Last June Gail Russell Chaddock wrote in the Christian Science Monitor about how the 20 percent of House Democrats from districts that President Bush carried in 2004 were helping Republicans implement the GOP agenda, nicknaming them “Purple Democrats” (i.e. Blue districts in Red states)
But that was then. And this is now….
GOP loses an asset: ‘purple’ Democrats:
Dozens of Democrats who used to support Republican bills are now voting ‘no.’
“Democrats have become more disciplined in making the case against Republicans,” says Amy Walter, who analyzes House elections for the Cook Political Report, “When the political environment is such as it is today, it makes it easier for Democrats to be able to stick together. Aligning yourself with the president is not the asset it was last year or two or three years ago.”
“The only way we have any power is if we stick together. We have to make the Republican moderates take the tough votes, and then use their votes against them,” says Brendan Daly, a spokesman for the Democratic leadership.
Read the story here.
My title for this post shouldn’t make sense, but it does. Congressman Bob Ney (18th CD) of Ohio has been identified as “Representative No. 1″ in the ongoing investigation of uber-slime lobbiest, Jack Abramoff.
But instead of Democrats continuing with their failing-to-move-anyone labeling of “culture of corruption”, (the MSM and blogs are taking care of that nicely) they need to start building a message around a Culture of Change. Gov. elect Tim Kaine in VA, with a big helping hand from Gov. Mark Warner, proved that while Republicans are sufficating in their own sullied air, winning the hearts and minds of voters evolves out of laying a positive, results oriented plan before their feet.
Btw . . . Ney has an opponent. Mayor Joe Sulzer of Chillicothe is a Vietnam Vet and wouldn’t that be fitting to elect him given the recent prevarications from one of Ney’s colleagues and Ohio Congresswoman Jean Schmidt. She fell flat on her face.
Go check out Sulzer’s campaign and lets see if we can drive the narrative forward, instead of getting caught up in the negative “Ney” saying within the Republican camp.
People for the American Way have released their new Alito ad, and it’s damning.
President Bush is trying to fool Americans into thinking that Sam Alito is a mainstream judicial nominee, which is why PFAW is committed to exposing the truth about Alito’s record and his judicial philosophy. This ad recounts troubling Alito rulings and legal positions, including his voting to uphold a strip search of a 10-year old girl without a valid warrant, his unsuccessful effort as an appeals court judge to declare a law regulating machine guns unconstitutional, and his declaration while in the Justice Department that the Constitution does not protect a woman’s right to choose an abortion.
Watch “Fool Me Once”
Also visit StopAlito.org to sign the petition against Alito
All three of Iraq’s ethnic groups have come together in support of US withdrawl from Iraq. :
Leaders of Iraq’s sharply divided Shiites, Kurds and Sunnis called Monday for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in the country and said Iraq’s opposition had a “legitimate right'’ of resistance.
…
The participants in Cairo agreed on “calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through putting in place an immediate national program to rebuild the armed forces … control the borders and the security situation'’ and end terror attacks.
Rest of the article here
AmericaBlog notes that Powell and Bremer have both said in the past that when the Iraqis asked us to leave, we would do so immediately. What will US officials say now?
One of Air America’s “Fighting Dems”, Patrick Murphy (PA 8th) will be on The Al Franken Show today at 2 PM (EST). Be sure to listen.
Patrick has come up with a creative way to not only raise awareness over the late night, sneak attack vote by Republicans in Congress to cut $50 billion in services to the American people, but raise a little dough . . . and you can help him with both.
As a way to fight all the big corporate lobbiest, Patrick is asking people to contribute $50 to his campaign and then is asking every who does so to vote on which issue you want him to take on first.
After you make the contribution, you can email Patrick at:
50@murphy06.com
and tell him whether he should fight to restore the cuts in Medicare or the cuts in Education first. Basically Patrick believes since it is your money, you should get a say too.
