Call It A Comeback
The Democrats are going along with the Indian deal to transfer peaceful nuclear technology despite the prohibition against such a move since India is not a signatory to the Nonproliferation Treaty.
Ed Markey has been a strong opponent of the enabling legislation.
I’m generally not thought of as one of the extreme in the netroots—in fact many think I’m too conservative (and Illinois Review calling Fritchey and I full of hate doesn’t count in a reality based discussion) and accepting of the apparatus. Fair enough.
Generally though my differences with Markos aren’t very great in that I’m not concerned about ideological purity as much as strong candidates with backbones, but today there is one issue I really do disagree with him on:
Me, I said at the time that I wanted to see the filibuster gone. Now Republicans will get to use it to stymie the Democratic agenda, just like opponents of civil rights used it to bottleneck important civil rights legislation in the 60s. But oh well. It is what it is.
But here’s the key — every bit of anti-minority party legislation the GOP implemented these last 12 years better be kept intact by the new Democratic leadership. Let them reap what they sowed. They deserve every humiliation they designed for those in the minority status.
And stripped of their perks, forced to fire large number of staff, shunted off to the dingiest offices on Capitol Hill, let’s hope more Republicans decide that life on K Street is more enjoyable than life in the minority.
To be fair, the above is from a post that was making fun of predictions of realignment. I have more than a passing interest in party realignment which I view as a process that is always underway–just at different rates and so the post makes a perfect point in that respect–realignment claims are seldom close to the truth that in a competitive two party system, there is always innovation to capture new voters and hence majorities are generally not stable with some exceptions of incumbency.
That said, the problem I have with what Markos said is that part of what this election was about was a rejection of systemic corruption created by the K Street Project. The insulation that the project attempted to create from the electorate and reduced accountability from it is exactly what allowed corruption to become so widespread in only 12 years.
Restoring minority rights in Congress is a good thing not because it’s good to be nice, but being fair also ensures that Democrats are held accountable. If you run on a platform of accountability, then you should practice it.
Political parties in every nation on earth have been participated in corruption and they always will. The difference in the last 12 years between usual corruption which some Democrats do and will engage in is that it wasn’t systematically incorporated into the entire system of governance as the K-Street Project did. Part of the reason it could be pulled off in the US House is that any power that the minority had was largely stripped from them. Leaving the institution as the Republicans have left it will only result in a replay of no accountability with Democrats in charge. That’s not what this election was about for those independents, disaffected Republicans and most Democrats who went to the polls.
Listening to Nancy Pelosi, she gets this and understands it. I think she understands the logic of retribution out of frustration as well, but she has promised to reject that. She does that from a position of confidence that if you run a clean and open government you might not win every fight, but you will continue winning.
Part of governing is restoring integrity to the institution even if that means being nice to people who didn’t and wouldn’t do the same. We don’t lay down and let them do anything, but we allow those willing to take part in governance to take part. Those that don’t and want to try and continue to burn down the house, they get whacked.
Oh, and Rodney Alexander gets whacked for his decision to switch parties 10 minutes before filing closed.
The guy who is winning the ArchPundit primary if that guy from Illinois doesn’t get in just announced for the 2008 nonimation: Tom Vilsack
Thanks to Patience in comments:
Senior Republican officials said they were frequently frustrated by candidates who had been lulled into complacency by the party’s decade of success and ignored their warnings — typically delivered by Mr. Rove or Ken Mehlman, the Republican national chairman — to move early to attack opponents.
The Republican National Committee had sought before Election Day to send a mailing into Mr. Leach’s Iowa district to attack his opponent’s position on same-sex marriage.
Mr. Leach recoiled at the mailing and called Mr. Mehlman, saying he would caucus with the Democrats if Mr. Mehlman did not withdraw it.
“I would rather lose running an uplifting race than prevail by finger-pointing,” Mr. Leach said.
It wasn’t complacency, it was decency. One thing noted in the race by the Iowa press is that David and Leach ran a campaign on the issues and respected each other.
Donate to Karen Carter—William Jefferson’s opponent in a run-off election. You know Jefferson–the clown who kept $100,000 in his freezer and during Katrina used Guard personnel to check on his house.
Defeat him. Defeat him now.
Like Illinois should be the first to promote chromosone-based gender identity
Because when I think of all of the challenges the State of Illinois faces, this is right there at the top.
I always use the day after wins to find out how the other side is taking it. I’m not sure if I’m just finding battier stuff today or if this is normal fare.
One rumor has him going to run the University of Iowa–which would be a fantastic job for him.
And he is a political science professor–I didn’t even know it, but Chris Carney who took out Don “The Strangler” Sherwood is an alum of Cornell College from 1981. Cool
I’m thrilled for David Loebsack. As those who read my blog know, David was my college advisor and a friend. I couldn’t be happier for him and prouder of what he has achieved.
But with that race is a sense of sadness as well. Jim Leach is a great guy. He is the guy who stopped Bill Clinton’s stupid banking reform legislation and helped avoid a future economic meltdown. He was smarter than I about the War in Iraq and he’s always practiced what he preached when it came to campaign finance not accepting PAC contributions.
He was one of the most vocal opponents of Newt Gingrich and the effort to reshape Congress and burn down the traditions that kept it functioning and restrained corruption. He talked about serious issues like nuclear non-proliferation and genocide even when it did not matter to his District.
He was everything I wanted in a Congressman. Thoughtful, independent, and committed.
But I couldn’t afford him anymore. In fact, David and I talked about this when he was thinking of running and David made it a centerpiece of his campaign.
Voting for Denny Hastert as Speaker of the House meant that the institution would continue to be debased by those who had no view of the historical importance of the institution and its rules and norms.
Voting for Denny Hastert meant that one was endorsing of the most ambitious marriages of government and business ever seen in the United States. A marriage of corruption that sought to tie the goals of Congress and Business into one instead of Congress and the people.
Voting for Denny Hastert meant that instead of tackling hard problems as Jim Leach always wanted to do, hard problems were covered up and THE GAY was used to scare the voters instead of fixing problems.
Voting for Denny Hastert allowed the institution to undergo a long, slow process of creeping illegitimacy.
Leach was right in 1992 when he was concerned about Democratic leadership ignoring the rules of the House. He was also right that the increasing influence of the religious right was a danger to his party. But when both problems appeared in one party he stayed. He fought against Gingrich and then gave up. At that point, decent or not, he was not the useful Jim Leach many admired. He was simply another Republican vote.
That simply could not continue and I will miss Jim Leach’s voice, but that voice is useless if the first aye is to betray everything he stood for.
Chris Shays–assuming Simmons loses. In the same states–four Republican Senators.
ArchPundit