Bottom Line: They're Scared

[senseandsensibility]

You can rationalize, apologize,excuse and explain until the cows come home, but the Dem leadership is afraid. They are afraid of a chimp with a thirty three percent approval rating.

The question is why?

[Redstone]

1. Because they're POLITICIANS, that's why.

Redstone

[senseandsensibility]

3. Ack!

I was looking for something more exciting, maybe even sinister. But seriously, it can't just be that. The pugs are politicians and they would never back down to Clinton.

[Redstone]

17. Read post #15. That's what I meant. I just said it more concisely.

Redstone

[JuniperLea]

2. Simple

They are being bullied. If they want to get anything they are asking for, they have to play the game. We've heard of a few threats and I'm sure that is just the tip of the iceberg. What I want to know is how much of this bullying BS is legal!

[senseandsensibility]

4. What exactly do you mean?

They are adults after all. They should be able to stand up to verbal bullying.

[BadgerKid]

16. * can't take the bullying either

To wit:
NSA Bill would make it a crime to report President breaking the law
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x638725

*co is all about taking power and using it. I commend the fine Senator Feingold for having the guts to stand up to them.

[JuniperLea]

26. We are on a slippery slope leading to dictatorship

Just like Sandra Day O'Connor said... crap!

[JuniperLea]

21. They have been threatened in the past...

and told that if they don't support Bush all the way they can kiss their own agenda goodbye. It really is a rock and a hard place, but yes, they do need to stand up to him and his cabal. They need to back each other up on this. I'm sure they are weighing their options and priorities.

[TankLV]

42. What "agenda". If they support bunkerboy or don't even OPPOSE him at all,

ever, just what "agenda" do they have left - more support for bunkerboy than the repukes?!

That just doesn't make sense - but I can see they think that way.

[Blutodog]

7. Bullying is just the start of it!

Why do u think the Presthug and his gang want to protect their right to spy on anyone they feel like? They've been watching all of the Congress very closely this last few yrs. and they probably have enough crap on everyone of them to ruin most of them by now. They're scared alright and for good reason.

[JuniperLea]

22. Bingo!

I'm thinking the same thing. Got 'em by the proverbial dangly bits, they do!

[senseandsensibility]

24. Dangly bits?

Hee hee.

[annabanana]

37. I think B*sh'd get a lot of backlash on this...

People would start thinking of what that kind of scrutiny would uncover in their lives and they'd start to empathize with the victims of the spying. The more personal and tawdry the dirty laundry, the more sympathy from most Americans. Remember the public's response to Clinton's hounding. He had great numbers all through that mess.

[TankLV]

43. The same used to be the situation with Hoover's FBI.

And we got rid of him - or did he die in office?

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

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

[senseandsensibility]

23. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

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

[Horse with no Name]

5. Skeleton-phobia

You know, the kind that rattle in the closet?
I'd almost bet money that the ones that routinely speak up against injustices (Conyers, Feingold, et al) are the only ones that don't have them.
The ones who routinely cave in are the ones that do.

[senseandsensibility]

8. You could be right

But as we all know, the repugs have more skeletons in their closets than the timid Dems could ever dream of having.

[Horse with no Name]

12. While that may be true

"We" aren't willing to use the skeletons that are dangling in the public eye let alone look for the hidden ones, so they basically don't do us any good.

[senseandsensibility]

19. But doesn't that take us right back to the beginning?

Why aren't they willing to use it? It's another way of asking why they won't stand up.

[madokie]

6. I would say nsa, most everyone has skeletons in their closets

[sweettater]

9. maybe they are all on the same page

know what I mean? ;)

[TheDebbieDee]

10. I believe that the Dems can't hang together because........

the * admin is using all that illegally mined data against the Dems!
The listless performance of the Dems, as a group, is due to blackmail.

