There is a lot I dont understand in this world....

[OwnedByFerrets]

two things right this moment are: Why is it when the Repugs are in "charge" they can get ever damn bill they want passed, passed. When the Democrats are in charge, 4 or 5 fucking repugs can grind the entire process to a halt. Secondly, if the roles were reversed and the democrats were voting "against" this loan, they (the repugs) would be screaming UN-AMERICAN to the top of their lungs. "Why oh why do the democrat leaders love foreign car companies and HATE American car companies?" "How UNPATRIOTIC they are, those democrat leaders." "Dont they love America?"

Now, we may get on our high horses and say that we dont play dirty tricks like they do and that we should never scream those words at a fellow american. BUT, it must be why they can get everything passed that they want and we democrats can get NOTHING passed.

And I still dont understand.

[whippo]

1. Maybe they don't want it to pass.

They have all the same tools that the other side has. Maybe lip service is all that's happening.

[Orsino]

14. They certainly don't want it badly enough.

Paradoxically, it may be Democrats' ability to look forward that is paralyzing them. Many seem to understand the crisis we're in, but are perhaps too afraid to take the wrong step.

[jwirr]

2. To begin with when the pugs were in charge of both houses they

had large enough majorities to get anything they wanted. We are actually only in charge of the House right now. They can filibuster anything they want and stop it in the Senate.

[OwnedByFerrets]

4. We could have filibustered also, but were afraid it might hurt feelings

if we did....your post doesnt make sense.

[jwirr]

11. Yes of course but the question asked why they got things passed

and we did not - I answered the question. You are absolutely correct in the assumption that they did not even point out the flaws of what was being done. We are not in disagreement just talking about different aspects.

[elleng]

3. You are right, Ferrets.

REAL Dem leaders would say the things you've suggested, in civil and understandable ways; 'our' unreal dem 'leaders' don't want to for their own reasons. (Check Greenwald with Rachel video.)

Just imagine how Mr/Senator/President Obama would present the current auto matter to The People, get everyone's attention and support! These 'other' dems can't/don't wanna/won't do it, and We the People will be snookered forever as long as they're considered 'leaders.'

[Jamastiene]

5. I have said for years that we are far far too lenient with the Repugs.

I always hear a spiel about ethics at that point and how we would be no better than them, blah, blah, blah. It annoys me to no end. It is so wrong that we let them get by with it!

We should start kicking their asses and keep kicking their asses until they learn some manners and learn how to compromise.

We wouldn't be in Iraq if we had put our foot down with them years ago. That's a fact. That "with us or against us" meme is a prime example of how we let them do whatever they want without ever making them learn how to compromise. They have no manners or morals because we never hold them accountable.

You see, there is a DIRECT CORRELATION between how they are and the fact that we do not punish them or make them compromise with us, EVER.

Just like spoiled children who are never punished or guided toward the right way, they continue to do what they have always done, because they know that they can and that they can get by with it with no consequences. The way they are, their methods of operation, is a learned habit that we let them continue to use.

Is it any wonder that they continue to act they way they do when we never hold them accountable or punish them?

No, they are doing what they know they can get by with because we NEVER draw the line and show them consequences if they cross that line.

Think about what we have let Bush get by with alone. Even the war criminals amongst them get by with it. They have no problem raping children, piling Iraqis up in a human pyramid, attaching electric probes to a man's testicles, posing with dead Iraqis with a grin on their faces, torture, and going to war without the international community, all the while being directed to do these things by a criminal administration.

Bush and his ilk have gotten by with it again and again. The Repugs get by with horrible things because we never punish them. We never use our power to actually stop the abuses.

Instead we gripe and complain about it and do nothing to stop it.

Nope, they can impeach our president and run over us rough shod and we'll do nothing to stop them. They can practice torture, abuse, war crimes, or anything they want to do. We won't do anything to them and they know it.

After all, "Impeachment is off the table!"

[OwnedByFerrets]

6. Its more than sad, its tragic.

[Jamastiene]

8. We don't even wait for them to mess us up.

We do it to ourselves. There is a such thing as being TOO moral. There would be nothing wrong in this world if we impeached the Bush administration or even fought for what we believed in for once.

It wouldn't be like we were torturing anyone. We all know Bush and his cronies would get a posh resort as opposed to a real prison. We all know they would come back when we weren't looking to undo anything we did in Congress as well.

We all know the consequences of always worrying about hurting the Repugs' precious feelings. Our elected "leaders" know what they are doing. It is just that what they are doing is not standing up for the principles we believe in. That is the problem. We continue to elect lukewarm "Don't rock the boat" Congress critters.

It's beyond even sad or tragic. It is masochistic. We abuse ourselves. Even a lab rat learns not to pull a certain lever again if that lever does nothing and to pull another lever that gets what they want. We don't seem to learn though. We keep electing Congress critters who do nothing and are terrified of standing up for what we believe in.

[defendandprotect]

7. Also worked that way with GOP minority ...

With Democratic Party control of Senate, George Mitchell handed Senate over to Bob Dole --!!

The poster who questioned actual level of Dem resistance was correct ---

"fear of ilibuster" just a cover for Dem inaction ---

And everything else Dems "fear" --not believable, at all --

[Warpy]

9. I would rather see Democrats do nothing

than the Republicans consistently do the wrong thing.

The obstructionism will continue into the new Congress.

When it hurts enough people, perhaps we'll get some of the dead wood on both sides of the aisle cleaned out.

People will continue to vote for these fuckers until they're smacked between the eyes by some sort of 2x4.

[stillcool]

10. they must have their reasons...

and because those reasons are never expressed, I assume it's all bullshit.

[Hidden Stillness]

12. Corporate Consultants Turned Democrats to a Republican Orientation, Where They are Lost

I think the whole problem began some years ago, when "D"LC, Inc. took over, the rank-and-file who live in the real world were no longer supported or listened to, and the entire Democratic Party at the official/National level, started getting completely influenced by consultants, pollsters (far beyond what was actually needed), and "framing," with the Republican Party as its guide and standard. Once that happened, they got completely derailed, had no way to judge anything other than "what Republicans do" or "how Republicans are going to attack this," etc., had no contact anymore with the real American opinion--even as it was getting angrier and angrier at Republicans and corporations--and were, for some bizarre reason, so "impressed" with how "brilliant" Republicans were, with "framing" and "staying on message," and all this crap, that eventually, they just got very afraid to oppose anything Republicans did, because they by then had themselves convinced that Republicans were "brilliant" and "popular," and "connected with the American people," where the "too-liberal Democrats" "did not."

They got themselves bamboozled, and confused, and duped, thinking only of the Republican standard, that therefore anything that was not like the Republican standard, was scary and "drifting away from home." The consultants and their lies about what "the American people" are like, made them believe they didn't understand anything anymore, but Republicans did. They even opposed the overwhelming anger of Americans on the Wall St. corporate welfare "bailout," because they were more aligned with their Republican leaders than they are to us. They now fear them completely, and it will take the rebellion of the middle class (as they give us ANOTHER Republican Depression) to re-educate them. Get the consultant/liars out of there--all they did was kill Democrats' own logic and understanding of things.

[OwnedByFerrets]

13. And the lobbyist.