Democrats Seem Less Unified In Power

[Annie]

Weird.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/u...oref=slogin&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

,,,Already there are signs of discord. Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the Finance Committee chairman who has been a headache for past Democratic leaders, says he will plunge ahead with hearings next week on giving the government power to negotiate Medicare drug prices with pharmaceutical companies — a top Democratic priority he has opposed and one the House plans to speed through with no new scrutiny.

“If we want to do legislation, I want to get the facts first,” said Mr. Baucus, who broke with colleagues in the past on the Bush administration’s tax cuts.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who won re-election as an independent but kept his seniority within the Democratic Party and will lead the Homeland Security panel, is making his colleagues nervous as they consider his differences with many of them over the war and antiterror issues.

In the House, Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, who as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee will be the gatekeeper for critical tax and social policy, suggested Friday that he might revisit new Democratic rules forcing lawmakers to disclose their sponsorship of tax breaks for small enterprises. And Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, has broken with fellow Democrats over the years on an issue likely to return in this session, imposing tougher mileage standards on automakers.

“I am a member of the team and I am going to be a team player, but it is too early to see how it is going to develop,” Mr. Dingell said of the new relationship between leadership and the chairmen...

 

[SpidermanTuba]

That's because Democrats aren't a bunch of mindless sheep that parrot the party line.

 

[Annie]

That's because Democrats aren't a bunch of mindless sheep that parrot the party line.

right.

 

[Hamiltonian]

Generally Democrats are more of a heterogeneous group than Republicans, with more differing beliefs or factions within the party, so it is no surprise that they are looking disorganized. I do not think the Democrats have resembled anything really organized since they days of Clinton. Also take into account that the Democrats did not win this election because they brought some sort of organized platform or solution to the people. They won because people began to dislike the job that Bush has been doing.

 

[Annie]

Gentlemen, they were organized as a minority, to block things. Really, disingenuous of you.

 

[SpidermanTuba]

Gentlemen, they were organized as a minority, to block things.

That's what minorities do.

You don't understand politics very well, do you?

See, the righties are in the minority now. The Democrats are the majority. So the Democrats will debate the issues amongst themselves, and come to a near consensus, and if the Republicans don't like it, they'd better form together as a unified block if they want any chance of preventing it.

 

[Annie]

That's because Democrats aren't a bunch of mindless sheep that parrot the party line.

Spidey, I understand politics well enough.