General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Thank you, Dennis, for everything. [View all]Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)Like the kind of "effective" Dems that you prefer(the ones who don't have any core values)refuse to do.
Your preference seems to be for the bland and malleable sort of Dem, the one who thinks that passing a bill, any bill, is "victory".
Those who stay quiet don't do much of anything that's really progressive...nor do those who mainly do what the party leadership says. It's only the rebels you can trust.
It's not like Kaptur was getting stuff passed in between 2006 and 2010. Bush's vetoes and the filibuster made it impossible for much of anybody to be "effective" by your standards.
You make it sound like Dennis STOPPED a whole bunch of good things from going through by not accepting compromises. There weren't more than a handful of bills that were ever decided in the House by 1 vote during the 2006-2010 period. And I can't think of any that Dennis was responsible for defeating by not compromising.
It was effectiveness that Dennis helped build mass opposition to the Iraq War.
It was effectiveness that Dennis helped bring working-class issues back in to national politics when your kind of Dem was ignoring them.
It was effectiveness that Dennis helped champion the issues of the Occupy movement...the movement that represents the dispossessed economic majority that your kind of "half-a-loaf" Dem never gave a damn about.
It isn't just about passing bills. And there's no reason that passing bills should be considered any more important than anything else Congress does.