Andy Rooney rant good--Big name Dem rant would be better.

[European Socialist]

And call Bush and the GOP the sleaziest bunch in a hundred years.

[LittleClarkie]

1. I'm not sure we'd notice

Folks assume they don't speak, so when they do, a few notice, but the rest continue to say "where are they"?

Someone asked earlier who of the Dems had met with Cindy, with an accusatory tone as they only knew of a few. But if you go to Cindy's site, quite a few have, with others pending. However, sometimes I think perception rules over fact.

I wish folks would try to look for the positive, and work for more.

[blossomstar]

2. Good point, thank you. Will try to be more "positive" thinking!

[niallmac]

4. Why do we assume they don't speak?

Sincerely, why? I really don't think the dems lay it out as succinctly as the Andy Rooney piece does. Not only does the rant need to be said clearly and pointedly but just as our republican friends know so well it needs to be stated repeatedly and loudly. There can be no poll watching when it comes to a basic dem belief if we are going to have such things.
Pointing out Mr. Rooneys piece as enviable and something to model a democratic
message after is a 'good thing' as Martha would say.

[LittleClarkie]

6. I'm not sure what you're asking

You start out sounding like you don't agree, then that you do agree, that Dems don't speak out.

Are you saying that the OP isn't making the point that Dems don't speak, only that they could use Rooney as a model for the message they should be coming out with?

[niallmac]

7. Not one of my better communications

If people are asking why our dem leaders do not speak out then perhaps
it is because they do not do so forcefully and effectively. If people are under the impression our democratic party message is weak then that is evidence to me that we do not do a very good job of communicating.

Embarrassingly, I couldn't communicate that.

I have a clearer memory of British MP George Galloways statements against the war than I do any of my own reps. I ask why. It may I want my representatives to be more liberal than they really are. Maybe I am not listening to the right people. I am listening especially to
Wes Clark these days.

[LittleClarkie]

8. Thanks. Actually, mine's Russ Feingold so I'm kinda lucky

at least he made the news with his timetable, even if his Roberts vote ticked off a few people.

Sometimes someone here will report a killer speech by Edwards or someone that never makes the news. But then I do agree with some who see a war between the Conservative Dems and the more Liberal ones. We are not unified.

That's one of the reasons we had trouble in the last election in some regions as well, though that's just a feeling. Some Dem leaders seemed less than enthused about campaigning. I remember complaints that Dems on the talk circuit didn't know their stuff at all.

I wonder where we are as a whole as a party: more liberal or more conservative. Someone should poll us.

[niallmac]

10. I haunt DU a lot since joining so

my impression is that there is a big split between the lefty and middle roader dems.
I am a Polyanna at heart and believe when this party rounds the final turn we pull together.
I am a lefty for sure but I don't have a death wish.

I confess I know nothing about Russ Feingold. I am not sure why. Just Googled him and see that he was the only Senator to vote against the Patriot Act. That caught my attention.
I will do my homework to find out more about this guy and why I am so in the weeds
about him.

[BlueJazz]

3. Andy Rooney has probably had enough of the GOP to start...

..saying what's on his mind.
I'm surprised that more "News Veterans" don't think this>>>>>

"Shoot, I've been doing this for 45 years...I'm about to retire....and
I've got plenty of money. Tonight I'm gonna' tell the Republicans just what I think of their sorry Asses...at least I'll go out with a bang"

Damn..I'd love to see that!!

[European Socialist]

5. Exactly, I'm surprised it took so long, too.

[faithfulcitizen]

9. anyone have a link?

:)

[serryjw]

11. Here you go..

quote......
I'm not really clear how much a billion dollars is but the United States — our United States — is spending $5.6 billion a month fighting this war in Iraq that we never should have gotten into.

We still have 139,000 soldiers in Iraq today.

Almost 2,000 Americans have died there. For what?

Now we have the hurricanes to pay for. One way our government pays for a lot of things is by borrowing from countries like China.

Another way the government is planning to pay for the war and the hurricane damage is by cutting spending for things like Medicare prescriptions, highway construction, farm payments, AMTRAK, National Public Radio and loans to graduate students. Do these sound like the things you'd like to cut back on to pay for Iraq?

I'll tell you where we ought to start saving: on our bloated military establishment.

We're paying for weapons we'll never use.

No other Country spends the kind of money we spend on our military. Last year Japan spent $42 billion. Italy spent $28 billion, Russia spent only $19 billion. The United States spent $455 billion.

We have 8,000 tanks for example. One Abrams tank costs 150 times as much as a Ford station wagon.

We have more than 10,000 nuclear weapons — enough to destroy all of mankind.

We're spending $200 million a year on bullets alone. That's a lot of target practice. We have 1,155,000 enlisted men and women and 225,000 officers. One officer to tell every five enlisted soldier what to do. We have 40,000 colonels alone and 870 generals.

We had a great commander in WWII, Dwight Eisenhower. He became President and on leaving the White House in 1961, he said this: “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. …"

Well, Ike was right. That's just what’s happened.


By Andy Rooney © MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

end quote.........