sounds more like it was written by a second-string, public-relations staffer than by an elected official truly indignant at the totally preventable deaths of our own citizens.

Democrats must expect more and we must show more – especially when the chips are so profoundly down -- if we want to once again be the dominant political party.>>>>snip


But where in the world are Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and even the normally lion-hearted Barbara Boxer when our own people are being killed with our government's indifference and total lack of moral rectitude.

Where is the Democratic National Committee and why isn't Howard Dean on every television news show ripping President Bush and his crew of incompetents for their role in the unnecessary death toll in Louisiana and Mississippi? My guess is that many of them do not have the courage to step into the political breach and that they are shrinking in the face of Bush's ludicrous claim that this is "not a time for politics."

This is exactly the time for politics.

Webster's defines politics as "the art or science of government or governing, especially the governing of a political entity, such as a nation, and the administration and control of its internal and external affairs.">>snip


And, at a time when Americans are watching in stunned disbelief and waiting for someone to take the lead in expressing our collective outrage and resolve, Democratic leaders are sitting on the sidelines like frightened spectators.>>>>snip


So I say again to our Democratic political leaders: Where the hell are you hiding?

http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2005/09/where-are-our-democratic-leaders.html

[Kolesar]

1. Yeah...we did that story last month...eom

[sendero]

2. The silence is deafening..

.... I expect total incompetence from the Bush** administration but I'm becoming more and more dismayed with each passing day as the uselessness of the Dems becomes not only apparent but in-your-face obvious.

Please, nobody could fall for the "politicizing" argument, the GOP has spent 4 years politicizing 9-11 and every other tragedy that came down the pike. They've wasted no time in politicizing this themselves, pointing the finger of blame in a 360-degree configuration.

From the Dem leadership....... crickets.

[sandnsea]

3. I'm going to keep a list

Every single person who dares to post anything against the Democrats at this particular point in time have outed themselves as complete idiots. I will keep a list and every time they do it in the future I'm going to throw it in their face. Democrats have released a plan for the victims, they've been fighting for Blanco and Nagin, they're fighting against the estate tax legislation, they're all over the news. People bitching about Democrats right now are either chronic malcontents or people whose agenda is to destroy this government in order to replace it with communism or socialism.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=1349

Where are the Democrats my ass.

[enough already]

4. Put me at the top of your list then.

The silence is deafening. Democrats need to be publicly SKEWERING Bush right now, not mouthing empty platitudes to the victims.

[bvar22]

5. Let ME be first on your list.

The Democrats NEED to be in front of EVERY camera they can find, borrow, buy, or steal.
There has NEVER been a better opportunity to shine a SPOTLIGHT on the Criminal Incompetence and IMMORALITY of the Republican Party.
It is time to DRIVE A FUCKING STAKE through the EVIL HEART of Compassionate Conservatism!!!
I DON'T see this happening.
Instead, we get letters and Victim Plans. NOT ENOUGH!

They should to be singing the SAME song, Directly attacking the Republican Party/bush* loudly and FREQUENTLY:

*Bush*/Republicans DEFUNDED the programs that would have fixed the 17th St Levee

*National Guard 1st responders and their equipment were in Iraq fighting Bush*s War

*The Local Authorities asked Bush* for help on the 27th of August, bush* refused (show the letter)!

*Rescue efforts were stopped so bush* could have a photo op

*bush* ate cake and played the guitar while New orleans drowned

*Bush* appointed incompetent cronys and unqualified idiots that are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for UNNECESSARY DEATHS in New Orleans. (Heard any Democrats saying that?)


YOU may think that the response from the Democratic Party is just peachy.
Some people also believe that the response from bush to Katrina is peachy. GET IT?

Let ME be first on YOUR list!

I will keep a copy of YOUR post, and when Republicans retain their majority in the House and Senate in 2006 because of tepid, indirect, uncoordinated, high road response from the Democratic Party, I'll feed it back to YOU.


The Republican Ownership Society

The FACE of Compassionate Conservatism



The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[Debi]

6. I'll need to be on that list as well n/t

[IChing]

8. Your list sounds a little fascist itself doesn't it?

What this guy is saying is that it's time to strike now
and I agree.
The response from the DNC was a good start
but we want more.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2067180

[Debi]

11. Me? n/t

[IChing]

12. sorry Debi, you are already on that list like me, I meant the list taker

I posted on the wrong spot of the thread.:hi: :hi:

[CWebster]

7. Not that it is any surprise at this stage of the game, sandnsea

but if you truly are a Democratic partisan to the point of not recognizing political realities than you only serve to reinforce the present circumstances--just as the Democrats continue to give Bush and his cronies a pass.

It seems they are more concerned with being civil and not offending Republicans than expressing any true outrage--and that makes me question their worthiness to lead and represent the people's interests.

