Washblog

Why the public believes Democrats stand for nothing

From David Sirota:

A new poll out tells us what we already know: though 56 percent of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, more voters have positive feelings about Republicans than Democrats. As pollster Stan Greenberg notes, "Republicans weakened in this poll... but it shows Democrats weakening more" and that decline by Democrats is because people believe Democrats have "no core set of convictions or point of view."

Most likely, the entrenched Democratic elites in Washington are shocked at this, especially with all the scandals surrounding top Republicans. But then again, these same elites are the ones who have helped run the party into the ground over the last decade – we shouldn't expect them to understand much more than how to protect their own careers in the Establishment.

So in the interest in boiling it down for these people, let's make it very clear as to why America still thinks Democrats stand for nothing:

- When you vote with Republicans for an energy bill that showers huge oil/gas companies with massive tax breaks at a time of record deficits, and that energy bill won't lower the cost of gasoline, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you ignore public demands for a withdrawal/exit strategy from Iraq, and instead vote against legislation requesting the President to explain an exit strategy from the war, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you say you are for economic fairness, and then your top leaders start negotiating the elimination of the Estate Tax that falls on the wealthiest 2 percent of citizens, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you deride the fact that the Bush administration lied to the country about the war and about its behavior before 9/11, and then vote to confirm chief liar Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you claim to care about protecting ordinary citizens' economic rights, and then corral corporate lobbyists to help pass a bill allowing credit card companies to gouge those same ordinary citizens, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you say you want workers to be protected in their workplace, and then vote to limit workers' ability to fight for their rights in court, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

- When you say you oppose unfair trade deals that sell workers out, and then refuse to voice any opposition to the latest corporate-written trade deal that sells workers out, Americans will believe you stand for nothing.

Now, it is true – there continues to be a core group of committed progressives in Congress who fight everyday to bring the party back to its roots. And, there have been recent signs that these courageous leaders are having some success: namely votes to reforming the Patriot Act, and end massive corporate subsidies; the introduction of lobbying/ethics reform legislation; the roll out of the Progressive Promise platform; the tenacious opposition to CAFTA in the House; and the support of a bill to prevent Big Business from testing hazardous chemicals on humans.

But those successes are sill clearly overshadowed by this giant list of core sellouts, and Republican-lite capitulations. If the party really wants America to believe it stands for something, then the party has to actually stand for something – not just talk about standing for something. Americans aren't stupid – they know the difference between lip service, and action.

The arrogant and timid Democratic operative/adviser/elite class still arrogantly believes they can fool Americans with hollow rhetoric that makes it seem as if Democrats care about the middle-class. But that rhetoric is consistently undercut by actual votes - meaning the rhetoric ultimately becomes an insult to Americans' intelligence, because it shows Democrats think that ordinary people are so stupid, they don't know what's really going on. Newsflash: ordinary people DO know what's going on, and they don't like it when slick political hacks in Washington try to fool them.

And that leads us to the bottom line that the GOP knows so well: no amount of rhetoric can outweigh authenticity and conviction. This is not about embracing a more "liberal" agenda - it is about actually making principles dictate policy decisions, instead of continuing to be a party that is about nothing other than thumb-in-the-wind political calculation. The sooner our side learns that, the sooner we will really be headed back to the majority.

Inslee to vote against CAFTA

Good. Democrats should not be wavering on this issue, at all. Haven't heard what the stance is from Adam Smith or Rick Larsen yet. They had better get behind the party. Norm Dicks apparently will vote for CAFTA, selling out his party and his constituents.

Nancy Pelosi sums up the importance of the CAFTA vote:

Earlier this month, at a closed-door meeting of Democrats, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) was blunt: Any Democrat who votes for the Central American Free Trade Agreement will allow an embattled Republican to squirm off the hook and vote no. A vote for CAFTA, she said, was a vote to keep the GOP in the majority.

Mr President, I'll fly my flag at half staff on July 4

Another spot on LTE from Lietta Ruger of the MFSO:

I was struck by the demeanor of the 700 soldiers in dress uniform attending the President's speech last night at Ft Bragg. They were polite. The singular time there was applause came at the prompting of a White House Advance team person.