Posted by Daren Berringer on November 21st, 2005
Categories: Daren | 1 Comment »
Today is Wal-Mart Day at the Huffington Post - check out the multiple articles on Wal-Mart that tell the true story of the high costs behind the low prices.
Specifically, read Robert Greenwald’s post about the early success of his documentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, released last week. With over 7,000 screenings across the country and an early success story about influencing a local vote against Wal-Mart, this documentary is creating real change. You can order the movie or find a screening at WalMartMovie.com.
Also check out Senator Ted Kennedy’s post on the negative effects of Wal-Mart on America as a whole.
Al Norman’s post on the swiftboating of the sources used in Greenwald’s film (many of them former Wal-Mart employees) is also enlightening - a great description of how Wal-Mart is meeting its challengers with personal attacks rather than factual debate.
There are also posts by Rep. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft, and Stan Fortune, a former Wal-Mart employee who appears in the film.
All around, a great read.
For more information about the fight against Wal-Mart and how you can help, visit WakeUpWalMart.com
Another Democrat, Bob Graham, the former Democratic Senator from Florida who voted against the war, has written an op-ed explaining how Bush misled the nation into war:
The president’s attacks are outrageous. Yes, more than 100 Democrats voted to authorize him to take the nation to war. Most of them, though, like their Republican colleagues, did so in the legitimate belief that the president and his administration were truthful in their statements that Saddam Hussein was a gathering menace — that if Hussein was not disarmed, the smoking gun would become a mushroom cloud.
The president has undermined trust. No longer will the members of Congress be entitled to accept his veracity. Caveat emptor has become the word. Every member of Congress is on his or her own to determine the truth.
He also tells an interesting story about how the now infamous CIA NIE report was produced - only after pressure from the Senate and even then based on shaky and known-to-be faulty intelligence. Must read…
Read it here
I know this is a little late after the fact, but I just wanted to chime in and say how proud I am to have Jack Murtha as my Congressman from the PA 12th.
The White House and Republicans in Congress are calling him every name in the book and are trying to discredit him. But trust me, if you have ever met Murtha you would know he is one of the toughest men out there. The guy is in his 70’s and he could still probably kick my butt.
All I know is when the Marines told Jack Murtha to go to Vietnam, he went. No one can ever say the same thing about President Bush.
Thank you Congressman Murtha for having the courage to stand up.
Howard Fineman thinks that the 1985 memo puts the nuclear option back into the mix:
We’re looking at a Fight Club battle at the start of the year. The inflammatory content of Alito’s 20-year-old application to the Reagan Justice Department insures that.
Admittedly, Alito was in major suck-up mode in 1985 when he applied to Reagan’s attorney general, Ed Meese, for a job. But the lengths to which Alito went to express the purity of his New Right views is impressive – and explosive — in 2005, as Alito and his White House backers try to sell him as a blandly cautious incrementalist.
Rest of the article here
In an effort to turn Philadelphia around, Tom Knox has launched his website - KnoxForPhilly.com - as a tool for establishing a dialogue on solving the problems of Philadelphia. Tom has been a successful turnaround specialist all of his life - from his rise out of poverty to his success in saving failing companies to his accomplishment of turning the city’s budget deficit into a surplus during the Rendell administration - Tom Knox knows how to fix things and he will do this for Philadelphia.
But he wants your help. Go to his site and get involved in these dialogues. With Tom, we have a real chance to bring creative ideas to the table that can create real change.
From Tom’s Blog:
Together, we can usher in a new era - an era in which public policy is driven not by one person or a small group of people, but rather by all of you. Philadelphia was once a magnet for businesses and families. It can be, it must be, and we will make it a magnet once again.
I’ll be a champion for each and every one of our 73 neighborhoods and Philadelphia as a whole, but I cannot win this fight alone. Saving our neighborhoods will ultimately require a commitment from every Philadelphian. So today I ask all of you to join the fight to turn Philadelphia around. Time, money, effort - nothing is more precious than the strength of our neighborhoods.
Check out KnoxForPhilly.com and keep up with Tom on his blog
