We ‘captured a man who did not attack the country and let loose a man that did’

September 14, 2006

I don’t have anything particularly insightful to add, and Sen. [tag]Mary Landrieu[/tag] (D-La.) is not always my favorite member of the Democratic [tag]Senate[/tag] caucus, but I was delighted to see/hear Louisiana’s senior senator decide she’d had enough of the GOP’s talking points today.

What seemed to set Landrieu off was a comment from a Republican senator, I’m not sure which, who suggested that Senate Dems are “tired of fighting [tag]terrorism[/tag].” She decided to explain what people are really tired of.

The truth is, for all of the complaints, from me among others, that Dems don’t hit back hard enough, comments like these aren’t as uncommon as they may seem. We may not see the speeches on CNN, and they may not get quoted in the major dailies, but Dems in Congress have been fed up for quite a while, and tough, smart speeches like Landrieu’s are delivered all the time. The more we applaud them, the better.

I’ve included the [tag]transcript[/tag] of the comments after the jump, in case readers can’t play video at their office computer.

“In light of the rantings that went on for 30 minutes here, in the chamber, by two colleagues from the other side, I’d like to state for the record that America is not tired of fighting terrorism; America is tired of the wrongheaded and boneheaded leadership of the Republican party that has sent six and a half billion a month to Iraq while the front line was Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. That led this country to attack Saddam Hussein, when we were attacked by Osama bin Laden. Who captured a man who did not attack the country and let loose a man that did.

“Americans are tired of boneheaded Republican leadership that alienates our allies when we need them the most. Americans are most certainly tired of leadership that despite documenting mistake after mistake after mistake, even of their own party admitting mistakes, never admit they do anything wrong. That’s the kind of leadership Americans are tired of.

“I’m didn’t come to the Senate to have partisan rantings on the floor, but I am most certainly not going to sit here as a Democrat and let the Republican leadership come to the floor and talk about Democrats not making us safe. They’re the ones in charge and Osama bin Laden is still at loose.”

Woohoo. That’s good stuff. Anyone have contact info for Landrieu?

I think you’re right, CB. Dems are hitting back, we’re just not hearing about it.As was the case with John Kerry in 04.

  • Unfortunately, the chances of this being posted/played anywhere outside the blogosphere are the same as my 84-year old grandmothers starting at QB for the KC Chiefs this Sunday (okay … so that may not be that big of a stretch, all things considered. But still … )

    Instead, we’ll continue to hear GOPers all over the corporate media talking about how weak Dems are on security without showing the facts that prove otherwise.

    **Sigh**

  • Queue the indignation and sniveling from the Go Team Bush Cheerleading squad. If there is any response to this I’m sure we’ll hear it is OK to liken someone to a terrorist or even a Nazi appeaser, but calling someone a bone head…well, my word, I may swoon! Maybe they’ll break their necks as they leap on their high horses.

    But I hope this is just a flavour of what we’re going to see over the next two years. There is no need for the Dems to trash talk the cheerleaders, there is no need to insinuate or outright lie. They just need to state a few pertinent and painful facts. As we know, the cheerleaders only like pain when it is inflicted on a helpless victim.

  • Good for Mary!

    Her remarks remind me of one subtle change I’d make in Democratic public rhetoric. I think that, in general, Democratic lawmakers should use the term “people back home in my state” instead of “Americans.” It’s more real, and gets citizens noticing the similarities between their personal feelings and the people”back home in [state].” This is a copywriter’s technique. Ideally, a pitch should be to “you” whenever possible.

  • Our MSM is only capable of delivering bread and circuses at this moment in our nation’s history. To further the Honorable Senator’s observations: the American public is fed up with the culture of unaccountability this Administration and its ilk have brought to Washington, and it is becoming increasingly fed up with jack-boot journalism parroting this Administration’s and the K Street project’s talking points.

    One more thought the Honorable Senator could not make on the floor of that distingushed bastion of representative democracy – Americans are becoming tired of the hateful rhetoric of this Republican party in power. We are beginning to see them as weasels as they try to slide the blame of today’s calamities onto a political party that has no power. Republican leaders hear this: we are pissed off with what is happening to our beloved country, and when you equate fear with policy, treason with dissent, and weakness with debate, you are really showing yourselves as a bunch of unAmerican dumbasses!

    Vote the Rascals Out in ’06 and ’08!! -Kevo

  • “Dems don’t hit back hard enough”

    Are any Dems going to ask Rumsfeld about forbidding planning for post-invasion Iraq? I can’t believe how quickly this was forgotten. “Google News” it, and there’s like 9 hits.

    Landrieu’s comments are fine, but I’m tired of hearing about Republican leadership “alienating our allies” when Rumsfeld is still around. If Dems really think a few more allied troops in Iraq or Afghanistan would make Rumsfeld effective, then they don’t deserve to be in charge either.

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