The soldiers were the dignity and nobility in that room last night. Their Commander in Chief, our President seems to have a way with exploiting the dignity of our military and our loved ones deployed who are doing the grist of the 'hard work' . The litany of disrespect shown to our troops by this President and this administration is a wearisome and growing list.

There will be much said about the President's speech and I took my own notes. I will do as the President asked and fly my flag on July 4th. I will fly it at half staff in respect for the fallen soldiers, for the fallen ideals of what the United States of America has come to represent, and as an effort to represent with dignity the soldiers who fight under the auspices of our flag and do so in honor, integrity and good faith. They are doing their job and their Commander, the President, needs to do them justice by doing his job.

I will fly my flag for them, Mr President, in respect for them. I will fly it at half staff. Would that you would so order, in the deepest respect, that Americans fly their flags on the Fourth of July at half staff to honor the troops who are doing the job with their very lives.

I have checked the protocols regarding the flag and checked with my Governor's office and there is no penalty or wrongdoing if I choose to fly my flag at half staff and when I indicated my reasons for wanting to do so I was given a welcome to do so....

Lietta Ruger, military family, 2 Iraq veterans facing second deployments to Iraq
Bay Center, WA

An evening with Thom Hartmann and Paul Lehto

On July 16, I am honored to be doing a 3 hour televised dialogue with national talk show host Thom Hartmann and the Portland Oregon community entitled “The Corporate Takeover of Elections”. A poster is attached, showing that Thom Hartmann is simply far cooler looking than I am.   

Thom Hartmann is the author of many books including Unequal Protection, focusing on excess corporate rights and related issues. The hall holds about 600 and will be taped for local television.   We are really quite excited that Oregon is so excited. FUNNY how Oregon is the site of this event and some excitement on this issue, yet was the state that came in closest to the exit polls, while most states were well beyond the margin of error, and essentially all of these were in Bush’s favor.  The elections in Oregon were vote by mail…. 

This all came out of 30 minutes of radio Thom and I did, and that some benefactors thought more *might* be cool.   The pressure’s on.

Even much better:   My cousin Michael Franti and his band Spearhead will be playing Bumbershoot this September 5 in Seattle Center.   See you there, or Portland, or at the trailhead!!  As the title of Michael’s most recent album says “Everyone Deserves Music”.   www.spearheadvibrations.com 

I simply don’t know of a major competitive Democratic congressional candidate who has ever taken on a major pro bono case on election integrity or any other issue at the same time he’s really hitting stride in a congressional campaign.  It may be the first time in recent American history.   At some point in the near future, I hope you all will join me in recognizing Randy Gordon for his *actions*, not just for “values” and political promises.  Washington’s Eighth Congressional District is finding out that this guy had a great record *before* he was elected to Congress.  (Yup, Randy’s my attorney in the case below)  I’ll keep you posted on these plans.  www.randygordonforcongress.com 

The legal pleadings in Lehto & Wells v. Sequoia Voting Systems, Inc. are updated at www.votersunite.org/info/lehtolawsuit.asp   Greatest hits (for legal pleadings!) include “response to motions to dismiss” (shorter) and the “Complaint for Declaratory Relief” (longer).   Links are at the bottom on the page of the link above.

Marko Liias will move Mukilteo forward

Marko Liias with Campaign Co-Chairs State Representative Brian Sullivan
and Mukilteo Councilmember Jennifer Gregerson

Mukilteo, the home of the first Snohomish County seat in 1861, incorporated as a city in 1947, and annexation of the Harbor Pointe area in 1991, has seen its share of change. No longer a sleepy hollow, Mukilteo is a transportation hub and possesses a burgeoning business climate. Rapidly becoming a diverse community, Mukilteo requires 21st century approaches to its future.

Unfortunately the city government of Mukilteo is not responding to its citizens needs, and needs leadership. Enter Marko Liias. Marko understands the traffic problems that Mukilteo faces, how it stifles the Old Town waterfront businesses, and the need to take a long term approach to getting more commuters out of single occupancy vehicles and into park and rides and the Sounder commuter train.

