[ Posted Friday, June 23rd, 2006 – 17:43 UTC ]
Last Friday Nancy Pelosi unveiled "A New Direction For America," the new Democratic campaign strategy for the 2006 midterm congressional elections. This announcement has been a long time coming. The Democrats were initially going to release the plan last year, then early this year. . . then in the spring. . . then at some unmentioned date closer to election day.
Even last week, it was supposed to happen on Wednesday. . . but then Bush stole the news cycle by staging a press conference after his whirlwind visit to Iraq, so they postponed it yet again.
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[ Posted Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 – 21:56 UTC ]
At least Congress appreciates irony. The following two AP stories appeared within hours of each other, both written by Andrew Taylor:
"House Panel Recommends Minimum Wage Hike"
"House Lawmakers Accept $3,300 Pay Hike"
The first article details how the House Appropriations Committee voted 32-27 to approve an amendment to a health and education bill to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25.
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[ Posted Friday, June 9th, 2006 – 20:24 UTC ]
You've got to hand it to Republicans, they sure know how to demagogue. The Senate spent this week forcing votes on GOP lost causes. First up was the gay marriage amendment, then came repealing the estate tax, and waiting in the wings is a flag-burning amendment. Lefties everywhere have decried these as cheap political stunts designed to generate campaign fodder for the fall midterms.
They're missing the point. Sure, these forced votes are cynical political hackery. The real question is: why can't Democrats manage to do the same? Realistically, since Democrats don't control either house of Congress, they can't schedule floor votes on their issues (or even get them out of committee). But that doesn't mean they can't use the media to effectively start a national debate on their own "hot button" issues.
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