The More I Think About It The More I Realize It Was Congress That Failed Us

[ThomWV]

George Bush did what was natural to him and not uncommon for any of our recent Presidents - he tried to grab power and in order to gain the support he needed to do so was willing to see coroprate interests who supported him rape the country.

By contrast the Congress is supposed to represent the people of the United States and protect our interest; they are us and they are presumed to act like us.

So who has failed?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Frankly...

We failed, because we did not communicate to the congresscritters that certain things were not acceptable and that to do them would put their political careers in grave and immediate jeopardy.

We were far too interested in "American Idol".

[kentuck]

4. But, who won?

Propaganda?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

13. The Wealthy and The Well-Connected.

It's as plain as the nose on your face.

On the other hand, I have heard from a wealthy and well-connected person that others, like her, are shit-scared about the way things are right now. They are horrified with the economic disparity, because they recognize that sooner or later, there could be a brutal and terrible price for them to pay. And they are reckoning sooner.

After all, history is very clear regarding such turns of events.

[PassingFair]

2. Both.

Congress should have impeached.

Republican control made it impossible.

Thereafter, BlueDogs and NewDems were
complicit.

We lose.

[Fresh_Start]

3. EXACTLY

A President is there for 4-8 years.
A Congressman can be there for 20+ years.

The Congress should be controlling the agenda.
The Congress should be containing an out of control White House
The Congress should assure that jerks don't wind up on the Supreme Court.

Our Congress has failed.
They love the fact that we are deluded that its all the President's fault.

It Congresses fault.
Every last bit of it.

Every President tries to push the limits.
Its Congresses responsibility to fight for its territory.
And they didn't.

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. Congress poll numbers down to 11% I think in the last Zoogby Poll.

My aunt, who is a very well informed Democrat, made the comment that it doesn't really matter who is in Congress because they all owe their souls to the company store. They vote with the corporations no matter what.

She is probably too right about that. Sad but true.

[Fresh_Start]

7. I agree with her

my husband will do a protest vote (Nader) not because he wants Nader to win. But as the clearest sign of protest he thinks he can do in the ballot box.

[Bandit]

5. That is why Congress has an approval rating of less than half of Bush*'s

They have had Majority for going on two years now and exactly what have they accomplished? Price of fuel has doubled since they took control, More troops are in Iraq now than before they took control, the dollar is much weaker, our world reputation is worse, no one has been held accountable for anything..How was Nader wrong when he said there was very little difference between the two Parties?

[Clear Blue Sky]

10. Bingo.

Congress has the power of oversight and the power of the purse, among other powers.

We elected a new Congress in 2006 because we wanted a change. So what's changed? New names as the speaker and majority leader but business as usual. At some point, their blaming Bush for everything gets old.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. It's all in the numbers.

232 Democratic members in the House:



201 GOP members in the House:



The Senate (49 Democratic, 49 GOP, 2 independents):


The 300 million people who make up the population of the U.S. (1 figure=1 million people)



The 76 million U.S. voters (1 figure=1 million people)



In the first two images we see that the Democratic party has 31 more votes than the GOP that is if all the Dems vote the same way!

In the third image, we clearly see that the Democrats do not have a veto-proof vote in the Senate. In the fourth and fifth images, we can see that very few Americans actually bother to vote.

Looking at these pictures, it is clear who has failed who: we've failed ourselves.

[Warpy]

9. You are right, but that Congress was his own party

That they failed to preserve their own power is astonishing to me, but that party has always been a rigidly hierarchical one, everyone knowing what his place in the pecking order is and their president at the top of the dungheap. The unitary executive (AKA dictator) made perfect sense to a party of fascists and followers.

[On the Road]

11. The Blame is Broader and Longer Term

In retrospect, I think forcing an end to the war would have been a political disaster, could easily have been unsuccessful, and would probably have led to a loss in 2008. But only because the framing has already been done so completely that trying to change it now looks like insanity.

Americans still have a colonialist and Cold-War view of foreign relations. Just like Dean is competing in all fifty states, Democrats have to counter this kind of worldview everywhere on a routine basis. Otherwise, pubic opinion has alredy been lost when an opportunity to do something presents itself. Democrats that share the Bush view of foreign relations should not be representing party views.

[pansypoo53219]

12. the teevee gnews were FINE with it

so, hard to build a groundswell and the democrats KNOW it's not a liberal media. how fast did they call for clinton's impeachment? not ONE call yet from mainstream media.

but they STILL should have done it.