From the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Thank you for voting!

Yep...Pelosi has no other choice but demand that the democratic caucus vote as she tells them to. I have been warning this country about Pelosi for years - she is a very dangerous woman; not only does she lack intelligence she will do anything to make everyone conform to her agenda.

Thank you for voting!

Enjoy it while you can, you smug little weasel.

A number of Conservatives on this site have commented numerous times in the last year or two that Democrats were marching in virtual lockstep towards the edge of the political cliff. I'm sure there are some who are now thinking, "how could we have been so wrong?" I think the only thing we were wrong about was the timing of the pending train wreck.

It's clear, at least to me, that a lot of the Independents who voted for change, plus the Republicans that, either stayed home, or who, like my idiot neighbor, voted a straight Dem ticket, have forgotten, or are too young to know, what a whacked out bunch of loonies the Left Wing of the Democrat Party really is. Well, they're about to find out. The ones operating that runaway train full of jackasses heading for the edge of the cliff just stepped on the accelerator. And, IMHO, you Lefties who comment here, are going to look back on this fall as one of those "be-careful-what-you-wish-for" moments.

So wait, if they actually run their caucus, they are dangerous and calculating, but then if they let things happen organically, they don't have any kind of plan and are just sitting there idle. The whole time you have called on the Dems to implement a strategy and show some assertion. Nice to see that you don't do anything but go against whatever you percieve the other side to be doing. Oh my gosh! Leadership is excercising its power!!! NOOOOOOOO! You guys are pathetic. What a sad sad way to think. Oh yea and by the way are you guys really writing about the "caucus of corruption" that existed over 15 years ago? Don't you think the overwhelmingly corrupt caucus of the last 12 years would make a more plump target. But then again, you guys are still bitching about Ted Kennedy killing a staffer like it happened last year, so you never know. Keep on staying 20 years behind the curve, it just makes the independants see you all the clearer, as bitter ideologues with no connection to reality.

So wait, if they actually run their caucus, they are dangerous and calculating, but then if they let things happen organically, they don't have any kind of plan and are just sitting there idle. The whole time you have called on the Dems to implement a strategy and show some assertion. Nice to see that you don't do anything but go against whatever you percieve the other side to be doing. Oh my gosh! Leadership is excercising its power!!! NOOOOOOOO! You guys are pathetic. What a sad sad way to think. Oh yea and by the way are you guys really writing about the "caucus of corruption" that existed over 15 years ago? Don't you think the overwhelmingly corrupt caucus of the last 12 years would make a more plump target. But then again, you guys are still bitching about Ted Kennedy killing a staffer like it happened last year, so you never know. Keep on staying 20 years behind the curve, it just makes the independants see you all the clearer, as bitter ideologues with no connection to reality.

Oh boy, Axis is not going to be happy about this.

Another prospective candidate, Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), said he will not run, citing the Democrats' midterm wins. He told supporters in an e-mail that he will decline the "great adventure" of a presidential run because his three-term seniority in the Senate will allow him to "best advance" liberal causes.

Steve,

True indeed. And what Mark and Matt forget is that the GOP congress approved every single earmark (Dem and Rep) that has been made in the last 12 years. So if the Dems are corrupt, what does that say about the Repub leadership that approved of this corruption? Souldn't the leaders of the country show a little leadership and say, hey, cut that out!

Maybe they should show leadership, but the GOP simply didn't care about earmarks, even Dem ones. They had full control of the government, but they were so drunk with their own power they didn't even get rid of the easy earmarks, namely those of the opposite party...they just let the money roll out like there was no tomorrow.

It's laughable how low of standards the Repubs have set for government--their standards are so low that not even Democrats can get beneath them (quite a trick, I'll admit).

I wonder of Mark and Matt will consider pulling their book, once they realize how many Republican signatures are on those so-called Dem earmarks. You can bet there are more R's than D's in the "yea" column on those bills...another "oopsie" for conservaties? Maybe they are just hopeful that the electorate will conviently forget about the 12 years of Republican approval of all things corrupted in washington.

Not bloody likely.

Jim, I found an election system that I think we can both agree on.

Sorry, it doesn't appear to link directly to it. Click on "next day".

I wonder what Mary Jo Kopechne would think of that.

