HAD ENOUGH OF THE REPUBLICAN FEVER SWAMP... NANCY PELOSI PROMISES TO DRAIN IT FOR US-- IN HER FIRST 100 HOURS AS SPEAKER
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Beltway Republicans think their secret weapon-- even beyond Diebold-- for holding on to congressional power in November is Nancy Pelosi. Their reactionary candidates demonize her in their ads as a "San Francisco liberal," (although, in light of their cover-up of the Mark Foley scandal I presume they will think twice about reminding voters about "San Francisco" in the last 4 weeks of the campaign). The irony, of course, is that Nancy Pelosi, regardless of Limbaugh, Fox and the rest of Rove's media smear machine is precisely what many voters want now. Nancy Pelosi is clear about the fetid and repulsive morass a decade of Republican "leadership" has brought us to-- and she very much plans to change course.
Today's NY Daily News has a great headline: Pelosi Says She Would Drain GOP 'Swamp' During Her First 100 Hours As Speaker. If she becomes the first woman Speaker in history, as looks very likely, she promises that on her first day in Congress she will put new rules in place that will end the lucrative relationship the Republicans have established between themselves and lobbyists willing to pay them in return for writing the very legislation that governs our country.
It will just be a few hours after that that as Speaker she will "enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." Most Americans are wary of Hastert and the rubber stamp Congress for virtually ignoring the bipartisan bare-bones recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
The other immediate goals for a Democratically-controled, Pelosi-run House involve raising the minimum wage, cut the student loan interest rate that Rep Buck McKeon (CA-25) allowed to rise (as the amount of bribes he got for student loan venders rose) in half... and change the GOP rule that doesn't allow our government to negotiate lower prices with the big pharmaceutical companies.
If enough Democrats replace rubber stamp Republicans Pelosi will also be able to present Bush with a veto-proof stem cell research bill, something the vast majority of Americans favor. I know I've asked DWT readers to donate and donate and donate. And, as a group, we've done great. Between the readers here and our partners at Firedoglake and Crooks and Liars, we've reached a quarter million dollars for progressive candidates in just a few months. Please take a look. And the kinds of candidates we're backing are not the Republican-lite quasi-Democrats favored by Rahm Emanuel. The men and women on that list will vote, enthusiastically, for the goals mentioned by Nancy above. This isn't going to be the last time I ask, but if you can afford it, please take another look at the candidates of the list and see if there is one you want to help out today. We didn't get to $250,000 because we have lots of people donating $1,000. Most of our contributors give around $30 and many give less. Our power is that we are many and all those $5 and $10 contributions add up. About 20 minutes ago Michael M in Evanston, Illinois donated $15 each to Charlie Brown, Ned Lamont, Francine Busby, Angie Paccione and Coleen Rowley and put us over the quarter million mark. Today I'm going to send him a surprise thank gift. But the real thank you for Michael and for all of us will be when we watch Speaker Pelosi as her first 100 hours start next January.
AFTERTHOUGHT: A P.O. BOX AND A SUPER CANDIDATE
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And in case anyone wandered onto DWT by accident and is muttering that all politicians are the same and untrustworthy or whatever other Rove-inspired, turn-out-depressing talking points they try brainwashing people with, let me recommend a brand new interview from today's Boulder Weekly, a cover story called Unbought and Unbossed. I can't think of a starker example between a stellar candidate and a human garbage dump of an incumbent than the Colorado race between progressive Angie Paccione and reactionary Marilyn Musgrave. There's a good place to make an investment!
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 10:34 AM
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This is goodness if she has the will and the power to actually do that. However, Bill Moyers seemed to doubt it was for real. At the end of his Capitol Crimes show, he said: I saw the other day a very powerful House member, Democrat, saying, you know, "We're going after some uncharted sources of money in the financial community. And we're telling them that the next majority leader might be a Democrat.
Excellent point, delta, and to the extent that the new Democratic House majority is made up of the kind of people Rahm Emanuel wants, this is likely to be exactly what happens--as Howie has been arguing, a possibly less efficient but just as money-grubbing.
Believe me, no one is more certain than I am that I'm going to be disappointed by the new Democratic Congress. But I think we just have to deal with that when we come to it (after all, the House Dems, old and new, aren't all Emanuelites, just as the Senate Dems aren't all Schumerites). So I think the first step is, we have to get there--i.e., to the new Democratic House and Senate.
And to my ear, Speaker-to-be Pelosi is hitting it just right. I love the idea of her beginning to assemble a program, hopefully with actual legislation in the process of being drafted, for the Democrats' First 100 Days. Issues should be carefully chosen for importance and appeal and doability, and the incoming Democratic leadership of the House should be prepared to commit to the program and be answerable for its adoption.
Representative Pelosi and her team should begin working with Senator Reid and his team to come up with a forceful yet practical, message-sending "100 days" program. We've heard enough about the Democrats not offering an alternative to Bushism. I'd like to think that what Minority Leader Pelosi has set in motion here could make this election really count for something. Not just t'rowing da bums out, but offering the country a realistic alternative to the rubber-stamp Congress we've been stuck with.
Ken
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