[Blutodog]

30. Ditto:

Yep!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. That really is the $64,000 Question

Why would the out of power party be so cowed of a President with a 33% approval rating? The only logical answers are:

1. Ralph Nader was right and they have all sold their souls to their corporate masters and dare not stray from the path.

2. They have been actually physically threatened (anthrax, small plane accidents, etc.)

3. They are stupider and more out of touch than we can possibly imagine.

4. Because of individual wealth-building and family connections they are all secretly Republicans and some of them just play "Democrat" on TV.

5. There is a lot of embarassing footage of many of them dancing naked in the Bohemian Grove.


I was actually trying to answer the question posed for real and these were the only answers I could come up with!

[senseandsensibility]

18. Your answers are concise and logical

When you look at the facts, those are all possible reasons. Exaggeration is really not necessary. There are only a few possibilities, as you so capably point out, and they aren't pretty. I think that's why DU rarely delves into this topic, although I think it's the only topic of importance right now. Now, which one from your superb list is it? Personally, I'd go for a combination of three and four.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

28. I agree, 3, 4 and one I didn't mention

which has been brought up on other threads which is :

outright blackmail.

I do believe that power corrupts. How is it that so many people enter Congress or the Senate with somewhat normal levels of personal wealth and they leave years later with far greater wealth? Just lucky? How do so many leave and go immediately into jobs in the private sector that were so connected to their actions/inactions in the public sector? Why do so many have family members employed in lobbying firms? I don't think most politicians just stand up to even the most cursory scrutiny of their private connections, investments,family connections, etc. AND THEY ALL KNOW IT. The Greg Palast book had a great title -
we do have the

BEST DEMOCRACY MONEY CAN BUY

only money can't buy an actual democracy, it can only purchase the illusion of one and it's only a matter of time before the illusion crumples or implodes through corruption.

That is what we are witnessing. The whole system is so entirely corrupt that we have no defenders - we have no politicians with "clean hands". Somehow, either when they were new and naive, or old and jaded - they bought personally into "Everyone does it" -whether it was junkets, or dinners, or jobs for relatives, or a job when they are out of office, or a boat, or a foundation or a library, or an offshore account.

The silence is deafening.

[thinkingwoman]

13. an....thrax. nt

[Lexingtonian]

15. I'm getting tired of these silly threads.

No, the political math is this: the 15-20% of the electorate that is in the middle and nonpartisan doesn't show up for midterm elections.

So if you want to win midterms, you first have to find some way of keeping all your own 38-42% of voters united and showing up at the polls. The present Republicans are doing that job for our Beltway folks, if you haven't noticed.

The other part is that in order to win, you have to get a chunk of the other side's voters to stay home. The more the better, of course.

What's working nicely is staying out of the way and letting Republican failure and incompetence destroy that Party. If Democrats show up at the moment, Republicans get a foil and get to demonstrate something their moderate voters still consider them useful for- fighting down all the unabashedly power-greedy and thoughtless, plan-devoid, most useless sorts of Democrats.

I don't understand all this whining about Democrats 'needing' to be an 'opposition party'. Well, actually I do. But it's clue-devoid. The argument in Washington isn't about being a worthy opponent to the worthless GOP at this point, you geniuses. It's a step further- all about being the majority, ruling, party at this point.

[senseandsensibility]

20. Sorry you're tired of the threads.

I'm tired of a lot of different kinds of threads as well. I developed a little trick, though. I don't click onto them. And don't insert myself into the thread to rain on the people that do want to discuss the topic that I find so boring, trivial, wrongheaded, or whatever. It works really well.

As for your points, none of them apply. The Dem leadership has been consistenly afraid of chimp. Immediately after he stole the election, they began cowtowing to him and haven't stopped since. It has nothing to dof with midterms.

[Lexingtonian]

45. No, you're wrong.

[senseandsensibility]

46. self delete.

n/t

[Duncan Grant]

32. Do you think they'll pick up 15 seats in the House with this strategy?

My preference is not to be passive in the face of such gross GOP corruption (and tyranny). In light of the very high stakes of the midterm elections, how would you direct the energy of the grassroots at this time?