And that is worrisome, because they have the chance to take the bull by the horns now and instead we still have Clinton helping the Bush crime family do damage control.

[LTRS]

9. Put me on your list too

These wussy dems I have given money to and voted for all my life MAKE ME SICK! You have Landrieu and Clinton saying things like "this is not the time to seek blame." I agree with Tim Russert this morning on IMUS -- we can seek accountability AND respond to this devesatation at the same time. Why aren't wussy dems echoing that tune over and over??

Meanwhile, Bush is saying, this morning, that HE will investigate what went wrong. Where are the wussy dems saying that's like the Fox investigating what happened to the chickens?

Fricking wussy dems over evil rethugs. That is the choice we have in this country. Sickening!

[Q]

13. Add me to your list...

...because what you're advocating is more of the same type of politics that put 'our' party in the minority and allowed fascists to take over our country.

I can't believe that you're being serious when you suggest that people 'bitching about Democrats' are either 'chronic malcontents'...or...'with an agenda to destroy this government and replace it with communism..."

I'm sorry to say...but this sounds too much like a RWing talking point. Something Rush would say to his idiotic fans.

But I'm not surprised that the usual defenders of the DLC and the 'new' Democrats are coming out with yet more smears and accusations against those who are outraged at the lack of leadership in the Democratic party.

And in case you haven't notice...this country has already been taken over by the Bush Pirates. They have killed off free and fair elections, waged aggressive wars and turned the executive branch into a dictatorship. They did all of this in broad daylight...while the Democratic leadership was either asleep or complicit.

How DARE YOU question our motives for participating in Democracy.

[MintOreoCookie]

16. Sorry sandnsea, but I am a die-hard democrat and I have been

wondering where the democratic leadership is. I am neither a malcontent nor do I want to destroy the government (since I am a government employee). I just don't get how the democrats have not used Bush's low approval rating to have their own ratings soar.

[Dr Fate]

10. they are frightened that Hannity might compare them to Micheal Moore...

...or even worse- Cindy Sheehan (Shudder!)

Come on folks, give DEMs a break- do we really want them to have to face all those mean comments from O'Reilly, Wolf & Rush Limbaugh??

[AlGore-08.com]

14. Al Gore was busy flying critically ill hurricane victims to TN

After being jerked around for a few days by FEMA, trying to get clearance for several flights that he organized (and paid for) himself. (Some of y'all may remember that local officials were screaming and sobbing on TV around this time "stop the press conferences, send us some HELP!)

http://reg.knoxnews.com/kns/web/registrationForm?from=www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_4054083,00.html

Haven from fury Mercy Flight Brings Evacuees to ET

Gore accompanies about 140 arrivals from New Orleans but declines to take credit

By ROBERT WILSON

(snip)

About 140 people - mostly elderly and infirm - arrived Saturday at McGhee Tyson Airport (in Knoxville, TN) on a chartered mercy flight from hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, welcomed to East Tennessee by a bright sun and a host of medical professionals straining at the reins to help their fellow human beings without regard to whether they were on the clock.

The displaced hurricane victims came to Tennessee on a hastily arranged flight, accompanied by doctors and carrying whatever they had in boxes, bags or, in one case, an old suitcase tied up with rope.

Former Vice President Al Gore arranged the flight and was on board, but he declined to take credit for the airlift, fearing it would be "politicized."

(snip)

Gore chose not to speak to the assembled media, but he was seen in a black T-shirt and jeans moving rapidly from one side of the plane to the other assisting with the off-loading operation.

(more... )



http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3811127

Chattanooga expects a thousand more storm refugees tomorrow

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. Officials in Chattanooga, Tennessee, say they expect a thousand more storm refugees tomorrow.

A United Way official says people rescued after Hurricane Katrina will be housed at Red Cross shelters throughout the city.

About 130 hurricane refugees arrived in Chattanooga Sunday on a plane chartered by former Vice President Al Gore.

(more... )

[CWebster]

15. That says a hell of alot more

when compared to Clinton strutting on the stage with his new family.

[Zodiak]

17. Al Gore...

gets a free pass on this one. He has done plenty and he certainly does not raise the ire of this "malcontent" from his behavior over the last couple of years. But then again, we are talking about a man who was called "unhinged" by the right and was NOT defended by the Dem leadership (because he endorsed Dean over Leiberdweeb).

I would love for him to run for POTUS once again.

And yeah, put me on your stupid list and asterisk it because I am pissed off!!

And posting a speech Reid made from the hallowed halls of Congress is great and all, but is that message getting out? The answer is "no". Reid can give that speech again where Americans can hear it...otherwise, it is lip service that serves only for them to point to and say "see, we're really on your side". But no results.

Get results, or get the hell out of the way.