we usually don’t take requests, but gadfly made such an impassioned argument over at watching those we chose about the senate dems caving into awol:
did reid not even think of trying to prevent cloture, or otherwise using senate procedural hurdles as roadblocks? and, as blogger corpus juris has said, where’s reid’s you tube moment on this?
senate and house democratic leadership had to know bush was going to pull out all the rhetorical stops on this, and that rove was likely to try to spin this for political gain. so why didn’t they have an advance counter-marketing plan? here’s some possible talking points:
“democrats want to totally protect americans, including protecting their privacy.”
“democrats have a better bill.” (and why they didn’t actually have one lined up a week ago, i don’t know)
“we know that americans don’t want to surrender their privacy and other rights.”
instead, democratic congressional leaders demonstrate that all too often, they are still being reactive rather than proactive. i think it’s about time for skippy to repost his “no money for democrats” post.
all right, all you blog lovers out there, sit back and take a trip down blog memory lane with this rockin’ golden oldie from the skippy vaults…this one goes out for gadfly:
action alert: no more $$ for dems
steven d, writing over at booman last week, expressed some sentiments that have been roiling in our minds as of late:
half my spam these days comes from democratic politicians requesting my credit card number, or my check, preferably in an amount larger than $100. true, it does get worse during an election year, but since 2008 is the “big one” with the presidency up for grabs, the calls for cash have started earlier and earlier…
no, we are the free money people. our emails receive automated replies, not personal ones. our phone calls get stuck in easily deleted voice mail caches, or if we’re lucky, half listened to by some young staffer who probably thinks what we have to say is a big fat waste of his or her time. and the reason is because we can’t contribute enough money in our pay to play political system to earn us any real access…
the single biggest reason democrats won control of the house and senate was their pledge to change the direction of the war in iraq. well, they didn’t change it, bush did with his “surge” plan which is now killing more american soldiers each month even as there is no let up (so far as we can tell from censored media reports) in the levels of death and destruction which the iraqi people are continuing to endure.
the democrats gleefully took our money. they gladly accepted our volunteer efforts. and they rejoiced in our votes which gave them control of both houses of congress for the first time in over a decade. then they slapped us in the face, told us to shut up, and tried to make lemonade out of the bags of stale urine they dumped on our heads after they voted to give bush every damn thing he wanted without a single relevant concession on his part.
okay, that’s fine. nobody said politics wasn’t a dirty game. but no one said we have to keep paying for being mistreated and abused by the party that putatively represents our interests, either. so here’s my recommendation to you:
stop sending dems your money!
i mean it. stop all contributions. and after you do, send them emails or call them on the phone and tell them you will no longer contribute to any democrat or democratic organization or political action committee, ad nauseam, until they stop funding the iraq war. that’s what i am going to do with respect to the democratic national committee, the only democratic organization i contribute to on a regular (i.e., monthly basis). i send them a monthly amount via my credit card every month. but no more.
look, i understand that democrats can’t get much of their agenda, if anything, passed so long as george bush can veto their legislation. they can’t pas universal health care, for example, or a bill to start limiting our use of fossil fuels by putting caps on carbon emissions. they don’t have the votes to override a veto by bush. so i won’t hold them accountable for not passing much needed progressive legislation.
but funding the iraq war doesn’t require passing legislation. all it requires is not passing a bill to fund the war in iraq. or keep sending the same bill back to bush which mandates a withdrawal of us troops and make him blink first. but they couldn’t do that, despite the fact that 70% of americans disapprove of both bush and his handling of the iraq war.
so let them drink tea and eat cake without my hard earned dollars paying for their privileges. and without yours, and yours, and yours … etc. because maybe then they’ll finally take us seriously and pay attention when we tell them to:
support the troops — bring them home. now!
period. end of discussion.
we totally agree. and we have already begun to implement this policy.
both mr. and mrs. skippy have donated extensively (at least, for middle class people) to various dem candidates and organizations in the past. they have donated enough to be on several lists of suckers that give money which other organizations use to call and solicit funds.
just yesterday skippy received a call from the “democratic finance committee.” once the caller identified whom he was representing, skippy told him in no uncertain terms, “you guys really screwed up on the iraq funding withdrawl vote. i’m not giving you guys another cent until you get that right.”
and he hung up.
we strongly urge everyone to do the same. not only stop giving money to dem pols, like so many enablers spotting the drunk on the corner a dollar for “food,” but also let the candidates and organizations know exactly why the teat of free currency has dried up.
who’s with us?
ps. if you’d like the nifty “no $$ for dems” logo for your own blog, email skippy and he’ll send you the code!
(tip of the kangaroo tail to blue girl, red state, for the heads up about gadfly’s request!)