I'm finding the status quo to be extremely irritating.
edit: subject line

[Lexingtonian]

44. Everybody's tired of the stalemate/status quo.

It's going to break this year. The People is just taking its sweet time and sucking all the use it can out of the Pubbies.

[cascadiance]

27. They aren't so much scared of Bushco. They're scared of corporate America

They're scared that they will lose their campaign financing if they say the wrong thing that leads America into doing something that's contrary to the new found "We the corporations" mantra of our government. They know that corporate America feels that Bushco is their tool for doing what corporations (and those who use corporations as proxies for their self interests) want. Anyone that stands in the way of Bush's agenda in effect is standing in the way of corporate America (and Bush cronies') way of controlling America. THAT is what they are afraid of. They'll be quickly pushed out of getting funding through the DLC, etc. if they cross the line. It's no coincidence that Feingold is more independent of corporate financing of his campaigns than other pols in DC that has lead to his speaking up on this issue.

Feingold represents the future of where the rest of those on Capitol Hill need to be financed from (and more with public financing, etc.), so that they can be less afraid to speak up for their constituents' wishes than they are now.

The question is how do we get from here to there. It will take a number of folks like Feingold that have to find ways to buck the current corrupt system of campaign financing to not get "shut down" by these special interests in the effort to retake our government back for the people.

[senseandsensibility]

33. I appreciate your thoughtful answer

But don't the Dems realize that there days are numbered if they keep cowtowing to the corporate interests? As the corporations gain more power, they will use it to elect an all repug congress.

[cascadiance]

38. I feel the same way!

They are closer to their campaign logistics than we are, so perhaps they feel it is impossible to get elected without this "corruption money"... I'd like to think more like Feingold could buck the system and make the proper changes, but that's THE barrier we have to wrestle with and help them overcome! It is people like Feingold though that I value now for their attempts to lead these folks in the right direction.

[proud patriot]

29. one word "Anthrax"

[pretzel4gore]

31. bush can bring down the economy....unleash terror and

declare martial law....they can do literally anything. what's complcating the dems strategy is that they don't want the 'people' to throw bush out, they want bush out as in normal politics. the dems are as afraid of 'revolution' as the gopigs, with only difference that the gopigs aren't restricted by any morality or patriotism while the dems are....lol

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/dec2002/gore-d21.shtml
snip>
But the critical constituency for a viable presidential run was to be found not in voting precincts, but rather in corporate boardrooms, network office suites and the top echelons of the Democratic Party apparatus. Among the few hundred individuals who really “count” in shaping American electoral politics, Gore was decidedly out of favor.

Their verdict was reflected in sluggish fundraising and what Gore associates called the “skeptical media coverage” of his book tour. The blow to Gore’s presidential aspirations was softened, according to press reports, by the former vice president’s new-found wealth, gained in part from a vice chairmanship at a West Coast investment firm.

In explaining his decision, Gore has offered only one political motivation—but it is a highly significant one. Referring obliquely to the 36-day battle over the Florida vote and the Supreme Court ruling that ultimately handed the presidency to his Republican opponent, Gore told his “60 Minutes” interviewer, “I think a campaign that would be a rematch between myself and President Bush would inevitably involve a focus on the past that would, in some measure, distract from the focus on the future that I think all campaigns have to be about.”
In other words, a second Gore-Bush contest would inevitably raise the overtly anti-democratic manner in which the 2000 election crisis was resolved, and bring into question the legitimacy of the Bush administration. In his desire to avoid such issues, Gore reflects a preoccupation of the entire ruling elite and both political parties.
<snip

[senseandsensibility]

34. I hated that answer from Gore

But I interpreted it a little differently. To me, it seemed the boilerplate Public Relations response. It made him sound noble and above it all, and masked the real reason he didn't want to run. I had no idea what the real reason was, though.

[pretzel4gore]

36. like in the kennedy assassination

the ruling elite knew who did it, but felt it was easier to blame osama bin laden then to tear apart the country digging out hoover and the dulles brothers, mcgeorge bundy and richard helms etc....the only ones duped were the people...it's the same with the 2k election, 911 etc.....it's easier to blame lee harvey oswald then to tear apart the ruling class to get the string pullers....al gore probably thinks that once the process got going, and truth escaped, it might runaway on them, and be the french revolution all over again.....

