DU think strategically about John Conyers, will ya?

[grasswire]

Stop dissing John Conyers!

He's playing a strategic game.

And he's a master at it. He and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus can work this better than anyone else.

So STOP IT! Sit back and watch.

[Jack_Dawson]

1. I'm trying...

Help.

[BayStateBoy]

23. I Know What He's Trying to Do, But He Doesn't Have to Act Retarded

[high density]

2. I agree

If he came out full force tonight and said "WE DEMAND A FULL RECOUNT OR NEW ELECTION" he would turn off 99% of the population. We haven't even presented our complete case yet since the information is still trickling in.

[txindy]

25. They would say, "Oh, no, not again! Just like in 2000."

And then they'd promptly tune us out. We have to work this slowly and carefully.

[mzmolly]

3. Some people are not aware that politics is an art.

We have to tread carefully here. If you go in gunz a blazin saying

"THE ELECTION WAS STOLEN!" YOU DON'T GET AIR TIME, YOU DON'T GET TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Grow up people. ;)

[intheflow]

4. I love John Conyers.

He's been fighting for Arabs/Arab-Americans rights in connection with that mass sweep and incarceration of people after 9-11. And wasn't he in Farenheit 911? Conyers is a friend of the people.

[In Truth We Trust]

14. he was in f911 however it was the segment where MM was asking

if he ACTUALLY READ the patriot act law before voting on it and he replied something to the effect that "do you realize how much time it would take if congressmen read all the proposals"

Frankly it was a lame response. Please do not misconstrue my reply to mean I am not grateful for his letter to the GAO-I am.

I just would like some more signatories to that letter. 6 dems signing on ...wtf. where are our "REPRESENTATIVES"

[intheflow]

22. I think Conyers was playing along with Moore

demonstrating the absurdities of the system. Representatives are expected to read crazy amounts of bullshit bills, plus are under pressure from constituents ad colleagues--that's why it's called politics and not socialist ministry.

Holding against Conyers the fact that he didn't read the PATRIOT-ACT would be akin to holding Kerry liable for voting to authorize force in Iraq.

Conyers has supported women's domestic abuse protection bills and worked to get the people initially rounded up after 9-11 released or at least legal representation. He also warned about fraud before the election. Here's a Yahoo piece from Oct. 14:

(snip)
Another top Democrat, Representative John Conyers (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan, said the lack of preparedness by Justice Department officials could result in a full-blown post-election crisis.

"In what appears to be another razor-thin election, the Justice Department appears woefully unprepared, and once again has left us vulnerable to another crisis in democracy," he said

"The fundamentals of election protection are clearly not being met," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041014/pl_afp/us_vote_politics_fraud_041014213734

[Lugnut]

5. Exactly

Rep. Conyers has been around long enough to know how to proceed. From what I've seen of him he's one of the most honest members of Congress.

[Sperk]

6. I think the played it perfectly...although I would have pointed out

that it's been the Dems fighting all along for a paper trail...way before the election. Which of course if Bush won with a paper trail, it would have saved him from all this suspicion...very American.

[Solomon]

7. John Conyers is a great man.

[Lostnote03]

8. MY thoughts as well Grasswire

.........Conyers was hung out to dry in 2000 regarding the NAACP lawsuit in FL.....Look for more signatures to the GAO petition within a few days....Those signatures will provide more localized research from the accompanying states.....Everyone needs to jump down their Congress critters throats to join this petition....Maybe the GAO will NOT back down as they did with the Energy meetings....

[emulatorloo]

9. He played it perfectly - a true stateman. . .EOM

[Carolab]

10. Yes, try THANKING HIM

and giving him your support instead

[LisaL]

11. Why are democrats so weak and meek?

If fraud was allegedly done by the democrats, republicans would be screaming from the rooftops.
Yet, democrats apparently don't even think that if there was fraud in this election, something could be done about THIS ELECTION!

[Jack_Dawson]

12. That's my problem too

Can you imagine Hannity, et al being in our shoes? But yet here's Conyers "It's all good...I have no evidence to suggest it would've affected the election," etc.

:argh:

[LisaL]

15. Yep, I very well can.

Hannity would be screaming so loudly, we would never hear the end of it.
And our democratic leaders either run away, or sweetly questioning as to why there appear to be some irregularities-could we possibly correct those.
:eyes:
It's no surprise really republicans get to walk all over us.
WTF is wrong with us?
Our leaders need to grow a spine!

[NewJeffCT]

16. The problem is

The Republicans have a stage for all their noise - a massive RW propaganda machine that has been developing for 30 years: 98% of talk radio, major newspapers, Fox News, CNN, etc.

What do we have in the mainstream media? Bill Moyers? Jon Stewart? Keith Olbermann? Air America? While I love them all, they don't exactly have the same reach.

If we get up & scream, a million hear it. If Republicans get up & scream, 50 million hear it.

[LisaL]

17. Well, the problem is, we never get up and scream.

Nobody hears us because we don't scream at all.

[NewJeffCT]

18. actually

i've heard Randi Rhodes on this - sometimes, we are out there screaming, but nobody is listening. While I'm not Randi's #1 fan or anything, she is right on this one. Newt & the gang made their mark on C-Span late at night way back when. They got mainstream coverage eventually for their screaming. Now, we just have not gotten that mainstream coverage.

[RevCheesehead]

19. sometimes a whisper is more effective

[LisaL]

20. Yea, sure. We should just keep telling ourselves that.

Is that why we lost the presidency, the congress and the senate?
Because we just like to whisper?
It's not like we didn't know about potential for voter fraud before this election.
Well, we should just keep on whispering...
:eyes:

[milkyway]

13. I was thinking this also. If Conyers starts screaming to overturn the

election right away, he'll meet strong resistance. By investigating apparently only to improve future elections, it will be easier to accumulate evidence. Then when he has overwhelming evidence that the election was deliberately fixed, he can then push to have it overturned.

He is trying to not let the charges get ahead of the evidence.

[grumpy old fart]

21. I think the plan is to cripple the Rethugs

I can't imagine that there will be enough solid evidence soon enough to overturn the election, however, if the fraud story is carefully developed and becomes rock solid within a reasonable amount of time, we will have a discredited, lord willing indicted, republican hierarchy and a wonderful case for impeachment.

[hlthe2b]

24. I agree.... I could tell he was measuring his words very carefully