I caught 3 minutes of Maddow.. and she pointed out it is the senate that is killing us.

[Peacetrain]

I need to go and find MTP on line and listen to the whole program.. But caught the last 4 or 5 minutes when Rachael pointed out something we need to focus on more.

I think the number she used was 200.. 200 bills that passed the house with as many as 50 republicans signing on .. are stopped stone cold in the senate by the minority abusing the filibuster.


Now don't get me wrong, I am not a totally anti filibuster kind of gal.. It has an important place in our process.. But it is being abused by the republicnas to stop the will of the people.


One of the things that hold us back, is we do NOT have a media outlet like the republicans do with their talking heads of talk radio firing up the 20%,. We just do not.

The President and the administration points out periodically where the republican talking machine is lying, but they cannot be on top of that 24/7. They have been elected to run a government.

Where does that leave us? We just cannot rely on Maddow and Olbermann.

Any thoughts?

[kstewart33]

1. The national Dem Party has to organize a message campaign on this.

It's the only way to get the word out. Every Dem on cable TV should be spouting the same line that Rachel is - the fillibuster is keeping the country from solving big problems.

A coordinated campaign is the only way to get the message out.

[Peacetrain]

2. If private unaffiliated citizens can raise billboards that make national news

Why can't we? (And I do not think for a minute that they are unaffiliated.. but I will give it the benefit of the doubt for the post)

[Captain Hilts]

7. If only we had an effective DNC....nt

[ClassWarrior]

15. If only we had more participants and fewer complainers.

NGU.

[Captain Hilts]

16. Um, I'm a participator. You sound like a complainer. nt

[ClassWarrior]

18. I'm rubber and you're glue?

:rofl:

NGU.

[ClassWarrior]

14. We need to join our local Dem Parties so that we can infiltrate the national Dem Party and...

...organize message campaigns like this.

Dammm, people. It doesn't do us any good to sit on our rumps and say, "THEY have to do this and that." WE need to do it.

NGU.

[mazzarro]

3. Need To Establish Liberal/Progressive Media (TV/Radio/Newspapers/Think Tanks)

The Democratic Party and DNC should by now have recognized the need to urge, push and cajole monied liberals/progressives to help seriously in starting these organizations and also support the liberal/progressive blogosphere that so far has carried the water for the democrats. I'll guess they do not want to because of they prefer they current ties to the corporate world which will be challenged for the unbeneficial policies they peddle in Washington all the time.

[Peacetrain]

5. I would love that..

[ClassWarrior]

17. It's funny how we can think up all kinds of wonderful things for other people to do, while...

...ignoring all the things we ourselves can do. After all, it's so much easier to blame a conspiracy than to actually make an effort to organize.

Incidentally, the Democratic Party and DNC were very instrumental in cultivating Ed Schultz and Stephanie Miller early on. So they have recognized the need.

NGU.

[njlib]

4. Rachel kicked ass this morning!

I still don't understand why MSNBC continues to run their weekend "crime-a-thons". Bring back Donahue, give O'Donnell a show, give Cenk a show...use that time wisely instead of wasting it like they're doing now.

[Peacetrain]

6. That 5 minutes I caught, I was cheering.. wtg Rachel..

[patrice]

8. Thought: We have to be willing to INVEST in candidates who, though the professionals tell us they

may not have enough of a chance to win,

WILL get our message out CLEAR, LOUD, and STRONG.

Sometimes winning just MUST be secondary to other priorities.

[Peacetrain]

10. Also we need to be willing to support the people we elect..

It is a two edge sword of truth..

[patrice]

12. The ones who do win: Support = Continuous, un-relenting, Constructive Feedback + Follow-up.

[quantass]

9. The Prez needs to get tough and THREATEN and NAME names and PROCLAIM exec order / reconcil n/t

[rufus dog]

11. she was extremely focused and powerful (?)

I don't want to describe her as aggressive to confuse her with O'Reilly or another shill. But she did not let any of the BS points go, she went back to them when it was her turn and didn't allow Dick to cut her off.

All and all one of the best performances I have seen in awhile, early on in her TV career she had a tendency of getting too deep, thus losing the casual observer. She has now learned how to succinctly get her point across.