The Mukilteo City Council has been devolving into clashes over egos and gamesmanship regarding important issues such as Paine Field and the re-location and construction of City Hall. Representative Brian Sullivan brokered the deal to acquire 13 acres of land next to the existing police station for the city, however some of the current Councilmembers are opposed to the idea of the 13 acre site being the new home for City Hall, if for no other reason than because Representative Sullivan is the catalyst behind the deal.

Mukilteo needs proper representation during this crucial period, not antics and cavalier attitudes regarding such legislation.

Squashing public comment on the Critical Areas Ordinance, which has a dramatic effect to property owners, is another in a long list of examples why Mukilteo needs Marko.

July marks the beginning of the official campaign, and Marko needs our help. $5, $10, $100, it will go a long ways towards putting a progressive candidate in Tim Eyman's backyard.

Click here to donate to Marko's campaign, and send a message to the anti-community rhetoric - we want Mukilteo to move forward, not backward.

CAFTA is a litmus test

The Senate Finance Committee has approved the Bush Administration's CAFTA deal, and it absolutely stinks. The American worker will suffer under CAFTA, as the 'free market' proponents continue to gut our quality of life and work conditions for their corporate profits. Jerome of myDD echos my thoughts to a tee:

Any Democrat who supports CAFTA will not, under any circumstances, receive my support in any Democratic primary for at least four years. This is not just about deteriorating worker's rights in both America and Central America. This is not just about damaging the environment in both America and Central America. This is not just about corporate giveaways, destroying our manufacturing industry, and surrendering our sovereignty.

This is also about payolagate and propaganda-gate. This administration has gone to great lengths to prevent a study it commissioned from being released to the public, including denying Freedom of Information Requests to Congressman, preparing talking points against the study before it was ever released, and even tracking down all paper copies of the report it could find. This is all of the worst things about this administration rolled into one. Any Democrat who does not oppose CAFTA doesn't need to look any further than the mirror to know why Democrats lose elections.

Are you listening, Adam Smith, Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen?

Not one single penny more

Senator Maria Cantwell and the Snohomish County PUD are one step closer to stopping a $120 million payment to the bankrupt (morally, and financially) corporation known as Enron.

A provision that would make it harder for Enron Corp. to get $122 million from the Snohomish County PUD survived in a U.S. Senate energy bill that was adopted on Tuesday.

Now, the PUD will be sitting a bit prettier in its long-running fight with Enron if Sen. Maria Cantwell's provision sticks when the Senate bill is reconciled with a sister bill in the House of Representatives.

Cantwell's measure would not allow Enron's bankruptcy lawyers to come after the PUD for $122 million for canceling a 2001 electricity contract. But the PUD first must win in a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission court before it can get out of paying Enron. That legal battle is expected in September.

Enron claims the PUD owes it $117 million - now more than $122 million with interest - for canceling the contract to buy electricity during the 2000-01 West Coast energy crisis.

Charging that Enron illegally contributed to the record electricity price run-ups during the crisis, the PUD canceled its contract right before the energy broker filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

The Snohomish County PUD, if you haven't been following, has been compiling much evidence that Enron was gouging its customers in 2000-01. Remember those tapes about screwing over grandma and shutting down electrical plants to drive up prices?

“Do you know when you started over-scheduling load and making buckets of money on that?”

“He just fucks California. He steals money from California to the tune of about a million.” “Will you rephrase that?” “O.K., he, um, he arbitrages the California market to the tune of a million bucks or two a day.”

“They’re fucking taking all the money back from you guys? All the money you guys stole from those poor grandmothers in California?” “Yeah, grandma Millie, man.”

“Yeah, now she wants her fucking money back fro all the power you’ve charged, right up, jammed right up her ass for fucking $250 a megawatt hour!”

“If you took down the steamer, how long would it take to get it back up?” “Oh, it’s not something you want to just be turning on and off every hour. Let’s put it that way.”

