Someone PLEASE tell me whats wrong with Democrats!

So i've been lurking around Daily kos for almost a year now and finally decided to get a profile on here and start commenting and posting dairies. For the most part i still just read what other people have to say and one thing keeps popping into my head.

What is wrong with Democrats?!

Issue after issue, scandal after scandal, they don't put up a fight or cause a ruckus. They don't speak out strongly in opposition, condemning illegal or unethical behavior. When a new scandal is revealed, you only hear from a handfull of Democrats who speak out strongly -- if that many. Someone here please give me an explanation or reason why this is!

I just listened to today's Democracy Now! with guests John Dean and Daniel Ellsberg, two figures who played central roles in the Watergate scandal and i found it so informative and frightening at thesame time. They tell us what Bush is doing now is worse than watergate (and they would know, they lived it) but yet, you don't hear the Democrats loudly fighting back.

There have been so many scandals and so many things the American public disagree with Bush on that you would think the Democrats would be on TV everyday bringing the failures of Bush to the forfront.

Yes they don't own the congress or any branch of government right now but neither did the Republicans in 1993/94 (i think). That didn't stop them from lambasting Clinton. Democrats need to grow some big brass ones and fast.

I originally was going to list a bunch of the recent scandals that could be taken advantage of but i think we all know them well.

I know there are a lot of smart and informed people here and i just really want to ask, What is the problem with Democrats? Why don't they speak up against illegal acts, injustice and unethical behavior? It makes political sense and it just is the right thing to do.

So please, someone, anyone, give me something. Some explanation, some reason why Dems aren't the opposition party they need to be.

UPDATE Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 10:44:35 AM PDT: I got some real good feedback in the comments section. Inclusiveheart gave me this awesome article to read. Some comments said i'm wrong to use a blanket statement to judge all democrats as meek. But its just so annoying when Russ or Barbara speak up and the other Dems not support but infact, sometimes oppose them publicly.

Some comments call me a Troll. Sorry guys, i'm not a troll. I can't blame you for thinking that though because i know when i've read dairies critical of Democrats, i've thought, hm, could this person be a troll?

I wrote this because i really wanted to know where the disconnect was. I know most of what the democrats do because i read this Blog and others (i like the carpet bagger report as well, which isn't listed on the links here unfortunately. It was actually his blog that led me here) and listen to Democracy Now! But i live in Houston and work with a bunch of hardcore republicans (alot of them don't like Bush now but still hate Democrats even more). The thing that gets me though is that, we agree on most issues. The Iraq War, Gas prices, etc. And typically, they are on the opposite side of what the Republican'ts are doing.

I remember when Bush announced investigating the Oil prices, one of them was all gleeful and proud of Republicants. He was totally surprised when i told him that Democrats had already been there done that. And thats just the tip of the ice berg. I'm constantly having to say, well, democrats did it first, democrats did it first, democrats are doing this, democrats are doing that. Thats why i got frustrated enough to write this diary. Why am i constantly having to restate the Democratic positions on things, why don't Dems "sell" themselves better?!

Even my brother is constantly saying the Democrats are pussy's. It's the only reason he doesn't like Democrats, and i think there's alot of Americans like that. It shouldn't be that way.

A commenter noted that i haven't responded or updated my diaries often. Well, this is only my 2nd dairy and i tend to read Daily Kos only when i'm at work and well, i just have enough time to read.. but thats changing...

I appreciate the feed back. It isn't that i don't know what SOME Democrats are doing; I do know what they're doing and i hope they succeed this November for all our sakes. Its just that i wish they'd find a way to communicate it better with the American people (most of which don't read Daily Kos to get their info like we do). Thats all. But i do feel a little reassurance from what i've read today. I will be voting for the first time this year and i better be on the winning side this time! (i'm always losing when it comes to sports)

•  You might want to read this article

  Washington Monthly "Not as Lame as You Think"

  And see what you think.  

  by inclusiveheart on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 10:48:25 AM PDT

  •  Second that

    and point out that your statement that "you don't hear the Democrats loudly fighting back" isn't the same as "the Democrats are not fighting back". Barbara Boxer and Russ Feingold are examples of Democrats who are, and yet for the most part few are able to hear them. So while I agree that there are many Democrats who still don't get it, your blanket statement is one that (as DailyHowler has had some good columns about lately) is not entirely true and so somewhat counterproductive.

