Okay ... so ... who has plans for Nuclear Tuesday?

[Stinky The Clown]

We've done all we can do. A (painfully) few in the Senate have done some work. But it would appear that that cabal is going to get their wish come Tuesday when Senator Fristian drops the N-bomb. If somehow it doesn't happen and the filibuster is preserved, that's still not our victory. It is Frist's loss. It can only happen if some repubs find their balls and do the right thing.

It appears the cabal will be spending the weekend doing whatever the fuck it is they do to get their recalcitrant troops to toe the line. Backmail? Physical threats? Who knows. But one thing is clear, the pressure will be on the fence sitters like it has never been on them.

So what's up for us come Nuclear Tuesday?

I will be out of town on business .... returning Tuesday night. I will assume at least the planes will still be flying.

But ya know what I'd love to see on the way home?

I'd love to see **every*fucking*Democrat*in*Washington** at the airport on their way back to their home district and home state.

Not for a day or two ..... but a long time. Until the 06 elections. Yup. That long. Leave the jackbooted thugs to do their jacking and their booting.

Why not?

We have NO fucking power. So I'd like them to put their time - time that would otherwise be wasted - to a better use.

I'd love to see every Democrat scheduling ongoing small scale, touchy-feely meetings with the citizens they represent.

I'd love to see every Democrat on the local teevee news, right there in the local studio, yakking it up with the hair spray and capped teeth set. Telling it like it is.

Weekly.

At least.

I'd love to see every Democrat talking in churches and at Little League games and at soccer practices and swim meets, and anyplace people gather. Talking one on one with their citizens.

I'd like to see every Democrat tell people, in personal conversations, exactly why they had to leave Washington.

I'd like to see every Democrat talk about how there is no respect, no chance, no power, no nothing for anyone who is in the minority. I'd like them to tell this to people who depend on the government for a hand up. But even more, I'd like them to tell this to the people who voted for this shit. I'd like to tell them that it doesn't have to be this way.

I'd like them to talk about the Downing Street memo. About the lack of a complete investigation into vote manipulation. I'd like them to talk about **real** issues. About the unanswered 9/11 questions. Bush's undone physical. Cheney's energy meetings. Not what bullshit's been on teevee since before the 2000 elections. Not about gay marriage, not about steroids in sports, not about faith based initiatives. I'd like them to talk about democracy. I'd like them to talk about secrecy in government. I'd like them to talk about the media.

I'd like them to talk about exclusion. I'd like them to talk about division. I'd like them to talk about the completely toxic air in Washington. I'd like them to talk about the most corrupt government our nation has ever endured. I'd like them to refer back to Hitler.

I'd like them to talk about ........ dictatorship.

That's what I'd like to see on Nuclear Tuesday.

Unfortunately for me, my plans don't seem to called for by anyone else.

[goodboy]

1. I'd love to see every Dem walk the fuck out of the senate. that'd

really raise some eyebrows no?

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Unless they keep walking right back home .........

..... its a stunt. A photo op. Meaningless.

[Tux]

7. No

Dems need to stay and fight this thing. We can't let them walk out, do nothing, and let neocon men take away what freedoms we have so they can create a theocratic empire. By walking out, Dems will appear weak and will be blamed for not standing up when needed once the shit hits the fan. Time is now to preserve democracy from evangelicals and try to convince people that democracy is more important than losing our freedoms over a group that haven't attacked us since 9-11. Bin Ladin is getting exactly what he wants: fundies here will bring us down to 3rd world level and have the same problems as Muslim nations.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I understand your concern

but how, exactly, would we be ebtter off if we stayed and ...... 'fought'? What do we have to fight with? Votes? Our voice in the media?

No, I'd rather the revolutionary walkout and make it stick. No photo-op grandstanding.

THEN we can fight. We can fight in the home districts. Fight with our elected Dems standing with us .... on the outside .......

Which is exactly where they would be were they to stay and allow this fucking disgusting SHAM of a government continue to play with its smoke and mirrors.

By staying in DC and 'fighting' ..... we are nothing more than co conspiritors to the movement of the republican dictatorship.

