Democrats reneg in first 100 hours!

I shouldn't be suprised... no, really, I shouldn't be but I am. I was actually dumb enough to fall for their campaign promises of bipartisanship and civility. After stonewalling for the past 6yeasr whenever possible, they are planning on using their new-found power to not only stonewall, but utilize procedure to lock out the Republicans. Sure sounds like partisanship to me - Democrat style

Read about their campaign promises broken here.

Originally posted by kozmo
I was actually dumb enough to fall for their campaign promises of bipartisanship and civility.

So what are you going to do the next election, vote for republicans because of their honesty and integrity? The republicans pull similar scams, the most notable being "the contract with america" campaign promises in 1994. Neither party is to be believed.

I have lost all interest in ideology. Just give me an honest government.
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You have both come to the realization that I came to some time ago; neither Democrats or Republicans can be trusted as both are only power-hungry and seek to increase the size of government.

The answer lies in the Libertarian Party, which will reduce the size and scope of government, reestablish personal liberty, and eliminate government corruption. Check out their website at www.lp.org.

I have known this for several years too... Thus I never vote dem or repub... No blood on my hands thank you very much!
Politicians are politicians, I say abolish the current party system, ALLOW PEOPLE TO RUN AS A TRUE HUMAN BEING NOT AS A TAG NUMBER! VOTE FOR THE PERSON NOT THE PARTY!

What is the beef, the Republicans have for 6 years, the congress and the president and all the American people got out of it, was a whole bunch of scandals and a lousy war.

Now the new congress is going to do something for the American people and some are crying about?

House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans.



Humm, is about time that ethics in our nation applies to politicians, I do not particularly agree with the minimum wage but . . . my son will benefit from it.

I always have been for stem cells and I have a daughter in college so the interest in students loans will benefit me.

So why the Republicans didn't do all this during their regime?

Now they are complaining?

I am saying they are two sides of the same coin, and are mearly throwing the public a bone to get them to shut up while they do their business behind closed doors.

I have fantasies of an IMPEACHED George and dick and the Democrats are letting me down big time.
They also have not cut the funding for the Bush War, and frankly, now I am convinced that the two parties are really one. That little bit of doubt i had is gone.

Originally posted by dgtempe
I have fantasies of an IMPEACHED George and dick and the Democrats are letting me down big time.

Impeaching Bush would be counter productive and a pointless excise. Bush is reaching a point where nearing the end of the road in terms of his time in the Whitehouse. The smart option would be to take a Ford like approach and put the means in place for the American people to move on. The long term benefits will be worth any political hit the Dems take.

They also have not cut the funding for the Bush War, and frankly, now I am convinced that the two parties are really one. That little bit of doubt i had is gone.

Cutting off funds to the Iraq war is a seriously bad idea. Aside from the fact the troops in Iraq need that funding the last thing the Dems need to do is to give the Republicans an outlet that will shift the blame to them for the mess in Iraq.

Given that a lot of the Dems supported the war in Iraq I would say that your probably right about there only being one political party in the USA.



[edit on 4-1-2007 by xpert11]

Its too early to say if the Democrats are renegging. They have been ignored for a long time, and they've got to make Bush feel the heat and start working with them. That means forcing him to either sign their legislation or make unpopular vetos- they can't have Republicans jumping on grenades for him with amendments. There's nothing to say yet that they will engage in the same level or duration of exclusion that the Republicans have, and frankly I wouldn't expect party line votes on most of these things anyway- it's not as if they're locking nearly half of the House out of the process- they're just keeping the Republican leadership from trying to blunt their early efforts- they'll probably get pretty respectable margins on the votes.

They probably will settle down after some initial progress, especially once it becomes clear that Tim Johnson will either remain or be replaced with a Democrat out of respect for the will of the voters.

But they've got to put some heat on Republicans too. To the extent that they don't sacrifice good government, they've also got to play good politics.

Frankly I think they'd be naive not to press their advantage a little. If they believe in the things they campaigned on (namely that the Republican Party's recent platform is leading America to destruction) then they have to target a few important Republicans and destroy them.

Here's what I'd tell Speaker Pelosi if I was her advisor:
If it weren't for Clinton there wouldn't be anyone in this country under 60 who had fond memories of Democratic rule.

We NEED a Democrat decade and we need it right now, or we're going to lose the courts completely, which would be incredibly dangerous in light of the Republican Party's recent conduct.

2008 is a gimme. We need to be worried about 2010 and 2012, and that means that we start damaging the most harmful Republicans right now and building records for our best people to run on.

We need to start this session with big victories for our brightest stars- make sure the people who aren't safe in their seats get their names on the right bills, get them speaking, get them on TV as news makers, and set them up to be seen as idealistic new comers slugging it out with entrenched Republican corruption.

We have to trim the pork, especially from solid Republican areas, but we also have to allocate just enough of it to protect the House districts that we've picked up.

We need a rigid ethics regime that will encourage certain Republicans to retire or to make difficult changes, and if they don't make those changes we have to remove them.