“Well, why don’t you just go ahead and shut her down.”

There is no way the PUD customers will allow for a $120 million payment to Kenny Boy Lay. Senator Cantwell sums it up pretty nicely herself:

"There is no way under the sun that my constituents owe Enron another penny," Cantwell said. "Not one single penny more."

Wes Clark: Stop Blaming the Troops - Investigate the Real Culprits of Abuse

From Wes Clark's blog:

The time has come to investigate the Bush Administration's role in the prisoner abuse and humiliation that has motivated our enemies in the war on terror and endangers the well-being of our fighting forces.

Today, the reports of abuse and humiliation at detainment facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Cuba are distracting the world from focusing on winning the war on terror. Although the military chain of command seems to have properly investigated the role of its personnel and held accountable those in the wrong, the civilian leadership in this country has failed to do the same.

The Bush Administration has zero credibility now. They have tap-danced around their own internal memos endorsing torture, say that the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo abuse was at the hands of 'a few bad apples', and won't account for the fact that many, if not most, of the people being held as 'enemy combatants' are not terrorists at all, but innocent civilians swept up in large swaths, or sold out by people for personal vendettas. That is no way to fight terrorism.

They can set up a stage and put the American flag behind them as a backdrop, but at this point, nobody wants to hear their rhetoric and spin anymore. Blaming the low-level troops for abuse when it is obvious to all that the directives to conduct torture came from the highest levels of the Bush Administration, denigrates the military and damages the war effort more than any 'liberal' could ever do.

For generations, the United States has been a powerful voice of moral authority in the world. After World War II, we led the world in creating the Geneva Conventions and prosecuting war criminals at Nuremberg, and later became one of the first nations to ratify the Convention Against Torture. Even today, Slobodan Milosevic is being tried for war crimes thanks to a U.S.-led NATO air strike against his brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.

Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has squandered our legacy of moral leadership.

I need your help to protect the honor of our men and women in uniform and to set us on the right course to win the war on terror. Although the President has said the United States is "committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example," the Administration's actions don't match his words. In his infamous memo, Alberto Gonzales advised President Bush to ignore the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war – a treaty that protects our soldiers captured abroad – to give the president more "flexibility." This so-called "flexibility" along with other Administration policies and statements may have ultimately contributed to the environment in which the abuses at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan have occurred.

Among the disturbing practices identified so far: the rendition of prisoners to countries where they can be tortured, failing to register "ghost prisoners" to deny them visits by the Red Cross, employing civilian contract agents to conduct interrogations outside military rules, and the reported prolonged degrading treatment of some detainees in U.S. custody. All of these deserve further investigation.

With the right leadership and accountability, couldn't the Administration have prevented the embarrassment of Abu Ghraib and the controversy at Guantanamo Bay? While some are blaming individual soldiers, doesn't at least some of the responsibility rest with the civilian leadership of our government? Don't the American people deserve the truth? Shouldn't Congress lead an investigation?

Unfortunately for the American people, we have a Congress acting like an ostrich with its head in the sand, pretending that we are doing a stellar job and everyone loves us. The food is great, so there must not be any torture to speak of:

The issue of food at Guantanamo - described as "the gulag for our times" by Amnesty International earlier this month - was also the focus of a publicity stunt last week by the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

Duncan Hunter, a congressman from California, responded to reports of abuse at the base by tucking into a typical dish and supplying details of a Sunday menu: orange-glazed chicken, fresh fruit, steamed peas and mushrooms, and rice pilaf.

As a prime example of what he described as the camp's "gourmet fare", Mr Hunter singled out lemon-baked fish. "We treat them very well," he said, and claimed that detainees, some of whom have been held without trial since 2002, "have never eaten better".

That may be the most asinine response yet to the abuse allegations. Duncan Hunter should be ashamed to think that the American public would be so stupid to believe that. Anyway, more from the good General Clark:

How can we win the war on terrorism, a fight for democracy and freedom in America and around the world, if we forsake the very principles and institutions for which we are fighting?

