Hope

BRAVO to the Senate Democrats for creating a long- overdue stir this week in Congress. THERE IS HOPE FOR AMERICA AFTER ALL!

NY Times:
November 3, 2005
Democrats Seek a Shift to Issues That Will Favor Them
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 - The Democratic decision to bushwhack Senate Republicans this week with a surprise procedural maneuver reflected a larger political strategy to shift the terrain to issues that Democrats believe will play to their common advantage in the 2006 elections.

After infuriating majority Republicans on Tuesday by forcing the Senate into a closed session over the Bush administration's handling of intelligence before the Iraq war, leading Senate Democrats said Wednesday that they would not shy from using any means available to have their say, though they would not tip their hand on specific plans.

"There is still a lot of fight in this Democratic Party, and on the right issues we are going to get up and fight," said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, as the Senate clash continued to reverberate on Capitol Hill.

Arguing that Republicans are vulnerable in light of misconduct accusations reaching the highest levels of the White House and Congress, a rising death toll in Iraq and record fuel prices and oil company profits, Democrats are taking a more aggressive adversarial posture.

They are pounding the administration in the C.I.A. leak case while simultaneously fighting a Republican budget-and-tax-cutting plan and exploring the idea of a filibuster against President Bush's new Supreme Court pick.

At the same time, they are promoting a party message under the theme "Together, America Can Do Better," a slogan seen at Democratic events. In the coming months, they also intend to unveil a platform that Democrats see as their version of the Contract With America that began the Republican takeover of the House in 1994. It will cover such issues as employment, higher education, energy and technology.

"We are going to assert ourselves," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Senate Democratic campaign effort and one of those involved in mapping out the surprise floor attack on Republicans. "What has given us new vigor in this is we think the American people are on our side."

He and other Democrats said the public response to their Senate fight was positive. And a CBS News poll issued Wednesday showed Mr. Bush's approval rating at 35 percent, the lowest point of his presidency in that survey. It also found that 51 percent of those polled considered the C.I.A. leak case a matter of great importance to the nation.

While Republicans acknowledge that they are struggling at the moment, they reject the idea that Democrats can employ a national theme to win Congressional elections, particularly in House races.

In his own closed-door planning meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert sought to reassure worried lawmakers.

"I submit to you that even today, as tough as things seem, it is much better to be us than them," said Mr. Hastert, according to an account provided by a Republican official. "Why do I say this? First, they have no plan. Second, if they ever announce one it will be consistent with their philosophy of bigger and bigger government and higher and higher taxes."

Other Republicans say Democrats are overreaching to politicize what the Republicans describe as a narrow indictment of one White House aide. They say the opposition runs the risk of appearing petulant and more concerned with scoring political points than with dealing with substantive issues people care about like gas prices, immigration and the flu threat.

"My own guess is that people wonder why we are playing those kind of games," said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas. "They are frustrated with Congress and politicians enough anyway and see that as another example of why they are frustrated."

In initiating the the Tuesday blowup in the Senate, Democrats cited frustration at what they saw as stalling by the Senate Intelligence Committee on a promised inquiry into the way the administration had used intelligence reports to justify the war in Iraq. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, invoked an obscure rule that resulted in a closed session to air out differences over the intelligence investigation.

In the end, Democrats won the creation of a bipartisan six-member group to assess the progress of the inquiry and report back in mid-November. Republicans said any victory was far outweighed by the hard feelings Democrats caused with the maneuver.

"They didn't get anything out of it, other than some headlines," Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, said in an interview on the Fox News Channel.

Others, however, said Democrats had been able to draw attention back to the indictment of a senior White House official and differences over the war in Iraq and away from the choice of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. for the Supreme Court.

"I thought it was a pretty deft move," said Charlie Cook, a nonpartisan political analyst. "If the focus is on Iraq, that is a bad day for the president."

Democrats continued to press the administration on the subject on Wednesday. In a joint letter to Mr. Bush, Mr. Reid and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, called on the president to clean house, apologize to the nation and cooperate in Congressional hearings into the leak.

"We urge you and Vice President Cheney to support full Congressional investigations and to make yourselves available to respond to questions on these matters," the letter said.

Members of both parties expect that rancor from the confrontation will complicate the consideration of Judge Alito's selection. And it could completely boil over if the confirmation fight results in a filibuster, prompting a Republican effort to ban that tactic.

But one Republican said he thought such procedural fights were losing political causes for both parties. "I don't think it gets any of us anywhere," said Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama. "I think the country is uneasy now, and I think it is important that the government, Republicans and Democrats, listen to what they are asking about."