Good ole Ted would leave our troops to sleep with the fishes.

Sounds good...now where did I put my biggest rock...?

"You've just elevated to the top a person who not only doesn't want to compromise, but she doesn't know how, and doesn't know why compromise should ever happen."

Oh, as opposed to the Speaker she is replacing? Mr. Denny "Let's Try to Get Along With Our Democratic Colleagues" Hastert?

Jeepers, you must have hypocrisy shooting out of your EARS.

Uh, yeah,
That's what Democrats need is to take advice from the wing-nut right. The same folks who blew it in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans are going to tell us how to pick our leaders -- right!
I'm sure the new speaker is pretty scary to some of these people -- who instead seem to prefer a corpulent, pedophile enabling wrestling coach -- can you see why they got kicked out?

So, corruption is when one Dem supports another to be party leader? Interesting. I can see why your party got in so much trouble if you don't even know corruption when you see it.

Steve,

No, I'm afraid the corruption in the Democratic Party isn't from 15 years ago - heck, some of it is from as recent as October of 2006.

You see, what you've got in the Democratic Party leadership is people who will condemn GOPers for doing precisely what Democrats are doing - an amazing bit of hypocrisy, only possible because the MSM puts stories of Democratic corruption back on page A38 and you Democrats are so hate-filled that you just don't care...as long as there isn't an R after the name, you don't care what they do.

Jim,

What is amazing is that it has only taken you a week to start explaining away Democratic corruption. In all of my life, strong GOP partisan that I am, I have never defended or explained away corruption in the GOP.

We got whacked last week, and justly so - both for the ethical failings of some GOPers and, of course, our Congressional GOP abandoning core GOP principles. In punishtment for this, we are in the minority and will have to work twice as hard to prevent Democrats from wrecking the country over the next two years and we'll have to do this in a manner which shows the American people we have earned the right to the majority again...meanwhile, you've got yourself a collection of crooked, mean-spirited, dishonest, pork-barrellers and you're defending them.

Pathetic.

Both parties are hypocrits Mark. Can't you see that? Your hatred seems to apply only to people with a D after their name.

Writing a book about corrupt Democrats and getting a corrupt Republican to endorse it kind of says it all.

Priceless!

Geez, can we quit carping about Kennedy? Sure, he KILLED someone, but that was a looooong time ago. I mean Foley was sending dirty emails to pages, we need to have a sense of proportion here. If only poor Foley could have ridden his name and how much pork he produced for Florida, he might still be office thirty years after his crime.

Also, I wasnt aware that congressman Studds, the guy who actually had sex with a child and didnt just send dirty emails, was serving while Hastert was speaker, but maybe Im wrong.

I could have sworn Studds just died, though it wouldnt surprise me if he was still serving; the left could garner even more of the deceased vote than they usually do if they had a congressman who was actually dead. Its a win-win!

Sal,
I'm sure you may be tired of having this pointed out, but your logic's flawed:
"I'm sure the new speaker is pretty scary to some of these people -- who instead seem to prefer a corpulent, pedophile enabling wrestling coach -- can you see why they got kicked out?"

You see, Republicans elected Mark Foley. But after the whole pedophile scandal, the didn't elect him again. This isn't rocket science. It was the Democrats who tended to re-elect and vote against impeachment when their public servants got a little service from their staff, so to speak. But corpulent's a big word, so you're smart, right?

Steve,
It seems like when Bush did what he wanted to do, we had every low level analyst and intern who thought it might be a bad idea trotted out as proof positive that Bush was living in a bubble, sort of like that Kurd leader who watched CNN and thought Iraq had suddenly gotten out of control. So if Pelosi isn't listening to her people, why isn't she living in a bubble, unreasonable, giving into groupthink by surrounding herself with an echo chamber of her supporters?

I do not think anyone could be more corrupt and abused power more than Bill Clinton.

If he were able to stay in power any longer he would have been the first President to end up in prison.

I guess my bid for higher office will end in failure as I too am a bit on the heavy side, though I prefer the term 'calorically challenged'. Why did I have to be corpulent?

Morphie - thanks for posting the DOI quote. Now, I assume you agree with me that the Second Amendment was written to assure that we could have a revolution if needed?

