What should the Democrats in the House have done?

[SDDEM06]

A) Stage a sit-in inside the House chamber and wait for the Capitol Police to arrest them?
B) Stood on the floor of the House and hold their breath until their faces turned purple?
C) Thrown temper tantrums?

or D) Stage a walk-out?

Before you answer D) bear in mind that the Republicans managed to pass a rule two years ago which allows the House leadership to declare an emergency and whomever is present represents a quorum - and anyone not present is stripped of their membership in the House and is not permitted inside. So if the Democrats had staged a walk out, the Republicans in the House could have used their version of the nuclear option.

What would you have done if you had been a Democratic member of Congress this week?

[annabanana]

1. They could have at least all voted AGAINST it..

I mean, I don't thnk that's so much to ask

[rug]

3. Lol

:thumbsup:

[bullimiami]

6. Anna, those that didnt, who have betrayed us all along,

with the patriot act, roberts, alito, this abortion and on and on and on do not deserve support from us.


we dont have to listen to those excuses anymore. its over.

[JeffR]

9. Damn right

It wouldn't have changed the end result. It would, however, have signalled to the rank-and-file, and to history, exactly who was on which side of the 'debate'. It would have cost them nothing, it would have fired up the base, it would have shown Amerika that someone was willing to stand by the Constitution and stand up for humanity in a Dark Age.

Not only is this not so much to ask, it is asking the very bare minimum.

[DireStrike]

12. Who the fuck are the democratic whips and why arent they doing their jobs?

nt

[sandnsea]

14. Ask the people of South Dakota or Nebraska

or Louisiana or Alabama. Maybe you should ask those people why they support torture and the suspension of habeas corpus rights.

[SDDEM06]

18. I am in South Dakota

Many of us are miffed, but there are a lot of lunatics out here who think this will only ever be used against Abdul and never against Americans. Of course, if it were used against Americans, it won't be used against *real* Americans, just those traitorous liberals - and hey, we have it coming anyway.

[sandnsea]

24. I know that

We need to change minds before we're ever going to get those people to elect more liberal representatives or vote in a more liberal fashion. Trickle down politics isn't going to work any better than trickle down economics.

[John Gauger]

15. And yet oddly that wasn't on the list

seems like an obvious suggestion to me.

[SDDEM06]

20. 160 Democrats (82%) did vote against it.

If the entire Democratic caucus had voted against it, it would have still passed.

I'm asking what the Democrats could have done to prevent it from passing, since so many people seem to think it was a simple thing for the Democrats to do, yet somehow lacked the spine to do it.

I'm still waiting for someone to explain it to me.

[Nay]

26. IT doesn't MATTER that it still would have passed if all Dems

voted against it!!! The IDEA is to:

tell your loyal voters that you don't want the US to be a torture state

Tell the pubs that Dems now vote as a bloc, and will no longer GIVE A FUCKING SHIT what the pub "spin" is going to be

show that you have priciples, even if they won't be expressed in a law

tell your loyal voters that the pubs are POISON and that you ALL recognize that

[Nay]

25. Zakly!! How hard would that have been?? It's not like the damn

pubs ever call us anything but "cut and runners" anyway, so who gives a fuck about how they will spin it??? Jeesus. I am so effing sick of this!!!! Dems, dems, at least go down fighting instead of whimpering, "Don't hurt me, don't hurt me" as the pubs beat the everloving shit out of you ANYWAY. Jesus Christ on a crutch.

[bullimiami]

2. I have no pity or sympathy for those that voted for this.

Those who voted against it in the house did all they could.

I have no place for the D senators who refused to fight it. including my own pos dino (who i will now NOT vote for)

[bluerum]

4. Why are you fingering the Dems? The pukes have the majority and

they were on this like white on rice.

Whey are we deflecting this onto the dems? They did not draw up this legislation and they did not ram it through.

But, in order to stop this? I am not sure what they could have done. The important thing is to get either congress or the senate in Nov. They lost this battle, but they may be able to win the war.

[SDDEM06]

16. Because I am seeing lots of threads...

about the Democrats (and this IS Democratic Underground). Most of the posts are saying they should never have allowed this to pass, but I'm not sure how they could do that since Democrats are the minority and in the House they have zero power. Nancy Pelosi couldn't even get a closed session to discuss the NIE the other day.

If people are going to say "I can't vote for Democrats anymore" or "Screw the Dems" etc, then I want to hear some ideas of what people think the Dems in the House should have done.

[bluerum]

27. I guess that I am of similar mind. But it is heartbreaking to see the

Dems or anyone else voting for this. Although it would not have made any difference in terms of passing the bill if more Dems had voted against it, it would certainly have given KKKarl more fodder for the smear machine.

I am not sure if it was worth it to hold their noses and vote for this one - if they get congress or the senate then perhaps we can say it was. Then they may have a chance of reversing it. If they get neither house, well,,, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

[John Gauger]

19. Just because the republicans are in control doesn't make it right

for the Dems to vote for this bill. They should have voted against it for the sole reason that it was wrong. What possible reason could they have had to vote for it? And saying 'they lost' implies that they were all against it. Some lost; those that supported the bill won.

[flobee1]

5. a basic partisan vote

of no-all
yes-none
after that, a filibuster
Make the rebugs change the rules to silence dissent
some Democrats are more concerned about their jobs than preserving law and it turns my stomach

[Nite Owl]

7. They could have at the least

all voted against it

They could have insisted that there be a filibuster, Reid would have needed the 41 votes to do that.

They could have shouted all week about the Republicans causing a Constitutional Crisis, they might as well be burning it, they could have written op ed pieces, they could have put up a commercial saying that the repukes are siding with the terrorists--we are giving up our rights, the very founding of our country, the terrorists couldn't have planned it better themselves. Start ads morphing their candidates into OBL.

Most people don't even know what this is all about why is that?

[SDDEM06]

22. I am asking about the House...

Obviously, the Senate is a different story. I am disappointed there was not a filibuster in the Senate.

[Fleshdancer]

8. EVERY Senator should have voted against this crap n/t

[DireStrike]

10. A, B, C, and D, and E

E. Storm the congress with assault rifles.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. To hell with walking out. A) would have been a great protest.

Make the Republicans arrest them, book them, and lock them up.

It worked for Gandhi and MLK.

Alas, resistance to unjust and barbaric laws is held in low esteem by politiicans.

[zeemike]

13. I they can;t filibuster a torture bill what can they filibuster. n/t

[ikojo]

17. Voted against the torture bill

Torturing another human being is not something you play politics with!

[flyarm]

21. they should have done what this party stands for!!..or used to stand for!

they should have stood in unison and voted against an immoral illegal bill!
they should have stood for our soldiers ..and said no..damn it..no!!!!!!!!!!!



instead they voted to put bullseyes on all our soldiers backs..and all Americans that travel out of this country!

this is dispicable!

i never thought in my 54 years i would see this day..of giving unilateral power to any president..and totally neutering our congress and our courts!

as far as i am concerned those who boted for this fucking bullshit..just put a R next to their names..and they just put a "fuck you" next to ours and our constitution!

fly

[sendero]

23. Here's the thing..

... I'm not going to turn against the Dem party over this, but I AM going to turn against each and every enabler.

We have to organize, find good challengers and send them home. They are not fit to serve, whether they are Dems or Reps or Independents or whatever.

Politics is a rough game. But when the ONLY consideration is "will this help ME", well that's just not good enough.