[Tux]

18. New motto: Remember Byrd!

Sen. Byrd beat back Frist with the Consitution and the Bible. If these evangelicals are so holy, let them fight against their own book held by liberal evangelicals. Make the neocon men mad, let them complain, they'll say something they'll regret or make their anti-American views known to all. I'd call them out on Rev. Moon and see if they can confirm it by pushing their buttons. We have a chance to make them say what they truely want. We have to fight for democracy else we'll lose it.

who wants this?

[Stinky The Clown]

20. Going back home and speaking long, loud, unambiguously, and

with passion and conviction **to the people** IS fighting.

To stay in Washington and 'talk' is bullshit. We can talk till we're beyond blue in the face and we would still have NO FUCKING POWER.

Call them out on Moon? Great! Go for it! I agree! Call them on Moon and LeHaye, and the rest of those fucking christofacisits. Say the words:

Fascist

Theocratists

Dictatorship

Totalitarianism

Say It Loud.

But say it to the people. Not to the 'other side of the aisle' ...... as if there were some shred left of decorum and decency and respect.

THERE IS NONE.

[Tigress DEM]

43. If they vote, "NO" down the line.... and there are republicans who

might crumble... we've seen conscience or political fear coming out of the right side. They are breaking apart at the seams and we are getting stronger.

One of the top Regan Republicans, Paul Craig Roberts is calling for Bush's impeachment.

The DU got an honorable mention from Galloway.

WE need to keep assaulting the lies in our hometown papers and speak the truth in every church or playground.

There are so many more of us than them and only the elected officials can get it set into the permenant record that this illegal event is taking place. One more nail in Bush-Co's coffin.

AND more importantly, it gives us goods on Cheney. This is HIS Waterloo because all the violations** are going to have to rest on his head. Anyone want Bush replaced with the Veep?


**
Congressional Record, May 18, 2005, Page S5410
Ted Kennedy

Here are some of the rules and precedents the executive will have to ask its allies in the Senate to break or ignore in order to turn the Senate into a rubberstamp for the nominations:

First, they will have to see that the Vice President himself is presiding over the Senate so that no real Senator needs to endure the embarrassment of publicly violating Senate rules and precedent and overriding the Senate Parliamentarian the way our Presiding Officer will have to do.

Next, they will have to break paragraph 1 of rule V, which requires 1 day's specific written notice if a Senator intends to try to suspend or change any rule.

Then they will have to break paragraph 2 of rule V, which provides that the Senate rules remain in force from Congress to Congress, unless they are changed in accordance with the existing rules.

Then they will have to break paragraph 2 of rule XXII, which requires a motion, signed by 16 Senators, a 2-day wait, and a three-fifths vote to close debate on the nomination itself.

They will also have to break rule XXII's requirement of a petition, a wait, and a two-thirds vote to stop debate on a rules change.

Then, since they pretend to be proceeding on a constitutional basis, they will have to break the invariable rule of practice that constitutional issues must not be decided by the Presiding Officer, but must be referred by the Presiding Officer to the entire Senate for full debate and decision.

Throughout the process, they will have to ignore or intentionally give incorrect answers to proper parliamentary inquiries which, if answered in good faith and in accordance with the expert advice of the Parliamentarian, would make clear that they are breaking the rules.

Eventually, when their repeated rule-breaking is called into question, they will blatantly, and in dire violation of the norms and mutuality of the Senate, try to ignore the minority leader and other Senators who are seeking recognition to make lawful motions or pose legitimate inquiries or make proper objections.

By this time, all pretense of comity, all sense of mutual respect and fairness, all of the normal courtesies that allow the Senate to proceed expeditiously on any business at all will have been destroyed by the preemptive Republican nuclear strike on the floor.

To accomplish their goal by using a bare majority vote to escape the rule requiring 60 votes to cut off debate, those participating in this charade will, even before the vote, already have terminated the normal functioning of the Senate. They will have broken the Senate compact of comity and will have launched a preemptive nuclear war. The battle begins when the perpetrators openly, intentionally, and repeatedly break clear rules and precedents of the Senate, refuse to follow the advice of the Parliamentarian, and commit the unpardonable sin of refusing to recognize the minority leader.

