This excellent observation was posted over at FireDogLake:

"The question isn’t ’should the president be censured?’ The question is, ‘Why does it take a censure resolution to get the majority party to pay even lip service to fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide oversight with respect to the actions and policies of the executive and judicial branches of this government?’ It’s time for the Congress, and particularly the Republicans, to decide whether choosing to protect the president instead of choosing to protect the interests of the American people, is the wisest course of action, and whether that choice is truly serving national security, or political power."

Didn't the president also add a signing statement on the torture bill as well?
Something along the lines of He will torture anyone if it's in the need for national security.
Why even bother passing bills if he doesnt have to abide by them?

Fight them tooth and nail?

The Republicans wouldn't let anyone else talk today on PBS!

We should fight them twice as hard as they fight for other Republicans.

We have hit the enemy as hard and even harder than the Republicans.

I want the World to know just because we are so very good at Diplomacy and get so many conflicts resolved without War, doesn't mean we aren't deadly when we start and fight wars.

If I were in Government, I would be tell them just how it is. The Republicans wouldn't be able to pull that stuff on me.

Our immigration policy resembles the ineffective war on drugs. For decades we’ve spent billions of dollars on interdiction and law enforcement yet trafficking only increases. Similarly, the federal government continues to increase spending on border patrol and enforcement to no avail. I think we can all agree we haven’t gotten our money’s worth. In spite of our efforts, 11 million illegal immigrants currently live underneath our radar. Both the human and economic dimensions of this issue are complex. A new immigration policy that combines compassion with rational innovation is in order. Sadly, our political class appears incapable of rising above the passions, fears, and even greed of their respective constituencies.

Read, Our Immigration Conundrum, in the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

This is why it's so important to elect a Democratic Congress in 2006.

This why all Democrats should be calling for censure now - if they can't take the heat now - they don't deserve the office. Let's see if they got any fight in them.

ok, so indeed they do now control the 3 branches of the govt.

the judicial branch aka bush's supreme ct is in their pocket. in nov, they could lose control or have a weak control of legislative. in 2008 they could lose the ex branch.

so take one down at a time. suggest we portray all state & legislative races as bush being their repub poster child. i said this before, capitalize on the bush's low ratings. portray him in nov ads w/repubs running for re-election or for any office. while they distance themselves from bush, we re-join them. yep, take back one branch at a time. saw a special on "front-line" about karl rove their "designer" for repub dominance and it took them 30 yrs. he did it. so can demos.

Yep it did took Rove long enough to get the GOP where they're at right now but it's good to see us starting to win again with Dean's 50 state strategy everywhere in the east,south.

So i'm glad to see what Dean has done for us and hopefully they'll be more victories to come.

This is just one more demonstration of the total disregard that Bush has for the electorate. His propensity to say what he thinks people want too hear, then do as he pleases by deceptive means is legendary. I'm aghast that Republicans, at least some of whom must care about this country, can continue to offer their unqualified support of this man and his perverted methods. The fact that debate continues about the quality of Bush's ability to lead this country is astonishing.
I just finished watching "Meet the Press", and damn, that Rice is good. They're all good at conversation, but we can't lose sight, as some jounalists have, that if the question of going to war with Iraq had been for regime change, had that question been offered to the American people, both Democrats and Republicans would have said NO. Instead, they claim the Democrats have to firm plan to extricate the country from the hopeless situation brought about by this administration's, even more hopeless, lack of understanding regarding foreign affairs. Who could have an answer, given erroneous information about conditions, faulty intelligence, fabled intentions and manufactured news stories. Are they kidding?
Do they offer a plan? Oh yes, "Stay the Course". What is the "Course"? "As they stand up, we'll stand down." Not much comfort.
There is only one course left to take at this time, and that is a total withdrawl of all of our troops from Iraq, we can leave some in near-by areas, but not to be redeployed, unless as part of a greater, and I mean greater, U.N. Peacekeeping Force. My thought is that if we withdraw, Iraq will quickly turn into a full-blown civil war. The U.N. will have no choice but to intervene, or stand back and watch the carnage. They may do either one, but we cannot continue to be the only nation in the middle. Even though, through the complete deceit, perpetrated by those we elected and trusted to protect our security, has come to this, we, as a nation, must stand ready to help, if aid by the U.N. is finally offered, again.
Let us set a general direction in our respose to Ms Rice's call, one that conserves American blood. Although, this President has already stated his intention to allow future generations, administrations, and Presidents, deal with the fallout from his folley, we must stand firm and demand an immediate end to the total waste of America's most precious assets, its people.

If it falls to the next president who will probably be a Democrat it may end up helping the Rethugs in the future.There will be no easy way out of this mess in the foreseeable future.
Could be Bush's plan all along.

Good morning everyone!It seems obvious to me that the repubs try to use everything they can to censure the Democrats by using some if their talking point words.(unpatriotic,unamerican,etc.,)That continual spin is getting real old,and it seems clear that the people in this country who really want to see it do.What I`m really encouraged by is that we`re beginning to see large groups of people get together to speak out about this administration.Talking points aren`t doing it anymore.They can`t keep running to different issues all the time to change the subject.They want action!That to me spells the Democratic Party!Is America beginning to wake up!It certainly would be refreshing to have a sense of real democracy again!

The less the Republican Congress knows or does, the less they reason they can be held accountable for when things go wrong later?

They are worst then icompetent; they're useless....and corrupt.

The simplest thing for us as Democrats to do is point out how the Republicans in Congress feel that their oath to support and defend the Republican Party is more important than their oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution.

We have to remember that when Bush and his administration say they will do something, they usually do the reverse. That makes talk very cheap in this administration. Which means that's the only thing that is cheap.

We need a Ross Perot chart that has on one side the things this administration has done for Americans and on the other side the things this administration has done against Americans.

Yes, it is a new season. A Democratic season.

THIS NEEDS TO BE A POLITICAL SWORD IN November used to go after these republican incumbents.They are complicit to this by not doing their sworn responsibilty to the office they held,and it`s time to put people in who will!We need honesty,integrity,and a message that this vote is not for sale!We are about 7 months away from elections,and they are huge!My senses tell me that the people in office want to slowly keep things going the way they are,and keep letting the repubs do what they are doing.Somewhere along the way the Democratic Party needs to stand up!I pray that they know what they are doing.This country and it`s freedom are at stake.I truthfully don`t think this country can withstand another 2 plus years of W. if he maintains a majority in both the house&senate.

THIS NEEDS TO BE A POLITICAL SWORD IN November used to go after these republican incumbents.They are complicit to this by not doing their sworn responsibilty to the office they held,and it`s time to put people in who will!We need honesty,integrity,and a message that this vote is not for sale!We are about 7 months away from elections,and they are huge!My senses tell me that the people in office want to slowly keep things going the way they are,and keep letting the repubs do what they are doing.Somewhere along the way the Democratic Party needs to stand up!I pray that they know what they are doing.This country and it`s freedom are at stake.I truthfully don`t think this country can withstand another 2 plus years of W. if he maintains a majority in both the house&senate.