[Kansas Wyatt]

39. The Democrats, who can legitimately raise hell about the BushCo Cabal

Also have to be very careful about what exactly they uncover about how BushCo has victimized this country and the world. Meaning, they also are navigating a slippery slope when it comes to what criminal activities BushCo has unleashed on the world, because the world just may demand some retribution and war trials for the, so called, Leaders and highest officials of the United States of America. Unprecedented, and it would unleash a Pandora's Box on the Institutional Government of the U.S., which would cost this country dearly and for generations to come.

Yes, it is bullshit that BushCo gets away with it all, but the Democrats may be worried about the unstable nut in charge and how much worse could things get if the truth came out. Our country has not been truly what our Founding Fathers intended, with our slip into a Government Of, By, and For the Corporations the last few decades and the removal of 'We The People' from the controlling part of our Government. While some Democrats cater to the needs of Corporations, instead of representing their constituents, all Democrats are in a difficult struggle to hold this country together, while what is left of our country is on life support, and trying to insure our country's survival for generations to come. Sometimes governing means not pushing too hard, so the country and it's history won't blow-up and disappear to only a fond memory of what this nation once could have been. Maybe they can see what happened to the former Soviet Union happening here, but in a more chaotic and harmful way.

Sometimes when you go after a Cabal, you inadvertently slit your own throat in the process. Yes all of them should be brought to their knees and charged with all they are guilty of to purge the nation of their repeating crimes. But, that comes with a hefty price to pay, for future leaders of this nation and how they deal with the rest of the world. Let us hope that Democratic politicians will gain some knowledge in their struggle, that they are there to only represent 'We The People' and that 'We The People' are pissed about losing our representation.

[Generator]

35. Yes and it all comes down to the same thing

The Iraq war. 9/11. Fear and the truth. Whether they voted for the "war", voted for the authorization to possibly use force, or voted against it, it doesn't matter anymore. They have got to come clean and tell the truth. And they won't. America has to be radically changed for that to happen. They don't want to offend or dishonor all that have died-because they didn't die for freedom, or to avenge 9/11 or to find WMD. They died for a lie. They died for the profit of a very few corporations and people-most of them connected to Bush/Cheney. And they continue to die and will continue to die-and we will never be able to "force" Democracy on Iraq or the middle east-and we won't even be able to make any profit from it for this country. In fact it's a black hole of funds that is going to bankrupt this country for generations.

Until we can talk the truth-and say no-Iraq has not made ME as an American FREE-in fact it's taken away my liberties or threatens to-patriot act, unlimited illegal spying-and trashes my deepest core beliefs-along with the majority of Americans-right or left-torturing people in my name-until we can say this is a sham-this is not what our military is for-until we can stop this "war on terror" which is all based on lies-starting from day one-9/11 this country will not have a chance. That is the whole Bush scheme-and until they say it's all false-it doesn't work-and it must stop-nothing will change. And NO-they don't have the courage to say that-not even the best among them-Kerry. This war is fraud against the American people. It is a travesty. The NSA spying directly relates to the WAR, the president is getting away with all of this because he has terrified a nation into believing if he doesn't break the law and trash the constitution and torture people-WE WILL ALL DIE. It's all fear. From Hannity-to Tweety-to the New York Times-it's all they have been selling. And when you say-Iraq is not a threat to me-and Iran is not a threat to me-and torturing some Arab in some prison somewhere is not what being FREE means-then you will start to find a way home. The lies are killing this country.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

40. kicking because I want to know the answer to the OP. Tell me. Please. nt.

[senseandsensibility]

41. Hey, Phoebe!

:hi: Your post came as close as any to answering it.

[leesa]

47. Well...look how many people on this board alone give their cowardice

a pass...if they can get by and get their paychecks being snivleing cowards and people let them get away with it, why not? Kerry's dealing with ANWAR after all...