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It is obvious that the administration is governing against the will of the vast majority of US citizens. It is also obvious that the Congress is acting against the will of the majority of US citizens. And the same goes for the MSM. On behalf of the powers that be, the MSM continues to report "with extreme prejudice" against the interests of the US citizenry.
Those Republicans up for re-election in 2008 are trying to have their cake and it too. For the past several weeks I have seen article after article about the growing rift between Republican members of Congress and the White House. But when the votes come down, they almost always come down (Republicans and Democrats alike) on the side of business as usual.
Never underestimate the ability of the average person to figure things out eventually. That's how democracy works. US citizens know they have been, are being and will continue to be lied to and double-talked by the Republicans in Congress until something happens that makes politicians too scared to lie (if that's possible).
The White House and the Republican party is reviled and for good reason. And as Glenn points out, this revulsion is not limited to Republicans.
Thus, even the causes and meaning of the low approval rating for Congress is wildly misrepresented by our media's conventional wisdom. It is due primarily to the failure of Congress to restrict, challenge, investigate and limit the actions of the Bush administration, i.e., in its failure to go far enough in providing a desperately needed counterweight to the fringe movement and the corrupt government that has been ruling our country for the last six years. -- GG
The Democratic members of Congress need to get their heads out of the sand and fight for this democracy. Not the democracy in Washington, the democracy as understood by the majority of US citizens. (It's called freedom in case anyone forgot.)
Note to the Democratic Congress: If you subpoena someone and they tell you they're not coming because they have a note from their lawyer, hold them in contempt and begin prosecution proceedings immediately. If the president says he will veto a bill the majority of US citizens want, then let him veto and shout to the world that he is an obstructionist. Stand up for yourselves. If the Republicans threated to filibuster then call them out on it and call them what they are, obstructionists. They're standing in the way of the will of the American people. Stand up for the people who elected you. If you're afraid the SCOTUS is so politicized and partisan that they would support the president no matter what the cost to the Constitution, then the sooner our citizens and the world knows what kind of country we have turned into, the better. Because if it turns out that we are corrupt beyond measure, we can just act like it's 1930 all over again, find ourselves another FDR and reorganize this whole damn society. I could stand another forty years of liberal dominance.
There really isn't anything left for them to do but take up the gauntlet at this point. The Administration's recent tactic of hiding behind delicate-looking 'ladies' should be countered with a polite, swift, total smackdown.
Yeah, Holly!
Now that's democracy in action!
Don't everybody laugh too hard at the Louisiana Republicans just yet. As political gaming goes, this could very well turn out to be a game of fifty-two card pickup. We might end up with Republicans in diapers and Democrats in leather with whips:
Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt reveled in Sen. David Vitter's admission of a "very serious sin" involving an escort service and said Wednesday he's got leads on embarrassing sexual activities involving other members of Congress.
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Flynt has offered to pay $1 million to anyone who can show he or she had a sexual encounter with a member of Congress or a high-ranking government official. He said the offer has produced promising tips.
"We've got 20-some investigations that all look good," Flynt said during a news conference at his Beverly Hills office.
"We have got some high-ranking Republican and Democratic members of the Senate and the House," he told reporters. "If I get just a couple of those phonies out of there, maybe it will be a step forward."
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Vitter, meanwhile, stayed out of sight Wednesday. For a second straight day, the Louisiana Republican was a no-show in the Capitol, missing votes on Iraq policy and leaving colleagues unsure of his whereabouts or his return.
On Tuesday he missed a committee hearing and a lunch for GOP senators attended by Vice President Dick Cheney.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone all week," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/11/AR2007071102349.html
I have seen his PC score. He's to the left of Ghandi!
He's to the left of Jesus!
He's to the left of Buddha!
He's to the left of Martin Luthor King, Jr.!
He's to the left of Bobby Kennedy!
He's to the left of FDR!
For crying out loud, he's to the left of Voltaire and Gore
Vidal!
That's supposed to be a bad thing?
Nobody's ever said anything that nice about me.
When Westen and his Emory colleagues conducted brain scans during the 2004 presidential campaign, they found that partisans of either side, when presented with contradictory statements by their preferred candidates, would struggle for some seconds with feelings of discomfort, then resolve the matter in their candidates’ favor.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-guru9jul09,1,4614069.story?coll=la-politics-campaign&ctrack=1&cset=true
This demonstrates one of humanities two most powerful coping mechanisms: denial and rationalization.
First you deny you (or your politician) did it. And when that doesn't work you rationalize it.
A Christian believes that God forgives anyone who asks, but that doesn't mean you don't have to answer for it under the law. The "God forgave me" part is for your soul, not your body.