[Peacetrain]

13. I am going to sit down and write her a real live paper letter.. thanking her for

her advocacy.. I want to get behind our people and not have them feel like they are out in the wilderness alone..

[OHdem10]

19. I have been saying this until I am now purple . The Democratic

Party can never be seen as governing well until they
are united and have representatives on TV almost 24/7.

It has been a mistake to leave everything up to Obama.
This is not criticism of Obama. If it is to be taken
as criticism is criticism of the Dems on the Hill.

For example all through out the HCI legislative process,
there should have been Dems on TV explaining each little
piece. They would have gotten feedback from the public
they could have adjusted as they went along. The People
having been included would not have bought the Republican
Smear Health Care--hook line and sinker. Instead, the
Republicans had the airways 24/7 to practically destroy
it.

Sure we Activists knew what was in the bill. NOT the
American Public.

Reid has to bring the Conservadems under control so the
Party speaks with one voice. The Senate is the worst
offender. Nancy Pelosi so far has managed the House
very well. This is why the GOP attacks her.

[rufus dog]

21. The question is, do the Dems control who gets coverage?

Or is it the media providing airtime to Bond, Boehner, Cantor, Cheeney, while giving Dem visibility to Ford, Bayh, and the moderate wing?

[quantass]

20. Any have a VIDEO of Rachel's performance? Can't find on MTP site

[Cleita]

22. iTunes has free podcasts of MTP and The Rachel Maddow show, however,

I don't think today's show will be posted until later.

On edit: If you have MSNBC, they are rerunning it at 11:00 AM PST, which I believe would be 1:00 PM EST.

[enough already 2]

23. The Fairness Doctrine would be a start

I wish Air America was still around. I miss them.

[johnaries]

24. I believe her exact words were "The Senate is broken." And she's

absolutely right. Just look at the differences between the House HCR bill and the Senate version.

We shouldn't be blaming Obama. We shouldn't be blaming the House. We shouldn't be blaming Dems. We should be balming the Party of No (firstly) and the broken process in the Senate.

I agree with you, I'm not anti-filibuster in theory, either. But the Republicans are abusing it. And the rules need to be revised to try and avoid the effectiveness of such abuse.

[theothersnippywshrub]

25. Stop the Republican Blockade of the United States Senate. n/t

[liberalpragmatist]

26. Just abolish the filibuster

Yes, I realize we'll be in the Senate minority again some day and the Republicans will be more able to enact their agenda. But keep in mind that their agenda is already easier to enact because of the conservative tilt of the Senate since small, rural states get more votes than the larger, more urbanized blue states. And I'd rather have a system where both parties can, if they come to power, enact their ideas and campaign on them, rather than the current system where both parties can only rely on blocking the other party's achievements. Besides, we already have a system with numerous veto points - each bill has to pass the necessary committees, get majority approval in both houses of Congress, get the signature of a supportive president, and pass muster with the Supreme Court. Adding any supermajority requirement on top of that is insane. No other advanced democracy has anything like it. Most have functionally single-house legislatures, yet they function perfectly fine.

I'd go all the way to say that even the old-school talkathon-style filibuster shouldn't be reinstated. It was done away with because senators thought that too was hugely abusive, as it single-handedly blocked civil rights legislation for decades. The Republicans would certainly talk to death anything remotely controversial, like HCR.

I like Harkin's idea of a graduated filibuster. That allows the minority to delay a bill but doesn't kill it. However, it should also go hand in hand with reforms of the Senate's "unanimous consent" rules, which require 60 votes to overcome any bill, nomination, or motion to proceed that a single senator objects to. Unanimous consent needs to be easily waived or done away with, and even Harkin's graduated filibuster should only be permitted for motions to proceed to a final vote, not earlier motions to proceed.

[ProgressOnTheMove]

27. Posters and banners as many as humanly possible saying 200 bills passed In the house block by GOP...

in the senate. Give the tinyurl to maddows segment and the GOPs voting record. Post them coast to coast and more so in red states. 200 bills hat could of helped th folks get back on their feet.

[ProgressOnTheMove]

28. What was extra awesome about Rachel is that you could tell she's memorized every...

single GOP congress members hypocrisy record on the recovery act.