We have to force Republicans in moderate areas into tough votes that will force them to the right where we can beat them, or cause them to be replaced in the primaries by someone farther tot he right who we can beat.

After the first session, we have to change gears and let the Republicans in on the process- we need to create the impression that we're all but handing them the reigns, and we need to set them up for failure. Take something their base wants a whole lot more than ours does, make a bipartisan effort to get it done, but include a spoiler that their constituents don't care about that will chase their leadership away from it, so that their leaders and prospective presidential candidates are seen as indecisive on key issues and unable to compromise enough to get their constituents what they want.

Can't you just hear them trying to defend their records? "I wanted to protect the rights of Christian clubs on school campuses but I couldn't because the bill had too many insurance related complexities to ensure that there wouldn't be federal funding involved that might violate the establishment clause... infact, i actually voted for prayer in school, before I voted against it." Payback is such a witch.

So yeah, to make a short story very very long, the Democrats are going to play hardball here and there and who can blame them. It goes back to a point that Obama makes in his book, The Audacity of Hope, there is a time for idealism. America will often prosper by compromise, but every once in a while we need the heavy handed idealism of a John Brown to ensure that this nation remains worthy of prosperity. We must very carefully choose the times to be bipartisan and the times to insist that we are right and are going to get our way. That is something I'm going to be looking for if the Democrats want me to start supporting them enthusiastically and leaning towards their side more frequently at the polls-I expect them to show not only the common sense to compromise but the backbone to not only obstruct what is wrong but to fight tooth and nail to accomplish what is right.

If they've got to be partisan, break a few promises, ruin a few careers, or whatever else to ensure that we retain viable options at the polls and that the expansion of federal power ebbs again, then I will tentatively support that as long as they choose their battles wisely.

I'm sure the Democrats will accomplish all sorts of great things.

1 - Open our border and let Mexicans pour in like a tsunami

2 - Continue to fill our public schools with political correctness and "feel-good" learning nonsense, not to mention teach Sex Education in kindergarten.

3 - Weaken our military and intelligence capabilities

4 - Make it a crime to offend an Islamofascist

5 - Fight for the rights of minorities while alienating most of the American public

And lots of other great, Democratic ideas.

Originally posted by southern_cross3
I'm sure the Democrats will accomplish all sorts of great things.

1 - Open our border and let Mexicans pour in like a tsunami

That is one that has been happening under the Republicans for years, or you foggot when Reagan gave them amnesty, you know Regan-Republican.

2 - Continue to fill our public schools with political correctness and "feel-good" learning nonsense, not to mention teach Sex Education in kindergarten.

Schools are full of political correctness I was a teacher for 9 years and religion belongs in the home and the Church not the curriculum.

And as for sexual education I took the responsibility to teach my children about it from the first time they ask about babies and that happen to be during early childhood years.

What is wrong with that? they have grown into responsible adults now in their twenties, and I am lucky that neither my daughter or son has gotten children out of wed luck.

So why is so wrong to help children learn consequences of sex? Or you prefer when they already are having sex to tell them? or when the young girls are already expecting?

3 - Weaken our military and intelligence capabilities

Really !!!!!! so bringing the Nixon era of spying on citizens and getting away with it while Nixon had to resign as president is Good military intelligence At this one I will laugh

4 - Make it a crime to offend an Islamofascist

In our nation is a crime to show and be a racist. Specially when one entire race and religious believes are targeted to further our own government agenda.

5 - Fight for the rights of minorities while alienating most of the American public

Can you be more specific Who American people or you are only targeting one group. Because if you has looked around better you will see that our nation is diverse, so what groups you are talking about.

And for the funding for the war, I agree that if the Democrats comes right at it now, is going to be the main issue for Republicans during the 2008 presidential campaign.

You know already how the Republican Spinning machine works they have been very dirty and successful at it.

Originally posted by southern_cross3
I'm sure the Democrats will accomplish all sorts of great things.

Oh come on. They will need to go a long way to exceed the accomplishments of the republicans, but I'm sure they will try.

1 - Open our border and let Mexicans pour in like a tsunami

Unlike the secure borders we've had under a republican administration, we can't let this 'perfect storm' happen.

2 - Continue to fill our public schools with political correctness and "feel-good" learning nonsense, not to mention teach Sex Education in kindergarten.

Damn right. We need creationism, abstinence and jesus in our schools.

3 - Weaken our military and intelligence capabilities

Our current intelligence is so good that it was even able to find wmd's that don't exist and the present military was so strong that the president sent just a fraction of the troops his generals advised. Do you really think the democrats can match this kind of leadership?

4 - Make it a crime to offend an Islamofascist

Right again. Screw em', if those guys are offended at having their countries invaded and occupied. Talk about making criminal case over nothing.

5 - Fight for the rights of minorities while alienating most of the American public

It all started with that 13th amendment and its gone down hill from that point. The current administration is doing its best to make sure that no one has civil rights, so you shouldn't worry about minorities being given too many rights. Just look at the disproportionate number of minorities in US prisons. This should quell your fears about minorities receiving equal right.

