Finding it hard to be a good Democrat of late...

[ElboRuum]

I think you all know what I'm talking about.

Betrayed by our elected officials, inculcated once again to the business of government rather than the act of governing itself. It seems that once again, Democrats eschew their campaign promises.

We just don't get it. Congress is hard work don't ya know. Well, maybe so. Us simple folk don't know about the ins and outs of the Washingtonian thing. I mean, by comparison, these folks we elected are geniuses and if they say no to our wishes, like dutiful idiot sons and daughters, we should just trust that they know best.

Or I could go with my default position on politics: it is a lazy person's excuse for not solving easy problems.

I've never seen a mandate for action in my lifetime before Iraq Part II. With 70+ percent of Americans wanting some sort of promissory note indicating a timetable for withdrawal, if this does not indicate a mandate, then I just do not know what a mandate is.

Well, getting politicians to act in a sensible manner is like herding cats in a dark room with a flashlight with a dead battery.

Meow.

[Subdivisions]

1. Meow indeed.

[Double T]

2. 'WE' certainly know when 'WE' have been soldout.............

isn't that ALL that really matters?

[NC_Nurse]

3. I am suffering from the same lack of enthusiasm.

I was also dismayed by the news this morning regarding earmarks. Sorry, but I think our
politicians should live by the rules they created, period.

Damn.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bread_and_roses]

9. Lots of long-time posters have issues right now, are we all from FR?

In fact, every Progressive I know has issues with the Democratic Party, and these are the very people who turn out year-round and year after year for Democratic candidates that they know full well are only marginally better than the Republicans. It's not impossible that the Democrats will drain that well dry one of these days, with their "centrism" and "triangulation" and their pandering to the Right.

[sam sarrha]

27. i also have problems, i stated that.. but what are the alternatives, and what are you doing about ??

if you are not doing anything and dont offer an alternative then your motovations can be questioned.. and i didnt get an answer only flamed, as i said if you arent doing anything to improve things what are you doing..?? and why are you still here, i realized you may have not considered that, still waiting

[CrownPrinceBandar]

11. DO NOT QUESTION THE PARTY!!!!!!!!!!

Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, here:


And I thought we all agreed that was pretty much a bad thing. :shrug:

[sam sarrha]

25. question ALL YOU WANT.. but Dont complain about the answers.. less you are dictating

[Forkboy]

13. With us or with the Freepers?

I would say your attitude is FAR closer to the Freeper mentality,and nearly as dangerous.

[ElboRuum]

22. I'd respond...

...but the others who responded to you put it just about how I would have.

I would ask you this though:

Do I not have a right to be pissed off?

[Warpy]

5. Rope-A-Dope

I'm withholding judgment for now. Congress was between a rock and a hard place this time.

Come September, they'll be able to ask tough questions about all the benchmarks in that bill. They'll be able to demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that these benchmarks, while toothless, were agreed to but have not been reached, not a single one.

Come September, with demonstrated failure to progress at all in Iraq, they'll be in a much better position to get that timetable through.

This is what I'm hoping for. If September comes and they roll over and play good dead doggie again, then I'm joining you.

[snappyturtle]

6. Part of me says you're right but then that nagging conscience

comes onto the scene....how many more are going to die? Stephanopolis listed 37 more this morning.

[Warpy]

14. If they had voted against funding

you know damned full well Stupid would have robbed some other program, probably a vital one like WIC, to provide illegal funding. Remember, he robbed the hunt for bin Laden to fund the beginning of his Iraq war.

There was no way the troops were coming home, no matter what the Democrats did this time.

[snappyturtle]

17. If you're right then the responsibility would have been in *'s

court. I think the Dems should have handed * the same bill the second time....he would have had to choose to illegally fund or accept timelines or veto...HIS choice....HIS responsibility. imho

[Warpy]

23. I agree. Obviously, they didn't

and there may or may not have been a backroom deal, a quid pro quo for the minimum wage increase portion that Stupid has still not signed.

If the kid gloves don't come off in September I will be very angry at the Washington crowd. I am not a good enemy to have.

[ElboRuum]

20. I hope you're right.

I too am reserving an outright condemnation. Right now it is an expression of mixed frustration, exasperation, and genuine concern.

