Dems show follow-through

October 7, 2005

I know there’s plenty of frustration out there that Dems on the Hill aren’t doing enough to aggressively go after Republican malfeasance, but frequently, Dem efforts are hard-hitting but largely ignored. There’s a lot going on in the political world this week, but consider a few examples of Dems showing solid follow-through.

For example, a few weeks ago, evidence surfaced indicating that a respected U.S. Attorney opened an investigation into Jack Abramoff in Guam, only to be promptly demoted and find that his probe had been closed. Dems, needless to say, were outraged and yesterday began demanding an independent investigation.

Two Democratic congressmen called for the appointment of an outside special counsel Thursday to investigate whether lobbyist Jack Abramoff played a role in the demotion of a U.S. attorney in Guam who was investigating him.

Reps. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan and George Miller of Martinez cited what they called evidence of “political manipulation” in a letter to Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. They also questioned whether Abramoff might have had unauthorized access to classified documents relating to national security concerns in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, where the lobbyist had several clients.

On another matter, we learned earlier this week that the GAO found evidence that the Bush administration engaged in “covert propaganda” when it hired Armstrong Williams to promote Bush’s education policies. Yesterday, four Dem senators — Dorgan (N.D.), Kerry (Mass.), Kennedy (Mass.), and Lautenberg (N.J.) — wrote to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to insist that the Justice Department investigate the crimes identified by the GAO.

Over the past few days, information has come to light that raises questions about possible criminal violations surrounding the Department of Education’s contractual relationship with Mr. Armstrong Williams. We strongly urge you to open an immediate investigation.

On yet another issue, Dems have successfully gotten the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing to explore ties between Timothy Flanigan, President Bush’s pick for the No. 2 spot at the Justice Department, and former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

I’m not saying the party’s a well-oiled machine firing on all cylinders — c’mon, it’s the Dems we’re talking about — but the party seems focused and isn’t letting things slide. They’re laying out specific ideas; they’re hitting hard on the GOP’s culture of corruption; they’re showing follow-through; and they’re asking questions that need to be asked.

It’s a start.

Here’s another sign of hope. Back in 1977 Washington state’s Sen. Warren Magnuson used his considerable clout to slip through legislation limiting tanker traffic on Puget Sound – to prevent that beautiful waterway (and the county in which I live) from becoming the kind of polluted industrial mess Houston is.

Last week Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) wrote an energy bill which would have removed that limit. Yesterday, a bipartisan effort by WA representatives put the limit back in place. The full story is here. Amazing what can be accomplished once the Great Divider loses his grip.

  • They need to work much harder at getting their message and accomplishments noticed. Voters need to constantly hear what they are doing, and the Dem’s need to do whatever it takes to get their message out. The ‘leadership’ still doesn’t seem to undestand that.

  • I’ve managed salespeople, and politicians are salespeople. They go where the money is. And they have a terrible herd-mentality problem: all chasing after the same dollar from the same place at the same time. The essential key to herding these cats is to let them smell money. OOH MONEY OVER HERE! And they’re jealous of each other, so if one finds a gold mine somewhere, they all come tumbling over each other in a big dogpile to get to where that new gold strike is. I WANT SOME TOO! I wish we had clean elections (http://www.caclean.org) but we don’t, so money is and will remain paramount until then.

    The press is the same too, they operate in the same way as politicians and salespeople. Even moreso: they’re huge corporate business conglomerates who only exist to sell shitty products to dumb consumers.

    So what is happening here is that the progressive grassroots/netroots is starting to generate successes. And a few intrepid guys and gals are getting some success with it, and all the rest are starting to wander over looking for some too. This will snowball until it’s a full-on trend/bubble of everyone piling on trying to get their cut. That’s the way things work in America.

    This is exactly the way that the whacko fundamenalist Christian nutbars took over the Repug party. Or how corporations and lobbyists have come so close to taking over BOTH parties. Candidates started realising, “Hey, if I pander to these guys, I get money. This is neat.”. After a while, it becomes a huge rush of everyone doing it, and finally just the status quo.

    So what’s happening is here is directly attributable to YOU! To MoveOn.org, Michael Moore, DFA, AirAmerica, Kos/Atrios/Pandagon, etc. This is America. It’s all about that money. You make money, you’re a success, people want to copy you. You don’t make money, you’re a chump, and nobody wants anything to do with you. So by sending these candidates money and working for them and getting them (re-)elected, you are rewarding them for taking up progressive positions and causes.

    This isn’t Blog Triumphalism, it’s grassroots triumphalism, because that’s the only thing that works, and we’re just now starting to figure out how to do it. Keep up the good work.

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