And lots of other great, Democratic ideas.

Lord knows we don't want anything having to do with a democratic form of government.
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Originally posted by southern_cross3
I'm sure the Democrats will accomplish all sorts of great things.

Gee, if I had thought of it that way during the campaign, I would have voted a straight Democratic ticket. I mean just the other day me and my friend Abu Jihad were sneaking over the border, and this border patrol agent shined a light right in my eyes and he mistook my Arab friend for a Mexican and said something really rude... I mean come on, that should be a crime on so many levels. Oh well, I guess we'll call it even as long as Abu doesn't get prosecuted for handling it his own way.

Thanks Southern cross, you were absolutely nowhere even remotely close to being even slightly wrong about this, as usual, and it's reengergized my support for the Democrats.

[./sarcasm you could cut with a knife]

Bush is going to give all the current illegals amnesty.

This is a move I dont get, I know the democratic congress will pass this, and we will all the sudden have like 20 million more americans with the swing of a gavel.

I just hope the Democratic congress doesn't destroy the country.

You hear a lot about (already) who the next president is going to be...and what I think is the funniest thing about all of it is the fact that Jeb Bush (Flordia Gov.) would be the best pick for Republican Pres in 08'.....But of course he will never run because regardless of his skills america wouldn't allow a 3rd Bush to be the commander in chief.

Originally posted by Murcielago
Bush is going to give all the current illegals amnesty.

I just hope the Democratic congress doesn't destroy the country.

I don't think I get the logic of that at all. Not that I trust congress, regardless of who controls it, but how does Bush being soft on the border mean that Democrats are going to ruin this country?

It's a bipartisan problem. Although I don't think nativism is in the majority, I do believe that most Americans do want a functional border policy of some kind, and both parties have resolved to ignore the people on that issue.

Originally posted by The Vagabond

Originally posted by Murcielago
Bush is going to give all the current illegals amnesty.

I just hope the Democratic congress doesn't destroy the country.

I don't think I get the logic of that at all.

Yeah, I ment it as 2 seperate points...not combined.

And I agree about the border...they pretty much ignore it. In 06' I heard them talk about spending a bunch of money on a "virtual wall"...which is better then nothing, But I think we need a real wall...like 20 feet deep and 40 feet high. and pehaps some watch towers on it, every few miles or so.

Judging by the size of the problem and the length of time mass illegal immigration has been a problem both party's have decided that there corporate backers are more important then what is in the bests interests of the country.

Exactly. The permission of continued illegal immigration is infact a consumption subsidy program. The production edge we get from them is negligible- as labor costs are a relatively small component of retail prices, we aren't actually gaining very much in lower prices, created jobs, or lower business costs- the primary benefit is that it brings in tens of millions of additional consumers, thus inflating demand in certain areas.


These are hard numbers, they are just for demonstration of my theory:

Suppose that an immigrant will do for 6 dollars what a natural-born citizen would do for 9. You can hire 2 citizens to do a job for 18 dollars an hour total and you'll need a strong management team to train, supervise, and motivate them to make sure they operate at 100% efficiency. Or you can spend that same 18 dollars to hire 3 immigrants who only have to operate at just under 70% efficiency to meet the same production standard.

The industry hiring the immigrants isn't necessarily the greatest beneficiary if that's how it plays out, because they're just getting the same amount done because they're doing the same work for the same price, just with more employees.

Meanwhile Walmart is making a killing because the population of the United states is inflated by tens of millions- perhaps up to 10% which means more consumers.

And who pays? Well because efficiency isn't such a big deal, the manager is less important and his wages go down, because he hasn't got to do very much to get a 2 man job done with 3 guys.

3 employees making 6 dollars an hour, 40 hours a week are playing $4483 annually in taxes (without deductions)
while 2 employees making 9 dollars an hour, 40 hours a week would be paying $4861 annually before deductions. This constitutes a tax subsidy of about $130 per immigrant in order to facilitate expanded consumption.


I'll run the real numbers later if I get a chance to see if the model is accurate, but on the surface illegal immigration definately looks like a tax subsidized consumption program which benefits retailers and foreign manufacturers at the expense of the middle class and the wealthy in non-immigrantion-profiteering sectors.

Originally posted by southern_cross3
You have both come to the realization that I came to some time ago; neither Democrats or Republicans can be trusted as both are only power-hungry and seek to increase the size of government.

The answer lies in the Libertarian Party, which will reduce the size and scope of government, reestablish personal liberty, and eliminate government corruption. Check out their website at www.lp.org.

And perhaps extricate the foolish Americans from the foreign misadventures which will only continue to bring greater and greater misery to the American people.

When parties comes into power they bring their own personal, corporate and greedy agendas with them, then . . . they look for what the people wants all in that order.

All politicians are liers and deceivers, once they are in power they do what they pretty much wants regarless of the reason they were elected.

We the people has lost the power over these rats a long time ago.

But I got the feeling that the illegal immigration problem will stay the way it is, and congress will just let it be for the time being, until we get at least 40 million more illegals to make a decision.