The current make-up of the House of Representatives should make it obvious that the Democratic Party has a mandate to change the way the government works. At this point the Democrats need to push their agenda and forget about making nice. If the minority party blocks progress or the Shrubbery vetoes a bill, that’s a Republan problem, not a Democratic problem. The people have voted, and expect their votes to count. The election showed what the polls have been saying, the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Congress has dropped in recent polling because they backed off. The voters want accountability.

Susie Madrak’s The Cowardly Lions excerpts an Arianna Huffington post at Alternet that lays it out. Democrats have been given an opportunity by the voters. If they don’t start using it and standing by their principles, voters won’t turn out. Democrats had better stop looking for compromises and worrying about what Republans will say about them, or they will return to minority status when the people who voted for them in 2006 stay home in 2008. The Hedgemony looks at compromise and bipartisanship as cowardice, not statesmanship.

Susie’s Surrender Monkeys has a Steve Benen post that covers the same ground.

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Sorry, Mrs. Clinton, but if you can’t admit your vote for the authorization of the use of force against Iraq was wrong, I can’t vote for you. I’m not voting for Presidents who can’t admit they’ve made a mistake. You are wrong on Iran because you have tied yourself to the AIPAC/Likud view of the Middle East. They are in the minority in Israel, and you should recognize that you don’t have to accept their opinions to be taken seriously. You need to take Democratic voters concerns more seriously than you do. You husband could pull off triangulating, you can’t.

Mr. Edwards, I like a lot of what you have to say, I really do, but you have to show as much concern for your base as you have for your enemies. The paired “problem of Amanda & Melissa” was handled badly, especially in view of your reaction to “Mudcat” Saunders. The statements of Amanda & Melissa before they were hired by your campaign offended professional victim William DonoWho, and you handed out stern warnings. But when one of your campaign consultants, while working on your campaign, insulted liberals, you respond “that’s Mudcat being Mudcat.” Until and unless you can show as much concern for the feelings of your friends as your enemies, don’t ask for my support.

[More information on the “Mudcat” issue see Steve Bates’s post: CrapFeline Saunders.]

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Based on his justification for bombing Iran, I sure Senator LIEberman will soon be calling for airstrikes against the Vatican, as one of the Taliban’s own press interviews features pictures of its fighters preparing to use Italian anti-tank mines.

Remember, Joe, the Pope has always been against the Iraq War, and the Italians withdrew their troops. I’m sure a few Tomahawks hitting the center of Rome will convince them to stop “arming the enemy.”

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