OK KIDDIES - I think we've been SUCKERED

I know that many of us are celebrating that the Gay Marriage Ban (GMB) didn't make it out of cloture.

Well, my cynical side says this little exercise in futility was never about saving marriage/protecting families. This was a little political manipulation for both sides.

We know the reason it was even brought up is because this is an election year. GOPers are in big trouble, and to a certain extent so are the Dems. Polls show congress approval rating is averaging 29%.

by "killing" the GMB through cloture just means that the bill can be brought up again at a later date. It's already been indicated that it will be brought up again in the new congressional session (next year).

BUT - the GOPers have to be in charge in order to reintroduce it into the agenda.

This means GOPers will be saying "If you don't vote GOP - we won't be able to get an up/down vote on this."

It also means the DEMS will be saying "If you don't vote DEM - the GOPers will put the bill back on the agenda and we may not be able to stop an up/down vote."

so kiddies - it's the double-booga-booga of wedgies.

look for a similar outcome when the HOUSE takes up the bill in July. Going to be lots of blather, posturing and in the end .... nada

they are suckering all of us collectively

.

Most of the RW base is pissed off about this stunt as well.

"was a littlegigantic political manipulation for both sides."

The Repugs don't want to actually DO anything about their wedge issues. They want to be able to drag them back out of the closet (so to speak) as a smokescreen to hide their real agenda.

Becuase I do. Government this bad is no accident.

and I don't much give a damn anymore if I'm called a tinfoiler.

Take back the House and the light will shine in the stinking republicans dark little room. Talk to everyone you know about voting in November. We only need to suffer for 5 more months.

Vote!!!

Please. Because you're a good person, and you have a heart....clearly, otherwise you wouldn;t be here. But please wake up.
No party will win. And no party will lose.

They will do anything to retain power. Look what they did in Calif. What did we do??? We apparently are happy with how well we came in second place. Well I hate to tell you but in the race to save democracy second place don't cut it. They will spend what ever it takes on each and every race. They will resort to dirty tricks and steal elections, gerrymander, etc. They have everything to loose. What are we willing to do? Not much. Have a get out the vote party. We have to get 15 seats and we are off to a terrible start. Sorry to dampen your optimism, it is very lovable (no sarcasm intended). The wealthy have control of the government and there is no way we can win against their money. They own the media, voting machines, and every branch of government. And most of the Demo leaders are hiding under their desks.

I for one am so damn sick of it!! We're treated like fools again and again.

Ick! SICK OF IT!!!!

We just don't know how to mobilize.

Those that think the "good showing" in the loss in Calif were fooled.

The argument that needs to be made during the campaign is that most Americans do not think that this is the most pressing issue to be met, and that many Americans embrace tolerance and believe that GLBTs should be excluded from our national family. Their "majority" is spin--I'd like to see the numbers of those who showed up as a percentage against total numbers of people who are eligible to vote, but didn't show up. Call them on their crap.

get people political again, and stop thinking about the fuckups of this administration

brought to us by our good friends at BushCo.

It's getting old and their issue of the week doesn't work very well anymore.

kinda relieved and happy to see others have thought this too. I was expecting to get flamed...

stepping up to the fire carefully - I also think nothing will be done in what little time is left before they leave DC for campaigning. The reminder of the session will be wasted on issues selected to set up campaign speeches.

I do think that there are a few (very few) on both sides who are sincere about their views - but for the rest it's jockying for position time. I see this period of time as a rehearsal for the campaign stump speeches, trot out a few sound bites and see what kind of response is generated.

Our concern is with the issues (real issues) and how legislation and policies effect us as individuals and us a country. Yet, the politicians are concerned with their continuing employment .period.

This puts us in a pickle - do we hold our noses and vote the party ticket in hopes that a Dem senate/house will truly be better than what we have now or what? what's the alternative? 3rd party candidates which will only result in keeping the GOPers in power? I don't know what to do.

Maybe I'll try selling clothes-pins to voters for their noses?

radification by a majority of states? Remember the ERA?

First off, this dropped the war right off the front page, including the massacre in Haditha. It also allowed the vote on the Estate Tax repeal to be snuck into the Congressional agenda with hardly a peep or shout of warning. And meanwhile, Bush's numbers continue to drop like a rock, and the militarization of our border has indeed commenced. And speaking like dropping like a rock, the economy is going south, with numbers down across the board, yet we hardly hear a peep about it.

I realize that many DUers can walk and chew gum at the same time, but I think that this was, in part, another in a long line of well timed diversionary tactics designed to whip people into a frothy lather, and with their attention straying, all kinds of nasty shit goes on.

Hell, we've got a thread going here bemoaning the lack of threads concerning the Estate Tax repeal, well d'uh, that's because the boards have been clogged with numerous threads over the FMA. Not that it is a bad thing, but it did divert our attention.

And frankly if the Congress can't get the FMA passed now, it is highly doubtful that they will do so after the fall elections. Sure, the 'Pugs can pull it out and wave it around, but more and more people are concerned about their wallet and the war above and beyond anything else.

that's one of the side 'benefits' of a wedge issue.

reminds me of a story -

a president of a small company was upset over a cost increase in office supplies. He mounted an investigation and found that much of the increase was due to paperclips being thrown out instead of being 'rebent' and reused.

He issued a memo directing employees to be rebend paperclips. he went so far as to lock up all the paperclips, and to get new ones you had to show that a given paperclip was beyond "rebending"

meanwhile, his accountant showed him the end of year statement which indicated a loss in the millions. the president went on about how he was trying to cut expenses by rebending paperclips.

the accountant said - but you're losing millions in other areas.

the president said "I understand paperclips, but I don't understand millions"

that's where we are at with reacting to wedge issues - we understand the wedge, we don't always get the big picture

to stop the bleeding in king george's poll numbers among his "base" (not the real base--1000 or so uber-wealthy families). but the idot base of religiously insane, delusional and sociopathic vermin who vote repuke.

They pander to the lowest common denominator.