[LittleClarkie]

3. Could they pull a "Killer D" maneuver

Like the Democrats in Texas who bugged out so that they wouldn't have quarum? But then we've seen what they do when they don't have quarum. They vote anyway, ala Schiavo.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. So let 'em vote ......

..... who the fuck cares? They wanna do their dictator shit? Let 'em. Why not? Our votes, even if unanimous, are meaningless.

We're neutered ...... in Washington.

No .... I'm suggesting a no shit revolution. Tea in Boston Harbor type revolution.

A 'what if they gave a government and nobody came' kinda revoltuion.

These are drastic times. Drastic measures are called for.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Call For A Convention

I like your idea of having EVERY Democrat inside the beltway head home and meet with the folks in their districts...and for Democrats everywhere to get out and show solidarity for the party in this battle.

That said, next I'd like to have a show of our own strength...let 'em know we're very much here. I suggest holding a convention in a city...the Bluer the better...and invite ALL Democrats and our friends to rally. We can use this week to speak against a whole array of issues...and the corporate media can't avoid us or downplay coverage.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. "We can use this week"

I'm talking months ...... until the 06 elections.

Nothing 'symbolic'.

I'm talking Realityville.

[understandinglife]

8. My recommendation:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3688434#3690417

Business-as-usual; slow and steady; within the system; .... NOPE.

See it for what it is everyone. We must now begin the process of recovering and rebuilding what once was "America."

So, let's stop pretending that a little deal here, a little compromise there, is going to ever return us to the Constitutional democratic entity that "America" was prior to December 9th 2000.

Ain't going to happen.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Be it MNA Day 3 or 8 or 15 or .... the day will come when 10s of millions of Americans and others stop their typical activities for 24 hours and urge 10 times that many to join should another MNA Day be required. On that glorious day what we once called "America" will emerge.

[Stinky The Clown]

13. Save a detail or two ........

we agree.

:thumbsup:

[understandinglife]

16. In_deed!

:yourock:

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[Cash]

9. Won't work.

It's not what their corporate masters pay them to do.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. If that's the case, then metaphorically speaking ......

..... off with their heads.

[Fire Walk With Me]

10. Just a sign of the times, that from your post title I didn't know if you

meant the fillibuster, or Iran, or Syria, or Afghanistan, or... :-(

[Stinky The Clown]

15. Yes, it certainly is one hell of a mess

But since Fristian called for the vote next Tuesday, I chose to dub it "Nuclear Tuesday'.

[Turn CO Blue]

11. Agree with most of your post, but left out one detail

Before they fly back home to their districts, I would personally like to see all the Dems (Senate and House) call a press conference, and gather on the steps together, and then have one of the better speakers read a list of their "demands".

They would then make an impassioned call for all citizens to flood the media outlets, the Chimperor and the Repubs with calls and letters, and to come march on Washington on a specified date! You bet your ass that I would find a way to attend, too!

So I'm wondering how they could get TV coverage for their press conference? Too bad it's wouldn't be enough that de"mock"cracy just died, they would still need some kind of publicity stunt. Perhaps they could enlist some major movie stars to appear naked or have Rob Knievel jump the Senate parking lot or something? It's all so farcical anyway...

[Stinky The Clown]

17. A mass Dem 'stand-up' on the steps would get the media there

and it would be covered.

And more importantly, once they say, loud and clear, "we're outta here" .... the media will conver it like they've never covered anything before.

It will truly be historic.

Right there with Vesuvius in 79 AD ..... with Martin Luther tackin' his yakkin' points on the church door ..... with the Magna Carta ..... with the Tea in the Harbor ..... with the shot in Charleston Harbor.

Say it and they will come.

[Turn CO Blue]

30. Well, they'd better hold a press conference at the least!

Come on Dems, show a little Solidarity and backbone!

Oh. my. God. If Frist goes nuclear, the Dems will have nothing to lose and no amount of their weak pronouncements about carrying on or "statemanship" and "duty" will ever matter. They'd have to shut it down!

