No is a great word. No is the word of the new Congress. No is how we can stop the deluge.
No started today. Thanks to Senator Boxer, Democrats said "No, we're not sanctioning the vote." Did it make a difference? Probably not, but it did get all the information on the record. Note that not one Republican in either house participated in any real debate. That's because a) they have the votes to make debate moot, but also b) they have no answer to any of the allegations.
But there's a really neat gesture that must be made by the Democrats in Congress. Below the fold...
Next month, President Bush gets to make his new State of the Union Address. If we're really going to make a statement about the President, every last Democratic member of Congress needs to walk out right after Bush begins. We're talking about 300 people, so it will take a couple of minutes. International TV. International incident. It's not a legislative session, so the R's can't do something like intern Muslim-Americans or to end all corporate taxation. But it will show America that the Democratic party will indeed fight for its constituents.
As for lawmaking, how about putting 5 members in charge of each of Bush's major policy initiatives, so that they can get out in public as often as possible with a loud, clear, unmistakable No. For example: Social Security reform? No. And here's why. Both in 30 second sound bytes and in larger statements made for political shows.
One final No must be targeted at the media. If MSNBC or CNN wants to put a panel together with 1 Democrat and 3 Republicans, just say, No thanks. And find ways to make news.
A long time ago, there was a nice manual on negotiations called "Getting to Yes". The problem is that Fisher and Ury assumed that both sides tend to negotiate in good faith. Since the Bush Administration hasn't negotiated in good faith on one single issue in 4 years, we've got to learn a new tactic - No. No. and 1,000 times No.
Thus endeth the rant.
