Five Signs 'Liberals' in Congress are faking it

[4dsc]

Sign #1 The filibuster –

Harry Reid and company used rhetorical flourishes about filibuster reform as a smokescreen to hide the shameful fact that they had no intention of fixing a rule that makes impossible to get any measures President Obama backs (and we voted for) passed. Senate Democrats have no desire to change the rules. As things stand, they can pretend to care and blame the filibustering Republicans for inaction. But don't take my word for it:

http://www.nationofchange.org/five-signs-liberals-congress-are-faking-it-1359299774

Good read.

[bvar22]

1. Is the Kabuki Theater getting a little transparent?

....Like a predictable, boring Soap Opera?
Year after year after year?

Aside from all that,
how are you enjoying the show?

http://www.salon.com/2010/02/23/democrats_34/

[Overseas]

4. Good questions. Great sad article/reminder.

[Junkdrawer]

9. Shhhh...taunt them enough and they'll hire better writers....

At least now their antics ARE transparent.

[awoke_in_2003]

14. And DC is a Potemkin village...

two more years of "we can't do anything because of the mean republicans". It is sickening.

[yurbud]

32. "Kabuki" is giving them too much credit. It's descended from pro wrestling

to a bad sketch comedy of a guy dancing with a blow up doll.

[bemildred]

2. Yes, they are doing quite well just the way things are.

"Fuck you Jack, I've got mine!"

[msongs]

3. ruling democrats = "moderate republicans" of yesteryear. liberals have little chance nt

[madrchsod]

5. obama is an old time liberal republican...

socially progressive and fiscally conservative.

[pasto76]

11. kind of like a democrat?

shocker

[Drunken Irishman]

26. Most Democrats have been fiscally conservative.

Even before 'liberal' was a bad word. Did you know FDR ran against Hoover blasting his deficit spending and promised to balance the budget?

[Overseas]

6. Sad K&R.

[MuseRider]

7. It is slow for some

people to be able to see this let alone admit it. Nobody in their right mind would want to know this. When it comes it is like a mighty sock in the stomach.

My lightbulb started blinking in 2000. It flashed off and on more brightly after the Patriot Act was endorsed then finally flipped on sometime after that.

When nothing you do works how long do you keep believing and trying?

[Phlem]

20. " let alone admit it "

There in lies the problem.

-p

[OnyxCollie]

8. K&R. nt

[pasto76]

10. I didnt know any of those people mentioned are self identified 'liberals'

sorry they dont act like a liberal.

and how can you scold Senator Reid for not reforming the filibuster so that President Obama can get shit passed...and then attack president obama of not being a liberal?

liberals may make up a good deal of DU members, but liberals are a minority part of the national Democratic population.

[truebluegreen]

28. Liberals.."a minority part of the national Democratic poplulation"?

I doubt if that is true, if you look at policies instead of self-identified labels. The word "liberal" has been very effectively demonized by the right for decades.

In fact, if you look at it that way, I think you will find that "liberals", whatever they call themselves, are the majority part of the national population.

[Demo_Chris]

12. Our strategy: Do what the GOP proposed five years ago. Declare victory!

[abelenkpe]

16. +1 nt

[dreamnightwind]

30. +2

[russspeakeasy]

13. Professional wrestling at it's worst.

[november3rd]

15. Look, It's Time To Join The Real Party

There's only one party that matters: the party of the human race.

If everybody else wasn't here, you wouldn't be here either.

Let's face it. It's time to join the human race.

If we wait around for "public officials" to change things, then we'll lose everything before any real change happens.

Did you see Kerry's nomination hearing on Friday? He said he would approve the Keystone XL pipeline as soon as possible.

There is no reason to believe that Democrats--liberal Democrats--have any more interest in serving the people than conservative Republicans do. They all work for the corporate chiefs, the feudal lords, the oligarchs.

The only thing to do is join the human race and rally our brothers and sisters to action for the common good.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

18. So, are you ready to adopt a new years revolution?

We are growing in numbers.

