Today Judith Miller was released to testify in the Plame case. Her source was Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff. This should wrap up the Plame case finally, possibly not to the benefit of this administration.
Yesterday Tom Delay was indicted in the TRMPAC fiasco. The word is he will walk, but his stature will be diminished and there is a high likelyhood he will not resume his post as House majority leader, now taken by Roy Blunt.
Also today a fedral judge ordered the release of the rest of the Abu Ghraib photos as well as three videotapes.
Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, is under investigation for his too well timed sale of HCA stock.
Somebody needs to tap the democrats on the shoulder. This is the stuff hay is made of. The republicans are clearly blundering their way through power. Their leader is inneffectual and their leaders of congress are under fire. Now would be the time for the democrats to step up the rhetoric and take advantage on all fronts. Talking points sent out, messages tailored. Statements from top democrats about the abuses of power and corruption in the republican party. But coupled with that it needs to offer a solution, a vision of what the alternative can be.
Anyone can point out the problems of government, they are many. True leadership comes from supplying solutions and ideas, which the democrats sorely need. The democrats need to break their own bonds to special interests and forge ahead on their own path. A path of fiscal conservatism tied with governmental pragmatism. Of governmental restraint in the lives of the public and spending of the government. You want to increase funding for education? Good. Lets find the money somewhere it already exists. Break the mold of the stereotypical forever-raising-taxes-democrats and fund the social programs we want with money that's already there in the form of pork and if there is money left over give it back to the American people.
Stop framing abortion as a woman's right to choose (it is, but there's a better way to appeal it). What it is, is the right to keep an intruding government out of all of our citizens lives. Male, female, gay, lesbian, black, white, hispanic...are you getting the picture yet? The right to keep the government from deciding who and who should not be married and the right to keep the government from expanding federal power over it's citizens via the Pariot Act. The right to keep the government off our backs and keep it in it's place.
But alas, where is the leadership in the democratic party these days? Where are the new ideas and fresh approaches? Where is the discussion of government and it's place in our lives as a united republic? I know that democrats have begun funding their own thinktanks recently. There are elections next year and the republicans are in trouble, but you can't rely on the republicans to hang themselves and expect the American public to just fall behind you as a defacto choice with nothing new to offer. It's time for those thinktanks to get to work, and fast. America has problems and it needs answers, liberal answers that make sense and break rank with traditional democrat thinking while staying true to democratic party ideals.
**update**
Here's a post on Daily Kos from an up and coming Democratic leader, Barack Obama. Notable excerpt:
Let me be clear: I am not arguing that the Democrats should trim their sails and be more "centrist." In fact, I think the whole "centrist" versus "liberal" labels that continue to characterize the debate within the Democratic Party misses the mark. Too often, the "centrist" label seems to mean compromise for compromise sake, whereas on issues like health care, energy, education and tackling poverty, I don't think Democrats have been bold enough. But I do think that being bold involves more than just putting more money into existing programs and will instead require us to admit that some existing programs and policies don't work very well. And further, it will require us to innovate and experiment with whatever ideas hold promise (including market- or faith-based ideas that originate from Republicans).
Our goal should be to stick to our guns on those core values that make this country great, show a spirit of flexibility and sustained attention that can achieve those goals, and try to create the sort of serious, adult, consensus around our problems that can admit Democrats, Republicans and Independents of good will. This is more than just a matter of "framing," although clarity of language, thought, and heart are required. It's a matter of actually having faith in the American people's ability to hear a real and authentic debate about the issues that matter.
Emphasis mine. I couldn't agree more and he is dead on on the "centrist" thing. This man and the way he thinks is the future of the democratic party.
While I'm in agreement with much of what you've stated, I've not the faintest idea as to how to make it happen. How do we figure this out? Where do we go from here?
As an outsider - one that's not involved in, as in candidate or any associated role - I feel like one of our (Democrats) greatest weaknesses at this point is our fractured agenda. It seems so scattered and ineffectual in the face of the juggernaut that is the Neo-con noise I see & hear day-to-day: the same points, the same agenda hammered home time & time again, raising my ire & disgust with every repeated phrase... Nothing excites me in any similar manner from our Democratic leaders, with the exception of the criticism of the current administration and the Republican party in general. That is not enough to inspire us to action! We, as Democrats, need a unified agenda upon which to base our assault against the Republican majority. I hope for a leader to bring us together and inspire us... It's long over due.
[k]