Senate Dems just upped the ante on the Roadblock Republicans

Wow.  Check out this speech from the Senate floor by Senator Kerry.  It is a full out full scale smackdown of the GOP's unprecedented filibusterin', obstructionin', do nothing record since getting their butts kicked in 2006.  It is nothing short of the first shot fired in the Congressional 2008 campaign.  Yes, I know that all eyes are on the presidential campaign, as they should be, given its importance.  But make no mistake that the legislative branch is a co-equal branch to the executive one, and we need to increase our majorities in both Houses if we have a prayer of reversing the damage done to this country under Republican rule.  There is also the chill effect -- Republicans terrified of being defeated in 2008 flipping their votes on, say, a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.  Check out the framing, and then see what you can do to help craft the message for our campaign to defeat the GOP.
I swear this speech came out of nowhere, and I just caught the video this morning and immediately woke up I was so excited by the potential power of his words.  Now, please note that yes this will help his campaign for re-election to the Senate, but more importantly I think this can be a blueprint for Congressional campaigns across the country, expanded upon or tweaked to local issues, which Republicans are going to have a lot of trouble responding effectively to. 

Mr. President, last November, was one of those rarest moments in the short history of our country and our democracy. Any political science student taking a freshman lecture course will hear how hard it is to remove entrenched congressional majorities. They know the statistics about how hard it is to defeat incumbents around here. It doesn't happen often.

But sometimes it does happen. Just six times in our 230-year history has one party lost both houses of Congress. 2006 was the first time the Republican Party failed to win a single House, Senate, or Gubernatorial office previously held by a Democrat.

...

Before the dust had settled, before defeated Republicans had even cleaned out their offices, this President and his remaining allies in Congress had made a calculation-on issue after issue-that they would set out to stop everything from happening and then ask why it was that nothing was happening. This political calculation is as cynical as it is wrong.

They would rather spend their time attacking Harry Reid than attacking our problems.

Delay is no longer just a former Republican leader-it's become a Republican way of life.

Attack, attack, attack on GOP obstructionism followed by a nice positive flourish of what Democrats have gotten done:

For six months now, the Democratic majority has worked in good faith to deliver on our promises to the American people. Because of this Democratic Majority, minimum wage earners now make 70 cents an hour more than they did under a Republican Congress-and soon they'll be making over $2 more. The longest streak without a raise in the history of the minimum wage has ended; but not before 4 months of Republican obstruction cost each minimum wage worker around $500 in earnings. We passed legislation to make college more affordable and cut interest rates in half for millions of Americans with student loans. We stood up to powerful special interests and raised the fuel efficiency of our cars by 10 miles per gallon. Twenty years had passed since Washington raised fuel standards but Democrats took on the special interests and got it passed. We passed funding for stem cell research. We passed the 9/11 Commission recommendations. We passed ethics and lobbying reforms. Just yesterday, we passed legislation that will fix many of the shortfalls in our care for injured troops and veterans and - over yet another White House veto threat - passed a 3.5% raise for members of the military.

Most importantly, we passed legislation demanding that this President face reality and begin redeploying troops from Iraq.

Then, it's time for the kill. 

The Republicans are setting records for filibusters and obstruction. Too paraphrase Winston Churchill: "never, in the field of Senate legislation, was so much progress blocked for so many by so few."

Actually, they've made history-thanks to Senate Republicans, LA no longer has the worst gridlock in America.

On issue after issue, these Republicans chose to filibuster - and to do so just two short years after they declared the filibuster-as then-Majority Leader Bill Frist said in late 2004-"nothing less than the tyranny of the minority."

After expressing outrage at the mere hint of a Democratic filibuster last session, Republicans have suddenly become the principled champions of minority rights here in the Senate. After threatening "the nuclear option" when Democrats stood up to defend the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -they've introduced the filibuster to stop everyday business in the Senate. The rubber-stamp Republicans have now become the road block Republicans.

Feel free to use that last line anytime you want, because that one sentence says it all.  At the link for the transcript, you will find details of everything the Republicans have blocked.  We should continue to add to that list as time goes by for our growing indictment of the irresponsible behavior of Republicans in Congress at the behest of a 25% approval rated lame duck president.  But Senator Kerry brings it back to the fact that quite simply put, the Republicans don't give a damn about us, just themselves, and the best is he gets the quote right from Trent Lott:

And if you don't believe me? Just ask Republican leadership. In April, Trent Lott, the Minority Whip, told a reporter, "the strategy of being obstructionist can work or fail... and so far it's working for us."

I think the Senator is asking the wrong question. The question isn't "Is it working for Republicans" or "Is it working for Democrats?" We all ought to be asking: "Is it working for the American people?"

I can't overemphasize how killer a speech this is, so check out the video of it here.  But as good a delivery Senator Kerry gives, I can also imagine just about any Democrat in any district in our country giving this speech, it is that good, and it captures what is important to the American people, and how sick and tired they are of all of the partisan games.  Kerry lays out a framework of how Democrats are at work doing what is right for America while the Republicans are holding this country back, and defying what most people want done. 

Kerry also doesn't think he's the only one who can come up with good framing on combatting the Roadblock Republicans.  Just check out his latest e-mail:

I think we need to run radio ads in the states of the Roadblock Republicans, making it crystal clear that they don't deserve to be reelected because of their continued support for the Bush Doctrine of escalation without end.  We need to turn up the heat even higher.

It's the pressure of activists and the voice of the people that have gotten us this far in the Iraq debate, not the cookie-cutter ads and thirty second soundbites of Madison Avenue media firms.

So we decided, why don't we let you speak in this radio campaign?  If user generated content can change presidential debates, I know it can help change the next election on the most pivotal of issues.

That's why we're running a contest. We want you to send in a script for a 30 second radio spot (that's about 65 words long), we'll whittle it down some to the top 20, and then we'll open up the voting to everyone. The winner that's chosen by the people will be what we air in the states. And we'll fundraise for the airing of that spot, with each of you able to choose with your contribution where you think we should run the ad. No political professionals making the spot, or choosing where to run it. It's all done by you.

You can make the spot sad, or satirical, or hard-hitting. Whatever you want to do. You can make it a personal story from your life (maybe you know someone in Iraq or have a family member there or maybe you are one of the many veterans in this community), or you can make a factual case on why voters should consider someone else because of this issue, or anything else you'd like. You get it -- it's up to you. And what you do can be the ad that goes on the air targeting the Roadblock Republicans.

So click here to submit your script.

You have until midnight ET on Saturday August 11th to get your script in, so get thinking and start writing. And forward this email to everyone you think might be interested in submitting a radio spot to this contest. If you know someone who has a way with words and wants to make a difference, send this along. We'd love to get their scripts.

Thank you, and let's make sure we get a change in course in Iraq very soon.

Good luck,

John Kerry

A lot of people have been talking about how 2008 feels like a real moment for Democrats.  That 2008 is our pivotal year.  Although the money Dems are raising is important, I think that it's also about us and doing everything we can to further this message and even help hone the message.  It's about remaining focussed on who has made our country go backwards and who can turn it around.  I like what John Kerry is doing here, but it seems that he understands that this next election is going to be as much about citizens getting involved as it is the usual campaign nuts and bolts of money and the media wars.  Please help out by submitting a script or by forwarding this speech around as the basis for fully defeating the Republicans in 2008.

Update:  Get a load of this SurveyUSA poll that just came out of the minority leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky -- 48% approval -- that's below 50% and one of his lowest performances ever.  That goes to show that being a Roadblock means you run the risk of getting run over ...

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