I want to vomit.  BTW, Rahm is no great shakes either.  When he appears on Press the Meat, he likes to look over at his GOP opponent as if waiting for a declaration that "Gee, you're right, Rahm!  Bush has no clue in Iraq.  The GOP is looting the country and cares nothing about national security. You got us."  Sadly, that moment never comes.

First you lose... then they fight you... then they laugh at you... then they ignore you.  
-- House Democrats paraphrasing Ghandi

Pelosi's Caucus is no longer a disaster?

Pelosi is a much better leader of the caucus than Emanuel will ever be.  He talks tough, but he votes like a pussy.  

And now, in a final insult, the report was removed from Pelosi's leader web site, apparently because of worries that the Republicans will file ethics charges against Pelosi for hosting it (it supposedly violates House Franking rules, which are incoherent and a huge mess and part of the tyranny of Republican rule in the House).

I'm not sure this is a fair point. If the report violates House rules for whatever reason, wouldn't she be forced to remove it, no matter if she stands behind it or not?

Otherwise, spot-on post.

Isn't that still on Permanent Mutual Stand-down?

First - does anyone have a PDF of the Slaughter report?  (The lesson here is if you like it, take a copy of it, because it may go down the memory hole at any moment.)

Second, and the main argument: If the Dems are going to win they have to fight hard and nasty, just like Newt did in '94.  This goes for both the House and the Senate: Call out the corruption no matter who it hits.  If it's a Dem, give them a heads up, let them see the light and repent ahead of the bomb coming down, but don't stop harping on the corruption.  Never apologize for telling the truth, even in unpleasant ways.  All the Republicans, even the "moderates", are in the pocket of the White House and Karl Rove.  Rockefeller needs to repeat that continually not back down.  Then come up with a message and a set of goals for the party.  Pachacutec at firedoglake today has a good post on what to say.

Third - The Dems all have to sing together, maybe not in perfect harmony, but more or less in the same key.  Support each other, don't stay silent or worse, attack each other.  Not original, but: we must hang together, or we will surely hang separately.

Matt this is the conversation I've been having with NDN and Simon Rosenberg - how do we get the leadership to wake up and do this?

And some people wonder how fuck-ups like George W. Bush are considered tougher than Democrats.

The House allows a tradition of much sharper partisanship, and yet they are as sequamish as senators, even moreso.

I wrote about this with regard to Rockefeller and Reid last night on the front page of Firedoglake, but the principle applies even more to Pelosi and the House progressive caucus.

But here's the thing: Next in line for the leadership post is "I'm the majority whip, except when i'm putting the 'moderate caucus' above everything else, like I do always, pro corporate" Steny Hoyer.

With him in charge it'd be time to party like it's 1994.

I feel like if Al Gore had been sworn in and Lieberman was next in line.
-C.

WHY DEMOCRATS DON'T (AND CAN'T) WIN ELECTIONS

Why does the Democratic Party keep losing elections when they are on them right side of every issue that the public identifies with in the endless polls taken?

They have become, for the most part, cowards seemingly without the courage or principles or the conviction to fight for what is right. The minute Harry Reid invoked the rule to bring the Seenot to a screeching halt until we got answers on the intelligence about Iraq, and then caved utterly and broke his promise, the image of gutless, unprincipled Democrats was again reaffirmed and reinforced the belief that we are bumbling cowards, with no more integrity than Republicans. And if we are viewed to be the same as the sycophantic, morally corrupt, and morally bankrupt Republicans, take a wild guess which party is going to get its ass kicked again in 2006 and 2008.

This is, I know, a sweeping, generalized, and very harsh judgment, but it is deserved. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Hillary, Rahm, and others who want to be "nice" and go along to get along should look up the word nice. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (the definitive dictionary of the English language), the original meaning of the word "nice" was "idiot", a perfect definition for a party that has lost the will, knowledge, courage, and conviction that makes people vote for a Democrat; they no longer know how to win elections.

We ARE on the right side of every issue, but we appear to be just "Republican Lite" because we don't fight tooth and nail, no-holds-barred, Texas-style, fight to the finish with a nine month time limit to the 2006 elections.

Given the nature of the House of Unrepentant, its rules, and the fact that Democrats have been so beaten down and demoralized that they are just Hastert's bitch, there is no hope of accomplishing anything there. We look like idiots when we hold solitary hearings in a just-like-your-high school-cafeteria setting. People see it as the genuine sign of weakness it is and they are not going to vote for weak, impotent idiots.

The Seenot is a different matter altogether, but there is one glaring weakness on the part of Democrats, and it's called "Unanimous Consent", which allows for the smooth operation of the Seenot and fosters amity.

Amity will not win elections. Until the public sees the Democratic Party fighting vigorously and effectively against the most pernicious agenda of the most pernicious political party in American History we will continue to lose. Lose badly and repeatedly.

Harry should have kept his promise; we should refuse unanimous consent for anything, even what time a committee might meet, and especially when they are trying to push through their ruinous causes.Every time there is a party-line vote on a controversial issue, every democrat should change their vote to "abstain", so it is crystal clear which party is passing bad stuff. Until we return to our Democratic roots of being the champions and defenders of the people of this country we are doomed to be further relegated into obscurity.

Quick! Name three great things the Republicans have done that benefited the ordinary citizen during the 70's & 80's, and the end of the Cold War doesn't count. Reagan simply outspent the Russians and drove them into bankruptcy trying to keep up. Any teenager with a limitless credit card backed by the treasury could have done that.

Watergate? Domestic spying? Enemies Lists? Iran-Contra? The largest expansion of government ever? The biggest deficits in history? And that doesn't even cover what Bush has done to America in the first six years of the new century, which includes failing to protect us from 9/11; failing to catch Osama and diverting resources to Iraq; the Iraq attack that is the biggest strategic mistake ever made by America; the proliferation of nuclear weapons on their watch; the creation of thousands of new terrorists; the destruction of America's reputation; treaties broken and ignored; enemy combatants held forever without charges, trials, attorneys; torture, secret prisons, kidnapping; tax cuts for the uber rich, no body armor or armored vehicles for the troops; poverty rampant, no health insurance for millions; food programs, education funding, child care funds, after school programs, child support enforcement programs all slashed; a doubling of the trade deficit, exploding budget deficits, more money spent in five years than in the preceding two hundred years; the collapse of diplomacy in favor of raw force; the breaking of our military from over extension and multiple tours of duty in a war zone; new domestic spying, the labeling of dissenters as traitors; a president that has assumed imperial powers, a "unitary executive" with plenary power that holds himself above the law; my god, the list is endless, it is vile, it is corrupt, it is amoral, and it has so distorted the world's view of America that we may never again be respected or trusted.

And this is the party that wins election after election while our Democratic leaders give "unanimous consent" and foster amity in the Seenot instead of fighting with every fiber of their being, every ounce of willpower, and the vigor necessary to stop them in their tracks.

That, in a nutshell, is why I say that the Democratic Party has degenerated into a pack of cowards.

Voters respect those willing to fight for their beliefs. They will ignore labels like "partisan" and "obstructionist" as long as they believe Democrats are fighting for them and their rights and the issues they care about. Lord knows it sure wouldn't hurt the party to be seen fighting for what the public has already told us what they want.

After all, is amity worth the destruction of the American way of life? So grow a pair and a spine, spit right into the eye of the Republicans, and find the heart and courage to fight the good fight, AND WIN. The alternative is too frightening to contemplate.