The laws of war are designed to regulate combat and to protect non-combatants from the violence and degradation of war. The conduct of this Administration may ultimately lead to a green-light for our enemies to torture our soldiers when captured -- we owe it to our men and women in uniform and their families to investigate.

American soldiers deserve better than to see our allies pointing their fingers at Guantanamo Bay and calling it an "American problem." We are doing their work too – defeating terror is a global priority.

General Clark gets to the crux of the problem - condoning torture will lead to our own troops being tortured when they are captured on the battlefield. This Administration and the Republicans in Congress are doing the ultimate dishonor to our nation and our military.

The irresponsiblity of I-912

Daniel of On The Road To 2008 breaks down the motivation of the 'roads will fix themselves' zealots at KVI over their real reasons behind I-912:

News Flash! #54#

U.S. gas prices went up 8 cents per gallon in the past couple of weeks.
Did anyone notice?

Where were the protesters asking us to honk at the outrage on our way back home from work?

Did you read about this in the right wing blogs?

Did you hear about it on conservative talk radio?

For that matter did you read or hear about it on the progressive blogs or Air America?

Where were the front page headlines? Locally, The Seattle Times ran the information in a "Business Brief" news nugget buried on page C3 of the Business section.

Supposedly, opponents are saying, we cannot abide by a 3 cent gas tax this year, an additional 3 cents next year, 2 cents in 2007 and only 1.5 cents in 2008. However, over a similar 2 week period as the one just past, 3 cent would only equate to about 1/9th of one cent per gallon!

Yet for that small price Washington state is looking to help raise $8.5 billion toward hundreds of important transportation projects throughout the state. Much of that amount will be funded in a way that is both fair, in that it does so foremost via the consumers of gas that drive on our roads, and of minimal impact to our daily lives, which such a small increase surely will be. This is especially true in light of the changes in gas prices we see seasonally due to all kinds of reasons, few of which anyone ever loses any sleep over (last I recall, unlike most fruit and vegetables, oil flows from oil wells every season of the year), and that no one as yet has ever felt compelled to write a citizen's initiative to stop.

The supposed "grass roots" campaign to specifically strike the gas tax from the transportation bill, spurred on by conservative talk radio hosts Carlson and Wilbur, smacks of political vindictiveness and is backed by misinformation and hypocrisy - nothing more, nothing less.

The same crowd that failed in their bid to put Rossi in the Governor's mansion through the courts, realize that the legislature managed to pass some landmark legislation this spring, despite their attempts to poison the political environment, and that it showed Governor Gregoire to be an effective mediator who got things done.

This is something they just cannot swallow, and they hope to wreck the biggest achievement of them all, the much needed, and bipartisan supported transportation funding bill, regardless of how much it will hurt Washington staters, and hurt the future health of our transportation infrastructure.

Unfortunately, that's no news flash, it's just par for the course for the "Something for Nothing" crowd.

When you have groups like the Chamber of Commerce, The Master Builder's Association, the local labor unions, Microsoft, Boeing, the Association of Realtors, and the Associated General Contractors of Washington - all coming together to oppose I-912, you know that it is a stupid waste of time and taxpayer's money to even float this thinly veiled political vendetta of an initiative.

Letters to Reichert regarding torture and intimidation

This one coming from Noemie from the SKCCP:

Dear Representative Reichert:

Two recent votes of yours appear to turn a blind eye to intimidation. 

You had an opportunity to discourage Air Force Academy faculty from proselytizing enlisted people and you did not.   It is unconstitutional to promote religion by government employees at a government institution.  It is unjust to support the use of taxpayer money, which comes from people of all religions, to support one religion. 

Even worse is your vote against establishing an independent commission to investigate the treatment of detainees at prisons such as Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.  It is incredible that you trust the military, which appears to be responsible for these abuses, to investigate them.  My father, a deeply conservative man who fought in WWII would have been devastated to know that the US government was responsible for torture -- and that conservatives were the chief apologists for it.

It is deeply disturbing to me that my tax dollars appear to be paying for torture -- and for political representatives who do not care enough to investigate it.