“You know what I think? I don’t think we have a message.” With the administration faltering weekly, multiple investigations into GOP corruption coming to a head, and several congressional Republicans calling it quits (including longtime House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas), the Post surveys the varying Democratic strategies to win back Congress in 2006. Frankly, folks, it doesn’t look good, even given the great hand we’ve been dealt of late. As you might expect from Will Rogers’ famous dictum, no two people mentioned in this article — Reid, Pelosi, Dean, Emanuel, Schumer, Vilsack — seem to be on the same page.
Tag: Democrats
Burning Bush.
Thanks to the ugly public machinations of Casino Jack and Boss DeLay, GOP courting of the “September 12” vote stalls out. “‘September 12 Republicans’ were Jewish Democrats and independents who would switch their allegiance because of their concern over national security and their appreciation of President Bush’s stalwart support of Israel.“
Blue in the Face.
Given Dubya’s recent dismal poll position, the NYT‘s David Kirkpatrick assesses the prospects of the Bush second-term agenda in the wake of his incipient lame-duckness.
Sugar Land Sours on DeLay?
With three opponents all bucking to take him into a runoff situation, Boss DeLay faces a tougher GOP primary than usual in his home district this Tuesday. (In a January poll, 68% of primary voters remained undecided.) And, even if he emerges from the primary dust-up relatively unscathed, DeLay will then face a credible and well-financed Democratic opponent in former Rep. Nick Lampson, who, in the same poll, led the Hammer by eight points. “It will not help DeLay that his district is more Democratic, ironically by his own making…Always a strong candidate in his own races, DeLay surrendered GOP voters in the realignment to bolster some other Republican districts. Now, after contending with indictment and departure from the House leadership, he could be facing the loss of the very seat he used to rise to power.” Update: Or not. Boss DeLay coasts to victory over his three primary challengers with 62% of the vote.
Office Spaced / Abramoff the Table?
The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, which has recently been looking into lobbying reform, votes 11-5 on an amendment by George Voinovich (R-OH) to prevent the creation of an independent ethics office. (Three Dems joined the Republicans, minus Chair Susan Collins, to kill the plan.) While Voinovich claims an independent office would be redundant given the Senate Ethics Committee (which he chairs), watchdog groups such as Public Citizen are livid, and John McCain has already suggested he’ll likely renew the idea on the Senate floor.
Still, reformers face a serious challenge in the growing audacity of the GOP, who are banking on the Casino Jack story not catching fire outside the Beltway: “[A]s the legislation has evolved and Abramoff has faded from the headlines, calls for bans have grown scarce, and expanded disclosure has become the centerpiece of the efforts underway.” Nevertheless, the Republicans are playing with fire: The ballad of Casino Jack plays on, as attested by prosecutors recently subpoenaing travel agency records of a 2000 DeLay-Abramoff boondoggle to Britain.
Fox’s Poll Position.
For those who doubt the impartiality of the recent CBS poll, the fair-and-balanced gurus of FOX News have similarly bad news for the GOP, with Bush at a 39% approval rating (54% disapprove), and America preferring a Democratic Congress in November by 14 points (45-31%). Update: LA Times/Bloomberg clocks Dubya at 38%.
But wait, it gets worse.
“I did not and could not address…any other classified intelligence activities.” In a letter clarifying his recent Senate testimony on the NSA wiretaps, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales hints at a broader warrantless spying program than has yet been acknowledged. “‘It seems to me he is conceding that there are other NSA surveillance programs ongoing that the president hasn’t told anyone about,’ said Bruce Fein, a government lawyer in the Nixon, Carter and Reagan administrations.” Update: Gonzales tells Jane Harman that’s all there is.
Surrender, Democrats.
“‘The die has now been cast,’ acknowledged the law’s chief opponent, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis….’Obviously at this point, final passage of the reauthorization bill is now assured.‘” As expected, most Senate Dems — no doubt aiming to protect their national security flank in the upcoming elections — join in voting 84-15 to end another Feingold filibuster, thus sending the barely-revised Patriot Act along for likely passage. “‘No one has the right to turn this body into a rubber stamp,’ said Feingold, the leading opponent of the law in Congress. ‘The White House played hardball and the decision was made by some to capitulate.‘” Good God, our party is pathetic at times. Update: The Senate passes the Patriot Act, 89-10.
Bryan’s Song.
“Bryan inaugurated an era in which style and sentiment would trump substance, personal charisma would trump intellect or ideas, and pious moralizing would trump social consciousness. Politicians of the Gilded Age had remained aloof from the public, relying on printed broadsides, entrenched partisan loyalties and local organization. Bryan invented the glad-handing, ‘happy warrior’ style of the modern political campaign, crisscrossing the country tirelessly by rail and delivering countless speeches to crowds large and small. (It has often been observed that if radio or television had existed in Bryan’s day, he would have beaten the drab McKinley or pretty much anyone else.)” Salon‘s Andrew O’Hehir reviews Michael Kazin’s A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan, and argues that the legacy of the Great Commoner’s brand of populism is less sanguine than Kazin makes it out to be. Still, I’m looking forward to checking out Kazin’s book.
Earmarks to the Ground.
In round one of the Senate legislative response to Casino Jack, Trent Lott circulates a reform bill that would stifle earmarks and mandate the disclosure of meals paid for by lobbyists. Well, it’s a start…but for now, Dems seem wary of the bill, “which seemed to be less stringent on several points than legislation they have proposed.”