[railsback]

17. Fake liberalism seems to be running rampant these days

Even in the places you least expect it. Looks like the new norm.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

19. Apparently, the fact that Republicans have a majority in the House makes no difference...

It's terrible old Harry Reid who is "faking it". If he had just overridden the filibuster then, boy, Democrats could just pass any law they wanted.

I wonder what the color of the sky is in Thomas Magstadt's world.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Phlem]

21. Dude.

Harry Reid has been faking it FOREVER!

I was on the Reid bandwagon in 2000 and have been paying close attention to him after his 1st fail. It's been the same story ever since.

-p

[bobclark86]

22. As far as the filibuster goes...

Step 1: Enact filibuster reform.

Step 2: Pass something — anything, it doesn't matter what. Let it be a $0.01 hike on gas taxes or a Cabinet appointment. A pro-choice, anti-gun SCOTUS appointment would be icing on the cake for steps 3 and 4.

Step 3: Hyper-energize GOP base by bashing evil Dems for "stealing" power and "shitting on democracy."

Step 4: GOP wins Senate midterms amid record-low Democratic turnout (let's face it, about 6 million fewer votes were cast in 2012 compared to 2008. Millions weren't motivated to support the president, and even fewer will get off their asses for the midterms).

Step 5: Dems are up shit creek without a paddle when it comes to stopping a GOP-controlled Congress with potential veto override power. Oh, yeah, and they can't filibuster anymore.

Step 6: ??? (my guess is gutting of social programs and general clusterfuckiness)

Step 7: Profit (For who?)

They're going to wish they didn't touch it when the Senate goes back to the Republicans (As history has taught us, it's a question of when, not if).

[Lucky Luciano]

23. You are right....Except that when the Repubs get

...back into power they will enact the nuclear option without debate. So whether the democrats do it today or not, the repubs will have the filibuster rules changed when they are in power.

[cheapdate]

24. One of the most forceful declaration of liberal principles

by any president in my lifetime. That's how I would describe Barack Obama's inaugural address.

"For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity -- until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm." - Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama, Jan. 21, 2013

Principles backed by action -- from the passage of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Matthew Sheppard Hate Crimes Act, to repeal of the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, to the refusal of the administration to defend challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court, to ordering federal agencies to treat same sex spouses as equal to opposite sex spouses with regard to insurance and benefits, to ordering an end to deportation of undocumented immigrants brought to this country as minor children, etc., etc., etc.

The meaning of the term "liberal" can get so confused and so diluted in present usage that it can become almost meaningless.

But, at the very least, a liberal political perspective would hold that the government has no place in dictating morality, and fairness and equality are the first imperatives of government.

An individual senator's position on senate rules bears such a weak relationship, if any at all, to liberal principles that it's not useful to think about it those terms -- in my opinion.

Harry Reid and all of the other many, wonderful Democrats in congress have earned my respect for their achievements in advancing genuine liberal principles. The country is moving in the right direction on a number of matters that are important to me and other liberals.

Are there problems? Of course. For instance, we are extremely concerned over assaults on our Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.

But there has been real progress in other areas, and the credit for that progress owes to the hard work of a lot of people, including our Democratic representatives in Washington.

[blkmusclmachine]

25. Yeah, their old playbook is getting awfully worn.

[orpupilofnature57]

27. " Not on the table " should have been a clue !

Managers hiding behind " Bad Times " and still have the red pen.and Carte Blanch checking, on our dime .

[geek tragedy]

29. Enough of the whining. The filibuster compromise didn't prevent a single piece of

legislation from passing Congress. Republicans control the House and are very likely to control it after 2014, so whoop dee shit that bills that would just die in the House now die in the Senate.

It's disappointing insofar as there is still a filibuster for appointments, but the Senate at th end of the day is only as good as the 51st best vote.

[yurbud]

31. brutal but true.