If they stood together on the steps with

half the courage

of the average DU poster

and even a fifth

of the talking points that we could all ramble off

off the tops of our heads

and they said them in front of a TV camera

and it all actually aired on primetime news

-- they could shake the damned country to the foundations!


Time to wake, sleepyheads! The cabal has been stealing your democracy while you've been watching sitcoms.

[blondeatlast]

49. How very true. In terms of policy and strategy, the

party misses the boat entirely every time they ignore DU.

It's a pity.

[Stinky The Clown]

50. Let's hope they're reading us this weekend!

[blondeatlast]

48. I'd love to see this. I have no Dem Senators or Reps,

but maybe an e-mail/phone campaign could be organized.

Better yet, could it already be in the planning?

[Sparkly]

19. Stinky's makin' sense

(for a change...) :P

A true "Constitutional Crisis" brought on by Repugs breaking rules for a complete power grab.

What do Democrats have to lose in this?? What's to gain in staying in DC, powerless?

Conversely, can Democrats gain something in walking out? Do they have any choice but to lose more by staying in DC?

BUT, they'd all have to do it, and imo they'd all have to speak to the grassroots in the strongest terms. The things Howard Dean says that make the media call him a "loose cannon?" Make them wish for that. Use the terms they fear and feign fainting spells over: fascism, dictatorship, illegal war, imperialism, racism, theocracy -- ALL of it. Bring up Chimpy's lies, his transmitters, his mysterious injuries, his inability to speak off-script; bring up his inability to issue directions on 9/11 or 5/11 of this year; bring up Cheney, Halliburton, Harken, Bechtel, Carlyle; bring up the Saudis, the pipelines, the "missing" money, the "privatization" of wars; bring up the corporate-run media, the corporate welfare, the BushCo propaganda machine; bring up everything the international media has already told the rest of the world. No holds barred!!

What's to lose?!

[Pushed To The Left]

21. I have school on Tuesday nights.

It will be the first night of a new class. I will either be very angry and distracted like I was on Black Tuesday, or I will be very happy and celebratory. However, even if the nuclear option wins, I might still be celebrating if "Give'em Hell" Harry Reid shuts the Senate down!!! These fascists need to have their asses kicked, one way or another.

[Stinky The Clown]

22. Reid kinda hasta shut it down .... cuz he said he would ....... and if he

wimps ..... he's toast. Pure and simple.

BUt I want more than a symbolic shut down. I want padlocks on the doors and the key thrown away.

[deadparrot]

31. He said he would?

Damn, I'm behind on this whole thing.

If it happens, I'll be proud to be a Democrat again. I'll probably cry tears of joy.

[Sparkly]

32. I think he said they'd only work with the GOP on national security

but on everything else, the Democrats wouldn't cooperate.

If they don't vote on national security and military issues, it'd be used against them in campaigns (and so much of the electorate won't even know what's happening, or that the votes were inconsequential). So I suppose Republicans could keep jerking them back to DC that way, or plot "surprises" to ensure Democrats weren't there for votes that would make them look bad later.

But I'd still prefer that Democrats risk it, leave, get to their grass roots, shout from the rooftops, and make it clear that Republicans have broken rules to seize a one-party fascist dictatorship -- en masse, with one voice.

[deadparrot]

33. Yep. Sticking together it key.

Of course, I don't want this vote to succeed, but if it does, a unified Democratic Party would be the next best thing to emerge from it.

[Stinky The Clown]

34. Big Bad Benny Franklin, back in the day:

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."


And funnily enough, he, too, was speaking of the King George of *his* day.

See what it got him? The biggest bill in common circulation.
http://usrarecurrency.com/WebPgFl/AE77665544B/Final1996$100SnAE77665544B.jpg

[pgh_dem]

53. "one voice" gave me an idea for a variation

What if all the Democrats but one left?

Leave Reid there, let him vote and allow quorum whatever just for the national security matters, but let everyone else go home?

