Democrats won a great victory last week, but already, infighting with the party, and some in the liberal blogging community are threatening to take down the very fabric of what got Democrats elected in the first place. Here are some examples.
1, John Murtha vs. Steny Hoyer; Incoming speaker Nancy Pelosi has a tough choice here. She is great friends with Murtha, an outspoken critic of the war, but she has said that she wants to govern from the center, and that’s where Hoyer is. Hoyer supports the war. How are the liberals going to react if Hoyer gets the nod?? Not too well I believe.
2, Chuck Schumer; A diary on firedoglake.com has a not to flattering piece on Schumer, and 12 reasons not to trust him. You are not going to trust a man who, along with Rahm Emanuel, brought home the bacon when it counted?? I thought the bloggers would get down on their hands and knees and thank Schumer for what he did, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen
3, Joe Lieberman; A diarist on Dailykos.com simply believes that liberals should just ignore Lieberman. Like it or not, Lieberman is the lynchpin of the Senate. Being so close, (51-49), Lieberman will wield a lot of power. How are you going to ignore that? Democrats are going to have to play ball with Joe on some issues. If Lieberman votes with Republicans, and the rest of the Senate is split, guess who gets to break the tie?? Ignore Lieberman at your own risk.
4, A lot of moderate Democrats have come out in recent days saying Democrats have to work across party lines. Carol Shea-Porter, Michael Arcuri, Ellen Tauscher, Heath Shuler, and others have echoed that fact. The progressive community wants no part of this. They think even the slightest agreements with Bush constituts treason. How is Pelosi going to handle this??
5, Jane Harman; Harman wants her job back as head of the intelligence community. Pelosi hates her simply because she hasn’t criticized the Bush administration enough on Iraq. If Harman doesn’t get the job, who are they going to give it too? Alcee Hastings? Please!!! Hastings is damn lucky he still has a job. If Hastings gets the job, the Republicans can now claim corruption gets rewarded. I have more, but these will suffice.
The Democrats have won a major victory, but in less than a week, rifts are already beginning to develop. If this continues, the Democrats will be known as a party that simply can’t get along with each other. I said in an earlier post that Democrats have a great opportunity to lead, don’t blow it!!! Well, if this is any indication of what’s going to happen, the people who voted Democrats in, me included, might be sorry they did.
I do not know who you are, but if you are a democrate with moderate leanings you have a wierd way of showing it.
we are all entitled to our opinion; however, you have come across more than a moderate, IMHO. Why is it that you are so very good at putting ppl down instead of helping ppl up. Weird is all I say…
I’m not the one putting people down. go to firedoglake.com, and read the comments about Schumer. Go to a myriad of sites and read them tear Lieberman to shreds. These are your fellow Democrats talking, not me.
It’s time to stop even responding to ecm. I’m going to take my own advice from here on out.
Democrats have never gotten along. It is inherent in people who actually THINK not to go along with the crowd. That doesn’t mean that they can’t manage to cooperate with each other.
I think you very much underestimate Nacy Pelosi and her abilities to make decisions and bring others around to support her views. She’s a very smart and very tough lady.
Thanks for your opinions, although I would enjoy seeing things from a more positive viewpoint.
Cio
It’s not about me being positive or negative, but it’s about trying to convey the fact that this transistion isn’t going to be the piece of cake a lot of people think it’s going to be. But when certain bloggers on certain websites come up with 12 reasons not to trust someone, and that certain person was instrumental in getting the party the majority, it simply tells me that some Democrats don’t have confidence in their leaders.
Working with other people who have an actual thought process and their own ideas is never a “piece of cake.” Yet, most of us learn how to work through it.
I think Dem leaders have to give us something to be confident about before we will have that confidence in them. Most of them haven’t shown us very much over the past 6-12 years.
I think you will have to ask them about the screaming. It is too juvenile for me to be able to figure out.
I hope someday you will move on from your anger at some of those orange place commenters. And far more people than the orange king had something to do with getting people elected. I would not wish to make it more overly important than it is. People with feet on the ground did far more than any sitting behind computer screens. It all worked together for a very good effect, as it turns out.
Did you really believe that this transition would happen without any disagreement as to how things would work? And isn’t disagreement allowed anymore? If you want lockstep, then this is the wrong party for you. (Even Republicans can’t stay in lockstep anymore.) If there was no disagreement, then I would be worried.