    If you're listening to Democracy Now! you already know all this. But have you seen "Conspiracy Theory Rock"? (See C&L and scroll down to Tuesday, April 25, 2006)

    by MarkC on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:00:49 AM PDT

  •  Great Article

    thanks for the link

    by acerimusdux on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:32:42 AM PDT

  •  I wrote a diary about that

    check it out: http://www.dailykos.com/...

    -Hype

    by hypersphere01 on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 12:10:31 PM PDT

  •  Thank you

    for that article! I love it.

    by Babylon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 04:59:39 PM PDT

•  Less Than You Might Think

  I believe that part of what many of us take for inaction is actually the internal deliberation of a movement in the process of finding its voice and rediscovering its heritage.

  Personally, I like to talk in terms of liberalism in opposition to the Right (of which I believe they--neocons/liberterians/paleos/hardliners--are truly out of ideas). Moderate Republicans allied with centrist and liberal Democrats can be a great vehicle for positive change (remember: moderate GOPers were vital to the passage of various civil rights legislation in the 1960s).

  Push for action, but also show some restraint. Democrats (and I am one) now stand where the Republicans stood in 1966--the pendulum is about to swing back to the Left, but we're still redefining ourselves.

  And that is not a bad thing. If we get this right, our side could be in power for more than a generation to come.

  by Frank Cocozzelli on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 10:58:22 AM PDT

  •  Good point.

    I just hope it doesn't take us 40 years to get back on top because only god knows how many lives would have died in that period.

    by Babylon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 05:01:16 PM PDT

    •  It Will Start This Year.

      There are many positive things happening, some of which will emerge this year.

      One positive movement is the rebirth of the Religious Left. Strongly believing in the Establishment Clause, it will be there to refute the radicals of the Religious Right.

      Another good thing is that liberals are starting to discuss the just distribution of profit in relation to contribution of effort and talent as opposed to the old way of discussing the general redistribution of wealth (a concept the lends itself to misdescription by the Right).

      Finally, liberals are making inroads into the military. That is huge and will pay off in the coming elections.

      This is all starting happen because of liberal self-discipline. Remember: the others side may have the bucks, but we have the numbers.

      by Frank Cocozzelli on Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 04:16:55 AM PDT

      •  This is very reassuring.

        by Babylon on Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 10:37:27 AM PDT

        •  Et tu Babylon

          ...as is your dedication.

          by Frank Cocozzelli on Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 12:53:58 PM PDT

•  I'm just giving them enough rope...

  ...to be sure they get hanged properly.

  After we collect sufficient evidence that no trial is required.

  (let them self destruct and don't give them anything to spin against you)

  by suspiciousmind on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:00:40 AM PDT

•  I hope

  That you're just confused or uninformed and not a freeper which I suspect , But when a party isn't in power like we are now there is just so much we can do ,Our Democrat Senators and Congress people bring the blunderous crimes of the right into public light so America can see how they are being harmed and then the people decide who they want to represent them in future ventures like is happening now,  there is massive power in that alone , It's called exposing the truth ! Now come November Lord willing and the creeks don't rise you'll witness wonderous change along with supeona powers and impeachment procedings w/removal and even possible war crime tribunals , I'm sure you learned in school that every action requires an oppisite and equal reaction  , It's coming be ready !!

  by Dbone on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:09:01 AM PDT

  •  I'm not saying

    they need to move good legislation, infact, i don't want too many good legistlation coming out when the Repugs are in control. It pays Dems for the rating of the congress to be low (they should just make sure bad bills don't make it in) i think.

    I'm saying they need to be on the offensive and let their positions be known to the public. They shouldn't let Repugs frame the debate all the damn time.

    by Babylon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 05:04:38 PM PDT

•  why they don't fight

  They don't fight because to most of them, it is a nice big polite game they are playing.  It is a club.  They know the evil Republicans as friends and attend their kids graduations.  They go to the same Christmas parties.  

  Their kids go to the same elite private schools.  Their families have huge investments in corporate America and they also benefit from the ever increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of the top 1%.

  That is most of them.  There are a small number of true Democrats who try to fight-the congressional black caucus, Dennis Kucinich, sometimes the Kennedy's, and I emphasize sometimes.

  My own Carl Levin is a plain-speaking fighting Senator on most issues.  There are still quite a fw good Democratic congressmen.