[Internut]

36. Well... not exactly

http://abcnews.go.com/International/CSM/story?id=766217

"We will not shut down the Senate. We will be working harder, longer hours," said Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York in a briefing with reporters last week.

A key procedural tool for any minority, unaffected by a rule change on filibusters, is to refuse requests for unanimous consent on issues ranging from dispensing with the reading of bills before they are voted on to demanding individual roll-call votes on the dozens of low-level positions now cleared in seconds on a typical day.

"You can clog the arteries of the Senate very easily and keep it below the threshold of where American people pay any attention to it," says Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "At the same time, you can use the nature of the Senate to bring up your own bills and force Republicans to vote against the minimum wage, protecting Social Security, etc."

In anticipation of such a move, some Senate committees are already rescheduling their work to avoid the need for unanimous consent agreements. "In anticipation of the possibility of a meltdown, we've set a markup schedule, which allows us to do our work without seeking unanimous consent agreements," says Bill Wicker, Democratic spokesman for the Energy and Commerce Committee.

[Stinky The Clown]

47. While this may work from a technical perspective

It won't fly as a way to make strong, clear, unambiguous statement to the citizens.

It simply opens us up to be labeled as 'obstructionists' by the RW and their cohorts, the media. It is simply too eggheaded, too arcane, to convoluted for the sheeple to 'get it'.

This would be a classic case of winning the battle but losing the war.

[Sparkly]

23. Let's hope Harry takes the gloves off!!!

C'mon Harry, don't let them do this and then have "business as usual!!"

[Laurab]

24. Ok, I'll call for it, too

or something among those lines, anyway. Why participate in a sham of a democracy when we're finally completely under one party rule? Your idea is a good one, and it is going to take something that drastic or worse to save this country if the repukes actually do this. There would no longer be a need for a dem presence in Washington, and I'm sure they could all find better ways to spend their time. Educating the people they represent - or TRIED to represent, is a good way.

King * will be annointed completely - let the blame be on the right people as the country continues it's path of destruction.

[Stinky The Clown]

25. Eggggg-zaktly!

:thumbsup:

[ProudDad]

26. I'd rather see them leave a few behind to halt business

Boxer and a few, very few others could withhold "consent" and bring the place to a screaching halt while the rest do what you suggest.

In this way, the pukes wouldn't be able to ram through a whole raft of taliban judges, horrible laws and at LEAST two new, young, far-right/taliban Supreme Court justices to replace Renquist and O'Conner.

If this happened, we would HAVE to have a revolution to undo the damage...

[Stinky The Clown]

27. I can along with one or three staying to stem the assault

And them give them Medals of Freedom.

And thanks for giving this some thought. I was dead-assed serious about it. This wasn't rhetoric. It was a plan.

[cry baby]

28. my nose will be stuck to the tv on cspan and hoping for the best.

[mvd]

54. Will be watching C-SPAN, and reading DU a lot

I'll e-mail Specter with my displeasure if he votes the wrong way. I'm not sure what else I can do, as an individual - any ideas?

[Horse with no Name]

29. I totally agree

Great idea.
If we can't be effective, there isn't any reason to be there.
Go home and fire up the people. After all, it is ONLY with the power of the people that they have jobs.

[Clarkie1]

35. AGREED!

America will only respect Democrats if they stop acting like doormats and show some starch, unity, and plain old righteous indignation and anger at this attack on our most fundamental democratic principles of dissent and minority rights.

[Stinky The Clown]

37. I saw somewhere that The General will be on the Leslie Blitzer Yak Hour

on Sunday.

I hope he speaks to this instead of being used by Leslie as just another retired general with a view on 'war'. I'd give my left little toenail to see him walk over Leslie's "yes .... but' and launch into a dissertation on this 'nuclear' war threat.

[pisle]

38. A pipe dream, but anything's possible at this juncture ...

The fact is that no legislation that the Democratic Senate is charged with representing (legislatively) at the moment holds as much importance as illuminating in clear language what is going on to the people that they represent regarding this reversion to one-party rule by breaking the rules (ala the kingdom we gained our independence from) ... therefore, I would SO welcome a "retreat" to the source of their power to speak the truth to actual citizens who frankly still don't even know what the Nuclear Option is. There's only one way to inform them - and that's at the local level.

