I think we may be surprised by some of the people that were elected senators

[Mass]

McCaskill apparently just said she would vote for Bolton. :banghead: What did she miss?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2953534#2953582

[sandnsea]

1. I saw that,

She said she believes Presidents should get their pick, a la Feingold. She said as long as he is willing to take a truly diplomatic approach and really support the UN, she would consider voting for him. Matthews said Bolton is the opposite of that, and she said Presidents should get their pick, she'd ask a lot of tough questions, and the like.

I think people like McCaskill have bought into the liberal label hype. That's why I think it's so important we fight the 'conservative Dem' as winner bull. Our own Democrats don't have all the info they need. She did about blow a gasket when Tweets compared Bush to Truman though, so maybe we can finally put that meme to rest.

Good good news. Tester is very interested in working for small business. That means John Kerry. Hopefully that'll change any perceptions he might have of 'liberal Democrats' and move him away from the Lieberman wing, if that's even where he's at. I think he's going to be the surprise people were hoping Webb would be.

[wisteria]

3. I listened to both Catskill, Tester and Webb tonight.

I think Tester came off real well. He said he doesn't like labels and we are all just Democrats. I wasn't as impressed with Catskill-I am not sure why though. Webb I was disappointed in because he was speaking of Iraq and talking of no permanent bases and a summit, yet he never even brought up Senator Kerry once. He did mention Baker though. Also, they are touting him as being a Regan Democrat- whatever the hell that actually is.

[MH1]

8. I heard Webb this morning and was impressed with him

He spent a lot of time talking about economic polarization - sounds like that's number one issue for him after Iraq. I really liked the way he talked about it. My estimation of him went up a notch.

As for not mentioning Kerry - I didn't mind that so much, but I wish he would have pointed out that "many Demmocrats" support the same approach he has been calling for. But he just came off the campaign, where I don't think it would have been especially helpful for him to talk about other Democrats by name (particularly Kerry, given this is VA). So I'll give him a pass for a few days to re-orient his speaking to be more of a team player. Except that he probably won't because he doesn't have very many role models in the Dem party for being a team player.

Meanwhile the NPR interviewer twisted it to "Democrats are hoping to take cover behind the plan James Baker comes out with" or words to that effect. Even though Webb had just pointed out that it is BAKER who is coming around to HIS plan (that he should have mentioned was shared by many Democrats, but didnt') I wanted to smash the radio. (And this was NPR, dammit!)

[wisteria]

10. Three points, Dem's need lessons on being a team and supporting

each other.
Two, over all, I was impressed with Webb. I think he adds a strong voice to the party especially on military matters. And, he seems like a man of integrity and honesty. I really liked that. I can see JFK being happy about Webb.
Three, Well, NPR have to continue to cover for themselves, after all, they have been saying for so long that the Dem's don't have a plan. I really hate the media. I really do. They need to be knocked down a few pegs.

[MBS]

5. I was disappointed in McCaskill's Bolton comments, too

However, it should be said that , with Biden in charge of foreign affairs committee, Bolton nomination is probably dead in the water anyway.
Also, she was visibly surprised by the question, so maybe she hadn't really thought it through. (IMO, if she WASN't ready to answer this, she should just have said so, and let it drop, but, anyway. . )

I agree that she seems to have bought into the "liberal as 4-letter word" meme; hopefully, she'll outgrow that. However, putting her Bolten remarks together with her criticism of JK's botched joke (never mind that he raised money for her, etc. . ), and her emphasis on Missouri as a "purple state", well. . I don't know.

Tester is going to be very interesting. Not sure how his more conservative side will play out, but so far I think he's great. Much less apologetic than , say, McCaskill.

[wildflowergardener]

7. McCaskill

Claire - did say something different about Kerry in a future interview so I'm glad about that. She gave the standard line - so he botched a joke, bush botched a war.

I don't suppose it's that bad to say she'd consider voting for Bolton. I think she should consider voting for everyone who comes up, then vote them down if they are bad.

I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt in all this. At least I feel I now have a senator who I can write to if I don't feel she is doing the right thing - before, with Talent I didn't even bother.

Unfortunately you have alot of Red counties here in Missouri.

Meg

[MH1]

9. I agree - it's good to "consider" whether to vote for someone.

I don't expect anyone to blindly follow the party line, except perhaps in a few critical strategic instances.

[Island Blue]

2. Wow. DU's honeymoon with our newly

elected congress critters lasted less time than the marriage of Brittney Spears and husband number one.

[jillan]

4. I started watching C-Span after the 2004 election

(Before that I thought it was boring - now I'm hooked)

So this will be the first time I will be watching a different group of Senators.
I am really excited. I won't have to spend so much time yelling at the tv set.

Just think, Frist's days as majority leader are numbered. No crazy Santorum telling us that they did find wmd's. No Allen. No DeWine. No Burns. Normal people as heads of the committees.
I don't care if some of the Dems that were just elected may be more conservative than I am.
Republicans care about corporations. Democrats care about people. And personally I think it is going to be great to have such a variety of Dems in Congress, each with their own point of view. At least we will have discussion and not a rubber stamp.

I can't wait until the dems put up some real "liberal" legislation, and Harry Reid says "We need an up or down vote." I'm going to have a toast to that moment.

[karynnj]

6. Even the lame duck session should be fascinating to watch

It will be interesting to see what the Republicans will do knowing that they are losing control. I had very occasionally watched CSPAN Senate coverage before 2004, but now it's my favorite thing to watch on TV (which sounds very strange outside this group.)

It will also be interesting to see what Lieberman will be like - as he's taken his win as redemption. He can't be less supportive of Kerry than he was when he spoke on the Republican side against his plan. I doubt he sees how often he betrayed Kerry.