But make no mistake, I was watching Bill Maher the one night when Ben Affleck was on and he said something that pretty much encapsulated my own feelings on the matter. Until Democratic politicians start choosing battle over retreat, regardless of the political expediency of retreat, they have no reason to complain that their opponents successfully paint them as weak in front of the electorate.

[porphyrian]

7. A good Democrat doesn't unquestioningly support the party.

Why would you think you aren't a good Democrat now?

[CrownPrinceBandar]

10. Thank you for those sensible words.....

I have serious trepidations about where my party is going, and I tire of being vilified for questioning its direction.

edit: syntax

[porphyrian]

19. People get even more snappy when they're tired and frustrated.

Just try not to take it personally and keep doing what you know is right.

[ElboRuum]

18. Well...

To be truthful, there is a cadre of DUers who feel that voicing this kind of sentiment is poisonous. Hey, in this thread alone I've already been accused of being a freeper.

I don't know what to tell them. I'm frustrated by the inaction and politicking, and I said so. I'm a bad person.

[porphyrian]

21. Fuck 'em. They're no better or worse than you. Don't let it get to you.

In the end, we'll all hang together. People are tired and frustrated, especially here, where we're waaaaaay ahead of the curve on knowing what's going on. Think of this as more of a constructive mosh than a fight - we're all on the same side, basically.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

8. Yep. I think I do know what you're talking about.

However, I don't agree with a word of your assessment about it.

[MedleyMisty]

12. Al Gore's the only politician I would put in even the moderaly gifted category

Much less genius - although I think Gore is more than just moderately gifted.

A while ago Rolling Stone published part of a letter that an indicted Republican congressperson had written from prison. It was less literate than the average post written by a 12 year old on the Sims 2 boards.

Even if they did have the ability to look at the facts and draw the correct conclusions, it's not likely they're going to do anything about it. Here I again refer to Gore - he says in his book that the reason no one was debating the Iraq war before it began is because they were all off raising money for the next campaign.

[bigtree]

15. YOU'RE DOING IT TO YOURSELF

the 'party' has never taken a vote on one supplemental spending bill and defined itself by that one action.

In fact the majority of the Democratic party remains strongly opposed to Bush's occupation and overwhelmingly in favor of voting for a timetable for withdrawal. That's the clearest difference between the two parties, and that's the only relevant position which would directly affect Bush's occupation in a way that it would force him to end it.

The stance that supposed Bush would notice or care enough about some funding shortfall to the point that he would end his occupation was a dubious proposition before the vote on the spending bill, and the money is still irrelevant to the issue of setting an end date in legislation that could be used to force an end to deployments. Just sitting on the money wasn't stopping Bush from cramming soldiers into the middle of the warring factions in Iraq. That stance, which is supposed to represent 'courage', directed Bush to do NOTHING while withholding money which our OWN party had identified as necessary for the troops in the field, those deploying, and those in support roles around the region.

Just one vote with a veto-busting margin of republicans brings the troops home, money and all. That's what makes a lie out of the constant carping about 'capitulation' over the spending bill. Our party still stands, with an overwhelming majority of our Democratic legislators still in opposition to the occupation and still ready to vote for legislation which contains an exit date. The majority of republicans are not ready to come off of their enabling obstruction to that exit date. That was the crux of the veto fight; not the funding, but the exit date.

That confrontation still stands. No one has backed away from that fight. The only difference now is that the phony charge that Democrats were somehow determined to hold back necessary funds to the troops has been trumped by the passage of the Democratic spending bill. Now there is nothing obscuring the republican's outright refusal to end the occupation, to stop using our soldiers as bait for terrorists, and to bring the troops home.

Just because you want to see the passage of one supplemental as the evisceration of republican responsibility for prolonging the occupation, doesn't mean that the rest of us have to become mired in apathy as well. Our party is still pushing for an end to the occupation from their majority position in Congress. Dragging them through the muck over one spending bill and spending every day weeping about it doesn't change or negate that active opposition one bit.

[leftofthedial]

16. you're doing better than any of the "democrats" in DC

[Edweird]

24. They understand money. And votes.

I hope their actions on this bill wake up their constituents enough to make some changes.

[bobbolink]

26. .

:silly: