Category: Democrats

Congress on the Fritz, Fritz on the Congress.

“There is a cancer on the body politic: money.” Former Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC) argues for a campaign finance constitutional amendment — Worth reading in its entirety. “[I]n 1998 I had to raise $8.5 million to be elected senator. This meant I had to collect $30,000 a week, each and every week, for six years. I could have raised $3 million in South Carolina. But to get $8.5 million I had to travel to New York, Boston, Chicago, Florida, California, Texas and elsewhere. During every break Congress took, I had to be out hustling money. And when I was in Washington, or back home, my mind was still on money.” …

“What the court did in 1976 was to give the rich, who don’t have to raise money, a big advantage — in effect, a greater degree of freedom of speech than others have. No one can imagine that in drafting the First Amendment to the Constitution, James Madison thought freedom of speech would be measured by wealth. The Supreme Court, which has found constitutional other limits on speech, has rendered Madison’s freedom unequal. Congress must make it equal again.”

Rage Against the Machine.

“If the Democratic Party continues with these suicidal decisions, we will continue to defeat ourselves…The only strategy the Republicans need to stay in power is patience. They just need to wait while our party self-implodes through idiotic decisions such as the one to pressure an articulate Iraqi war veteran to pull out of the race.” Mother Jones‘ David Goodman delves into the alleged Swift Boat-ish whispering campaign by Democratic insiders to foist Paul Hackett from the Ohio Senate primary. After the last couple of campaigns, sadly, this sounds all too plausible.

The Treason of the Senate.

“Treason is a strong word, but not too strong to characterize the situation in which the Senate is the eager, resourceful, and indefatigable agent of interests as hostile to the American people as any invading army could be.” As feared — the Senate GOP, including supposed “moderates” Snowe and Chafee — vote down hearings into the NSA wiretaps. And also as feared, the Senate Dems completely collapse on the Patriot Act renewal, joining the Republicans to end the Feingold filibuster 96-3. (Only Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Jim Jeffords (I-VT) sided with Russ.) So, with the Senate in effect abdicating its responsibilty as an independent and coequal branch of government, it looks like it’ll be up to the judiciary to check Dubya’s executive powergrab.

Last Refuge of Scoundrels.

“It took a long time for Democrats to step up and challenge the administration’s baseless assertions that the Patriot Act could not be changed without threatening the security of the American people. When we finally did so, when we decided to make the case that we can fight terrorism and protect our American principles at the same time, it looked like Democrats were finally ready to stand on principle and offer strong leadership. Instead, too many Democrats have folded, and momentum for critical changes to the Patriot Act to protect our freedoms has been squandered.” In Salon, an angry Russ Feingold calls out his party for capitulating on the Patriot Act extension. Ugh. Are the Democrats irreparably broken at this point? Does our party leadership lack all conviction? At this point, the evidence is piling up against them, and, if we don’t get our act together, we’re going to lose our best chance in a decade to take back Congress this November. Update: Feingold filibusters alone.

Snowe melts, Hagel hesitates.

“If some kind of inquiry would be beneficial to getting a resolution to this issue, then sure, we should look at it. But if the inquiry is just some kind of a punitive inquiry that really is not focused on finding a way out of this, then I’m not so sure that I would support that.” Bad news for congressional oversight and the rule of law: After an “all-out” campaign of White House arm-twisting, crucial Senate Republicans — including Olympia Snowe and Chuck Hagel — appear on the verge of folding up the tent on the proposed NSA hearings. The critical vote will come tomorrow, but it’s iffy. “Two committee Democrats said the panel — made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats — was clearly leaning in favor of the motion last week but now is closely divided and possibly inclined against it.“

Rebel Pretensions.

After the GOP co-opt the Star Wars universe for their own nefarious purposes, George Lucas makes an appearance with House Democrats (including his own congresswoman, Nancy Pelosi.) The Republican video (shown at CPAC) “depicted GOPers as the virtuous rebels, being pursued by ‘Darth Nancy’ and her imperial henchmen, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Democratic campaign chief Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).” Um, yeah, you guys own every branch of government, your boy in office is ignoring the law and desperately trying to wrest power from the Senate, and you’re the Alliance. C’mon now, at least the Yankees own up to it.

Capt. Obvious Rides Again.

“Democrats are heading into this year’s elections in a position weaker than they had hoped for, party leaders say, stirring concern that they are letting pass an opportunity to exploit what they see as widespread Republican vulnerabilities.”.” Gee, you think? “‘What the American people are hungry to hear from us is, what is the difference?’ Mr. Edwards said in an interview. ‘What will we do? How will we deal with the corruption issue in Washington? How will we deal with the huge moral issues that we have at home? This is a huge opportunity for our party to show what we are made of.’”

The McCain Blame Game.

In a fit of misplaced pique, John McCain goes house on Barack Obama over his relatively innocuous decision to skip McCain’s proposed “bipartisan” task force on lobbying revisions (and, by extension, Obama’s point that the Ballad of Casino Jack is primarily a GOP scandal.) I’ve been generally sympathetic to McCain’s work for campaign finance and lobbying reform throughout his career, but, frankly, the outrage of this letter is way outta line. I just posted on this in the comments at National Journal, so I’ll just repost here:

“I’d be more impressed with McCain’s alleged commitment to bipartisan reform if (a) he could find Dems other than Joe Lieberman and Bill Nelson* — not exactly the Democratic mainstream — to back his “task force” play, (b) he didn’t consistently allow himself to be used as the “mythical maverick” smokescreen for GOP lobbying abuses, and (c) he displayed half as much righteous outrage when the Dubya administration eviscerated his anti-torture legislation, violated both the FISA Act and the National Security Act of 1947 with their illegal wiretaps, and generally stood in the way of serious campaign finance reform. Sure, McCain talks tough at Barack Obama, but everytime Dubya comes a-knockin’ at his door, he folds like an accordion, even despite the ugly incident in the South Carolina primary six years ago.

The Republican Party controls the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and — arguably — the Supreme Court at this moment. Is it really McCain’s contention that Barack Obama, a freshman Senator in the minority party, is the one stopping real lobbying and campaign finance reform from happening? Please. If McCain wants real reform, he should be directing his wrath at the people in charge. Otherwise, he’s even more guilty of putting the partisan game above the public interest than is Obama.” Update: Obama answers.

Specter v. S.P.E.C.T.R.E.

The Specter hearings into the illegal NSA wiretaps begin, and, so far despite Specter’s tough talk on Sunday, they’ve been pretty much a sideshow. For one, as they did with Big Oil, the GOP ensured by a 10-8 party-line vote that Gonzales didn’t have to testify under oath. For another, Gonzales has been falling back on the ridiculous Article 2 defense and saying little of import as of yet. Still, at least Republicans like Specter and Lindsey Graham are joining Feingold and others in calling out the administration’s dubious rationale for the Imperial Presidency, so perhaps these hearings may be of some service yet. Update: As the NYT points out, we’ve been here before. Update 2: Dahlia Lithwick is not amused.

The Fight Ahead.

“Not since 1994 has the party in power — in this case the Republicans — faced such a discouraging landscape in a midterm election…The result is a midterm already headed toward what appears to be an inevitable conclusion: Democrats are poised to gain seats in the House and in the Senate for the first time since 2000. The difference between modest gains (a few seats in the Senate and fewer than 10 in the House) and significant gains (half a dozen in the Senate and well more than a dozen in the House) is where the battle for control of Congress will be fought.” The WP previews the midterm electoral landscape. Excellent news…but still, if anyone’s shown an amazing capacity to spin gold into straw, it’s our current crop of Dems.