Must see video - SHAME

[whometense]

I hope this isn't old news, but I just watched this video about today's energy bill in the House.

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/shame.mov

Think Progress: Emotions erupted on the floor of the House of Representatives this afternoon as the right-wing-led Congress held open yet another vote to twist arms and pass a bill that would line the pockets of energy company executives.


The House leadership held the five-minute vote open for almost 50 minutes until they could convince three lawmakers -Reps. Wayne Gilcrest (R-MD), C.W. Bill Young (R-FL) and Jim Gerlach (R-PA) -to change their minds. The bill passed 212-210. As the vote concluded, opponents of the bill chanted in unity: "Shame, Shame, Shame!"

[pinkflower21]

1. I saw that!

I tell you, things have just gotten dirtier and dirtier between the Democrats and Republicans. I have several friends who are not nearly as interested in politics as I am and they always use the old line on me, well they are just all crooks. I'm glad to say I'm not so cynical. I know there will be a few bad apples in the Democratic party but I just feel like the whole of the Republican party is crooked and as Nancy Pelosi said, there is a cloud of corruption over Washington, DC. The Republicans don't play fair. They are arrogant and think they will be in power forever. A part of me wants the Democrats to pay the Republicans back in kind when they retake the House and Senate but I know the Democratic party is better than that. That is what makes us Democrats. Honestly, I think the majority of the American people have had it with the crooks running our country. I hope to see big things from the Dems in the 2006 election, I hope we take back the House and the Senate. It's a sad day when we have to see that kind of display in the House. The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.

[whometense]

2. They really should.

They would if they had the capacity to feel shame. The only solution is to spread this stuff around so people find out what's being done in their names.

[TayTay]

3. Taking back the Senate is tough

Not impossible, but tough. Dems have 18 seats up and Rethugs have 15. We might take 3 seats though and that would be good, as 2002 had more Rethugs than Dems elected. (It's possible, but the electorate has to be really pissed off. This usually means that bad things have been happening that touch ordinary Americans. We are getting there. How awfully sad.)

[pinkflower21]

7. Oh wow

So the Senate will be hard to take back then. We would need to win all 18 of our seats and then like 11 of their seats to have a majority. So not only hold on to all of our seats but virtually sweep the Republican ones as well. That's tough. What about the House, is there a better chance there?

[TayTay]

9. Not really. The districts are drawn to aid incumbency.

The Repugs thinks there are only 18 'contestable' House sets up for grabs next year. Rahm Emmanuel (chair of the DCCC) thinks there are 50. There are 435 seats in the House of Representatives. The Dems hold 202 of these seats, the Repubs hold 232. (1 independent.) It is extremely difficult to take back the House. But it is not impossible.

There are tsunami like years where public anger at the incumbent party is so great that the angry voters cause great change in the House. It is too early to tell if next year will be one of those years.

[jillan]

4. Shame was fantastic, but so was the closeness of the vote.

You have to give kudos to the dems. In spite of what alot of DUers say in gd, the dems have spine. They stuck with the same message since the dark days of November. They have fought this administration. Although it has been painful to watch, because we have been so outnumbered, the fruits of their labor are starting to bloom. We are seeing results.
And even Man Coulter said it tonite on Real Time with Maher, we are a concern to her.

[Mass]

5. Nice video and pleasant to see in these days

sad, however, because there was a real possibility to win this vote.

3 of our reps (Over, Delahunt, and Neal) were absent. Had they been there, we would have won this vote or at least made it a lot more difficult for them to win (6 dems total did not vote).

Hopefully, they will have the votes in the Senate for a filibuster.

[TayTay]

6. I saw that in the BGlobe today

I wasn't proud of 3 good Dems missing that crucial vote. I understand that people can't attend every vote, but geez, where was leadership with a heads up on that one? I know that Olver is still in recovery from that virus he had that he is taking daily anti-bacterial IVs for. (Sounded scary, MA Rep gets bacterial virus in the brain. Yuck!) But they shoulda been there. This is just sad. They kind of failed the country, IMHO.

[FreedomAngel82]

8. That was good!

Pelosi kicked some major ass. She's awesome.