I really need to know the answer to this. Where does the White House get

[Mountainman]

it's power to intimidate Congress and the MSM. At the Harpers town hall about impeachment, John Dean said the reason the MSM and Congress are not doing anything about Bush is because they are intimidated and many on the panel said that we would have to take to the streets to get anything done because the MSM and Congress will not do it.

What is it that gives them so much power? What are people afraid of? Why can't everyone get together and stand up to Bush?

That's what you do to a bully. You stand up to him. I just don't understand how so many people can be intimidated and they do nothing about it. I've been wondering this ever since the 2000 election.

If the MSM was not so intimidated we would throw Bush and Cheney out tomorrow because people would begin to hear the truth.

[Richard Steele]

1. Illegal spying, for one thing.

They have the dirt on THOUSANDS of people in useful positions,
and they aren't afraid to blackmail them.

If J Edgar Hoover had ever DREAMED of the scale of political extortion
that B*shCabal™ operates every single day,
he would have stained his own blue dress.

[babylonsister]

2. No, dicksteele, HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS! ! No shit! nt

[Mist]

3. Yup-blackmail, plain and simple. Or the "carrot and stick" method, but

there's probably a lot more stick than carrot. "...would have stained his own blue dress." LOL!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. Conyers said it too...

They are afraid of being called "traitors" and "unpatriotic" by the administration.

Well, ya know what? I'm calling them traitors and unpatriotic, and they work for ME, not for the shrub-boy-king!!!!!!

[necso]

5. The neocons have been

putting in a place for decades a system (intra-party and beyond) that suppresses dissent and imposes rigid discipline.

Among the weapons in their arsenal are: taking control of the various organs of power; intimidation, be this person-to-person, shout-downs by their howler-monkeys, coordinated attacks in the media, etc; bribery; withdrawal of support from those who disagree; threats (they also "go after the goods" on almost everyone of potential interest); and other direct or indirect action of various sorts.

It gets harder, not easier, to resist bullies once you first give in.

[necso]

8. You can't sway

the consciences of those in power when they don't have any.

And you can't convince the powerful of the futility of their actions when as a matter of self-identity (and of natural character), they refuse to acknowledge their futility, failure, etc.

Neocons are all about power.

[flordehinojos]

6. short answer to your long question,

from the same cojones where the WH gets its gusto for torture, repression, and the evil that resides in it right now...the bush family genealogy, their unsatiable quest for POWER AND CONTROL, and their accurate awareness that without intimidation, power and control, they would have no cojones and no legs to stand on.


(oops -- my answer went a bit longer than i intended--but it is still an answer, i hope you will accept it as such)

}(

[Mountainman]

7. I accept it and believe you, but as Conyers talked about the civil rights

movement, he said many people up north asked Dr. King not to stand up to the Southerners because they would get killed. Dr. King said that he was not only going to stand up to them but he was going to use non violence.

When the people told Gandhi that the British would kill them if they disobeyed the laws he said then they will have our bodies but not our obedience.

Can't we find some way as a whole people to take that power away like King and Gandhi did? I think that it will happen some time. I think that there is a critical mass point where people will have had enough.

[flordehinojos]

10. i agree with you

i also think bush saturation has not yet reached its boiling over point, though. although in my sould i pray it happens SOON!

[rucky]

9. Assume for a second that 9/11 was MIHOP...

The terrorists in the White House wouldn't hesitate to stage a bigger attack upon our cities. Essentially they're holding a gun to the American people's collective heads. They have the means, motive and opportunity to do something like that. If the threats are leaked, the "smoking gun could become a mushroom cloud."

[originalpckelly]

11. Just as an example...

When Republican Senator Arlen Specter started investigating the NSA wiretapping program, he got slimed. Wasn't kind of funny, how the senator just happened to have allegations of corruption in his own office? Here is the thing: Bush probably knows about these little wonderful things (sarcasm) either because of the NSA program or just because he is involved some way. I found it very intriguing how Rep. Conyers office also just happened to have some information come out about "corruption." Carl Rove plays hardball. Just look at Valery Plame; her husband tells the truth about the yellowcake, and she eventually looses her job. I am gonna lift a line from V for Vendetta: "People shouldn't be afraid of their government, the government should be afraid of it's people." We must have courage. It is going to be hard ensuring that justice is carried out, but the very existence of American democracy is on the line; whether you realize or not. You will realize it sooner-or-later, but later will be far too late. Again, have courage.

[Minnesota Libra]

12. Before Nixon's impeachment it took years to convince party......

.....leaders and others to even speak the "I" word much less do something about it. People in this country don't like change so we will all but have to hog tie them and drag them back to the House to get anything done.