Reply #32: The pressure must be kept on the leadership.

[FlyingSquirrel]

They are the ones who took crucial things "off the table" - but why did they do that?

Because of their fear that if they did what the people were clamoring for in 2006, those same people would be satisfied, and not bother to come out in 2008 to vote for a Democratic president. That's what it really all boils down to - it's not that they feared any kind of backlash from Republican voters, really - they feared the short attention spans of Democratic voters.

"Give 'em what they want", they thought, "and in 2008 they won't be angry enough or hungry enough for change to come out and vote for the Democratic nominee."

And they're probably right. If we had shown them that we were committed to maintaining our focus and reliably coming out to vote for Democrats, that we would come out in numbers sufficient to overcome any attempt at vote-stealing, then they almost certainly would have gone ahead and impeached Bush and Cheney. But one single mid-term election does not a pattern make. We have to prove that this is a long-term sea change and a change in our core commitment to vote reliably and vote every time - the way Republicans do.

I am still furious that they did not stand up to Bush on the war and many other things, and impeach them both. But I do see their side of the issue and so we must take some responsibility ourselves for not giving them a reason to believe we would still be focused and energized in November 2008 without something to vote AGAINST.

Because in reality, the Presidency is what our party must have and so I cannot fault them for keeping their eyes on that prize in spite of the things they are sacrificing in the short term to reach that goal.

FISA, on the other hand... retroactive immunity must not be allowed to go through.