  But for the most part, they are all part of the same rotten gang that is bankrupting our nation at the altar of corporations.

  I stopped putting hope in the Democrats a long time ago.

  by Michigan Paul on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:27:34 AM PDT

  •  I still hope...

    i don't know if i could stand a disastrous upset this November though...

    by Babylon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 05:05:35 PM PDT

•  thier filibustering right now

  where have you been???

  by gaspare on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:31:32 AM PDT

  •  lol..

    just read that...

    by Babylon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 05:06:00 PM PDT

•  What's wrong with Democrats?

  What does it take to run for office?  Big Money.  Where do you get Big Money?  Big Business.

  The same coporate thugs who have bought and paid for the Republicans and the Main Stream Media have bought and paid for the Democrats.  The Democratic opposition to this administration has been window dressing.  There has been little or no real opposition.

  Most of the Democrats have voted for the Iraq war, for the USA Patriot Act, to confirm those last two idiots to the supreme court, and most of the other Republican outrages against the American people.  Hell!  Hillary even wants a flag-burning amendment - and she's FOR the war in Iraq!  They think we're all idiots, and they don't give a rat's ass about the will of the American people - except for a profound desire to manipulate it.

  The Democrats (who I've supported all my life) have done little or nothing for me lately.  I'm just one of the American people, I don't have any Big Money or anything.

  Iraq Moratorium

  by One Pissed Off Liberal on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:31:42 AM PDT

•  what's wrong

  your TV appears to be stuck on Fox News & CNN.  Try looking to see what the Dems are actually doing, rather than what the media tells you they are.

  by zenbowl on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:34:11 AM PDT

  •  You're missing my point

    It's not what they are doing, how they are letting people know what they are doing or what they can't do because of republicans.

    A good size of the population watches Fox and CNN (excluding me), democrats should be able to take there message to those channels not abandon them. Okay, maybe abandon Fox...

    by Babylon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 05:08:00 PM PDT

•  What's wrong?

  There aren't any. Look past the label and you will see it's true.

  by Bensdad on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:35:06 AM PDT

  •  Yes..

    but i want it to reach MORE people.

    by Babylon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 05:08:31 PM PDT

•  Republicans Have All 4 Branches

  Exec, legislative, courts and the media.

  Furthermore they represent the owners of the economy which is the majority share of potential donations, plus the owners are activist on behalf of the Republicans with think tanks, support for Republican organized religion, etc. etc.

  Democrats on the other hand neither own nor sponsor any important media, represent little institutional power, mostly stand for some of the common people.

  So Democrats' resources are much less and their power backing is vastly less.

  Not too surprising that you don't hear a 50-50 debate going on.

  by Gooserock on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 11:46:44 AM PDT

  •  I agree with Dbone above that this diarist

    may be a troll. Check its comment and ratings history and you will see. It has not bothered to comment or rate comments in its own diaries. Fishing expedition IMO.

    by Halcyon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 02:28:46 PM PDT

    •  read my update

      i already addressed this. I'm not a Troll. I've only started writing diaries. I typically treat Daily Kos as a newspaper where i come, find the dairies that look interesting/informative and read them.

      Yes i don't comment often but that doesn't make me a troll now does it?

      by Babylon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 05:10:37 PM PDT

      •  I apologize, then. It would be a good thing

        to participate in your own diaries at the time of posting.

        That said, here's some more reading. A chapter from Crashing the Gate, which identifies a big cause for the problem you describe. And the interview with Markos and Jerome on Alternet.

        For other important reading on issues that threaten the Democrats' ability to win elections read what Frederick Clarkson   has to say. This article is a good place to start: War of the Worldviews: The Religious Right vs. Democratic Pluralism. And Mark Crispin Miller's Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them).

        David Brock's The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How it Corrupts Democracy is a must-read for understanding how the media shuts out Democrats' voices and frames issue to put them on the defensive to the point where they're afraid to say a darned thing lest they get smeared. And it is their paid consultants that tell them to stay on the defensive rather than come out swinging with the messages we ache to hear.

        Welcome!

        by Halcyon on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 05:55:53 PM PDT

        •  Thanks!

          I will try and make sure i revisit my Dairies quicker than i did with this one.

          Looks like i have a lot of good fun informative reading to do. Thanks for those links.

          by Babylon on Fri Apr 28, 2006 at 10:40:00 AM PDT