I have watched year after year time after time, the Democrats reelect corrupt politicians and get away with it. The latest is Willie Jefferson, and Martinez from NJ. Reid is no saint, then there is Kennedy who should be serving in prison, not the Senate. How about your great presidential nominee, John F. Kerry, who came back from Nam and defamed the troops,and met illegally with Viet Cong in Paris. I would love to see what he is hiding in the non-released potions of his military record. We can talk about the shadiness of the Clintons, both in regards to some of their stock deals, as well as rape and harassment charges against Bill. There was Congressman Studds, who had sex with an underage page, etc. ad nausium.

I have always told the Republicans I know that we have got to be better than the Dems. Mainly because when a Republican is corrupt it makes page 1, and when a Dem is corrupt it makes page 37. Now I realize that there is corruption on both sides of the aisle, but let's take a look at just a few recent Republicans. DeLay, resigned; Foley, forced out; Ney, forced out; Republicans usually rid themselves of corrupt politicians, when the Dems usually keep re-electing them.

But Morris - Foley, scum that he is isn't a pedofile. And the young men (as far as we know) that he had sex with were of legal age. So other than being a gay guy who likes younger men - just what was his crime?

You accuse him here of a crime, and with malice. I think this is evidence enough to sue you. What ya think?

Morphie,

Thing is, after carefully considering the issue, we determined that the indictment against DeLay is bogus: brought forward by a Democratic Party hack who has both covered up Democratic crimes in the past as well as falsely indicting Republicans in the past. If you think that DeLay's indictment will lead to conviction, then you've simply got rocks in your head.

There are some things that DeLay, perhaps, shouldn't have done - but among the things he didn't do was get government grants for his kids, or see to it that his son's company got a defense contract...your Democrats do this sort of thing literally all the time, and its all gonna explode in your faces as the next year unfolds.

You've been supporting the wrong Party, morphie...

Smug Little Weasle? For quoting the Declaration of Independence? Enjoy what while we can? The affirmation of the wisdom of the founders?

We already got what we wished for: Checks and Balances. It's not going to be perfect.

So a choice between the current Iraq strategy and the new strategy of withdrawing in six months is balance? A decision process begun before the Iraq study group has even issued a report?

Reid, Pelosi and Schumer are acting as if they now run the country, as if what the POTUS has to say is meaningless, as if the Republicans politicians (yes, they still exist, believe it or not) wont have any input.

Balance, all I see is vindictiveness and Pelosi is dishing it out in every direction, even toward her own party.

We already got what we wished for: Checks and Balances. It's not going to be perfect.

Samual, the understatement of the year. And the "smug little weasel" comment was for the sarcastic "thank you for voting", not for the DOI quote.

Understatement is apparently a new idea around here. The whole idea of our union is to continually strive for "more perfect" though an ongoing evolution of thought by well reasoned people. Attacks on those who quote the Declaration of Independence in an effort to make a point about the importance of voting are counteractive to this process.

Kahn,
I'd be happy if you sued me, if you sued every MSMer who referred to this as a pedophile scandal. I guess that means you'd sue Sal, also. That's too bad.
Just do me one favor, don't hire an ABA lawyer so we keep my gigantic disc currency out of the hands of the Dems.

Mark: "If you think that DeLay's indictment will lead to conviction, then you've simply got rocks in your head."

Speaking of rocks, what sank Tom DeLay was not the indictments in Texas. I know it, and I know you know it. Thus, to imply otherwise is dishonest.

Spook: "It's clear, at least to me, that a lot of the Independents who voted for change, plus the Republicans that, either stayed home, or who, like my idiot neighbor, voted a straight Dem ticket, have forgotten, or are too young to know, what a whacked out bunch of loonies the Left Wing of the Democrat Party really is. Well, they're about to find out. The ones operating that runaway train full of jackasses heading for the edge of the cliff just stepped on the accelerator. And, IMHO, you Lefties who comment here, are going to look back on this fall as one of those "be-careful-what-you-wish-for" moments."

It sounds to me like you're willing to be judge, jury, and executioner before any crime is even committed. What say you?

after carefully considering the issue

Read: noticing that Tom DeLay is a Republican.

I guess it's true that you've never defended or explained away Republican corruption--you prefer to pretend it doesn't exist in the first place.

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