[brettdale]

39. Wasn't thier suppose to be a walkout

I think I read somewhere that if Frist drops the N bomb, there will be a walkout by the democrats.

[Stinky The Clown]

40. Not exactly

Reid said they'd slow the senate to a crawl by invoking rules like having to read each bill aloud ... which could take weeks for just one big bill.

Specifically, they would simply not agree to any 'unanimous consent' calls. Effectively, this requires a full reading of all sorts of arcane shit nobody gives a flying fuck about.

There's also some plans to game the rules so their bills come to the floor to see if they're deemed 'worthy' of being debated. The net effect is to force the repubs to have to vote against hearing legislation about such issues as minimum wage, universal health care, etc., all of which will play very well indeed on the 06 campaign trail.

These are both good strategies ....... if anyone were paying attention.

The fact is, no one but us wonks are really paying any attention at all.

Hence, my honest and sincere call for a walk-out of biblical proportion.

But from our elected 'leaders' ......... no talk of a walk-out.

Yet.

[pisle]

41. Hear, Hear ... here, here ...

I think it's obvious that they can't shut down the Senate like Gingrich did in '95 ... they can either do as you illuminate:

"Force the repubs to have to vote against hearing legislation about such issues as minimum wage, universal health care, etc., all of which will play very well indeed on the 06 campaign trail."

or:

Fully retreat back to their local bases.

I, personally, would welcome either. Whatever reaction Dems have to the N-bomb, it should, in the end, be of substance in the eyes of the most uninformed of the people they represent, whatever it may be. Any way to show common folk how volitile this repub power-grab actually is is VERY important.

[oxbow]

42. i will be in dc on tuesday

i don't know what will happen, but I want to be there

and welcome to DU pisle!

[Stinky The Clown]

44. That's very perceptive

The Dems have GOT to make a HUGE, CLEAR statement.

In my mind, playing the games in the senate won't do it. It is easy for the repubs and their accomplices in the media to paint us any way they wish.

A walkout ..... semi permanent .......... back to the home districts and speaking out will be much more effective and much harder to paint us as the bad guys.

[drm604]

52. "The Dems have GOT to make a HUGE, CLEAR statement."

For starters, how about gathering to sing "God Bless America" on the Capitol steps (maybe some other song would be more appropriate). Then making a potent speech about how the American people won't stand for it any longer. Lay it all out, the attack on Social Security, Terry Schiavo, the British "memos", increasing mercury emissions, the missing money in Iraq, torture, attacking the press, Enron, Haliburton, everything, all of the lies, all of the misdirections, all of the hypocrisies. Lay it all out. The press will cover it.

[jzodda]

45. Nuclear Tuesday is not that important imo

Since they seemingly have the votes at this point to change the rules...Its what happens next that counts in the coming weeks. Will the Dems have the balls to slow down Senate business or will they cave in like pussies?

[Stinky The Clown]

46. You're right that the day itself is not that important

and that what the Dems do afterwards is what counts.

Do you really think having the Dems do some procedural stuff is going to matter?

Let's face some facts here.

FACT: We have no legislative power to accomplish a damn thing.

FACT: We *might* have the power to make some procedural trouble and slow things down ..... maybe.

FACT: They have the media on their side and they *will* be able to paint us as obstructionists who want to 'halt the prayzident's agenda. The media will aid and abet.

FACT: We have no reliable outlet to get our side of the story heard by the citizens.

FACT: They **will** do whatever they want to us. Bet on it.

BIG FACT: Our only chance to be heard, to make a strong statement, to be seen as strong, is to *walk*out*of*Washington* and stay gone until the campaign season for 06 starts. To do anything less is not only ineffective, its cowardly.

[saltpoint]

51. You rightly ask that Democrats demand justice and that they --

-- protest and object if it isn't there.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

I'm somewhat hopeful that enough Republicans will say 'no' to Frist. It's not in their best interests, and it certainly isn't in ours.

Nice post indeed.