The talking heads tell us the election was "all about about Iraq." Then they tell us it was "all about corruption."
There is a reason they are jumping around. It was "all about" one thing (that is, one PERSON).
The election was "all about" the nation's outrage at what Bush has done to our country. (See interview excerpts below)
The LAST THING angry voters were looking for was the sham of "bipartisanship" in Bush-World.
The message of this election: Be Gone Bush!
Do the Dems seize the moment and give voice to the outrage? No.
Do they give voice to what "Be Gone" actually means and take up the fight for impeachment? No.
Instead, they do the OPPOSITE. They do everything in their power to put the lid on the outrage. Instead of being champions of the People and the Constitution, they choose the path of "responsible" and tactical appeasement. (As they wipe their forheads in relief, believing they have dodged the Impeachment "bullet.")
Despite their BEST efforts to push the "Impeachment is BAD" propaganda they have only managed to get 44% of the electorate to say "Shouldn't Impeach." (And that 44% includes Dems who are simply following Pelosi's lead, but who would jump on the impeachment bandwagon in a minute if our so-called "leaders" woke up (
http://january6th.org/oct2006-newsweek-poll-impeach.html">Newsweek Poll)
Curtis Gans
Director
http://spa.american.edu/csae">Center for the Study of the American Electorate
On
Politically Direct with David Benderhttp://podcast.rbn.com/airam/airam/download/archive/2006/11/aapd111006.mp3">November 10th (Interview start time approx 18:30)
Bender: Joining me now is Curtis Gans. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University and he has just released a new study analyzing the turnout this past Tuesday, and there's some interesting and there are some very, very interesting shifts in the turnout from previous elections. Welcome to Politically Direct . . .
Gans: It's very good to talk to you David.
Bender: Curtis, I'm holding the study in my hand right now, and clearly one of the things that all the exit polls showed was that Iraq played a part and your own work bears that out -- that Iraq helped propel some degree of an increase in turnout in this last election.
Gans: I think that it is not simply Iraq, although Iraq started Bush's downhill. But
it is a gestalt around George Bush. it's being a pariah to other countries; it's people dying in what they increasing find is a vain fight; it's massive budgetary imbalances; it's a lack of compassionate conservatism; it's insecurity in jobs; it's the feeling that people have not been leveled with.
Bender: You've been doing this for almost 30 years; studying the American electorate. And there is probably no greater expert than you. It's just a real pleasure to have you on this program. . . The prescription?
Gans: Traditionally, at least for the last 30 years, they have essentially been very tactical; very programmatic. I don't think either one of those works. I think they have to have an articulation of Central American principles and what that means within a progressive Party.
. . .You know, what is a Democratic definition of liberty? What is Democratic definition of the common welfare? Etc.
Bender: This is a moment, clearly -- the people voted for accountability, there's no question about that. And the opportunity to show that the Democratic Party is the Party of the Constitution, I think will be a very popular position across the board, particularly with Independents, and maybe even some Republicans who still love this Constitution.
Gans: The concept of the Constitution and the People's Government is something that can unite the Democratic Party in ways it hasn't been united since the late 1960's
. . .
How can the Democrats become the Party of "the Constitution and the People's Government" if they continue to adhere to their self-imposed "impeachment is off limits" edict?
It is impossible.
A laundry list of legislation while people are being tortured in our name, and the "tactical" sham of committing to "bipartisanship" in Bush-world, is the opposite of what this nation needs. It is the opposite of what the Democratic Party needs to be if they are to have any hope of inspiring and engaging the electorate.
Wake Up Dems!
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0511-29.htm Truth Matters!>
Impeachment IS Our Positive Agenda
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