I think it more important to go for Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfwitz, Feith, Rove, Even Rice....

Totally discredit them and make sure they don't get near an administration again... Show the Neocon way is finished..

Bush is gone going for the killl would be only spiteful and play in 2008

More important than what? This would be preferable to say, running the government?

The "neocon way", like communism before it, has done that all on its own. If people want to believe that hegemony and nation-building are solid foreign policies, leave them to their delusions.

This seems to contradict what you just said...

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

That's an easy one, Matt. Get the troops out of Iraq. Broaden our security in the US, if terrorists are really a threat over here. The more here, the merrier. I once tried to explain it in hockey terms, but the person here didn't get it... basically if the goalie is in the net, versus leaving the net open and going after the forwards, chances are, it serves as much better probability of not getting a goal scored against the goalie.

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Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.

- George Orwell, 1984

As opposed to the last two years? Frankly I would rather nothing is accomplished than having congress take us backward

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

Look guys I have no great love for the conservatives of my party. Frankly this time I voted more for Democrats than I did for Republicans. However this election was driven by moderates. 47% of the people that voted described themselves as moderates. That runs the gamut from center left to center right but for the most part I think we moderates have one thing in common. We are pretty tired of both the liberals and the conservatives and the petty partisanship. If the Dems come out and decide to try and impeach Bush it will be a very short lived Democratic majority. Investigations to some extent I agree with, however the Dems will have to be very careful how they aer conducted and the scope of those investigations. They will have to reign in the more liberal elements like Conyers, Levin, Wrangle etal whose investigations would tend to be purely partisan witch hunts. If there is something to investigate fine, put the cards on teh table and move forward. If they simply go looking for things I will vote Republican next time to give the Dems a message the same way I voted Dem this time to wake the Repubs up. I suspect I am not alone in this regard. While I may be a registered Republican, my days of party affiliation are long since over. Whichever party comes to the understanding that it is people like me that control their success in elections first and acts accordingly will get my vote more often than not.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

Alot of sense there... A tip is to go for Single transfer methods of voting... It allows a number of members to run from the same party and allows everybody to select from there favourites in the party...

It usually creates houses which is more representive but allot more central to peoples beliefs... Europe is a big fan of this system and have very central politics(Europe in general is more left than US).

That's a talking point, not a plan. What's the PLAN?

By the way, exactly how long have you been voting?

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It seems to me you are asking IM to give you something your guy never really gave us. Iraq has been talking points from the very begining.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

Again with the awful analogies. The military isn't the "goalie," unless your proposing the breaking of US law and having the military play a part in securing the homeland.

Still, "both" (as if there are only two!) sides of the war deny the importance of the enemy ideology.

The democrats wish to cut and run, and think that by staying on the defensive we can "win" (false, by the simple fact that no conflict is won on the defensive; yet the dems insist that a terrorist and a theif are fundamentally the same thing and msut be dealt with the same way) whilst the Republicans insist two fallacies - one, that it is our moral duty to sacirifce brave soldiers that the barbaric countries we conquer can have the freedom to vote themselves into slavery to Islam, and two, that the epicenters of Islamic ideology - Saudi Arabi and Iran - are not important enough threats to the Republic to warrant military action, but that Iraq (which was, at worst, a logsitical support center to the terrorists, in the form of funding) is.

The fundamental error of both sides is the same. As usual, the democrats are more consistent about following the premise - they have identified that, if you are going to ignore the ideological component that motivates the terrorists, they are fundamentally like any other criminal.

But, unfortunately for them, a terrorist is fundamentally unlike a criminal. A criminal seeks the gaining of values without productive work; a terrorist, the destruction of values in order to manipulate the policy of a country he despises. If trained by an organization that zealously spreads the ideology which results in this, it is the responsibility of the government to hunt down and destroy that ideology as an organized force in the world, no matter where that leads them.

Will that stop terrorism completely? No, there will always be nutcases. But that is not the purpose. The purpose is to destroy any organizations that makes them much more effective, by coordinating their activities, funding them and spreading their ideology throughout the world.

To say that because terrorism can never be stopped, we shouldn't war with the countries that harbor terrorist groups and sponsor it at home and abroad, is akin to saying because thugs will always exist, we should not persue to break up organized crime syndicates.

Which is exactly the point. Dems have been saying; "We have a plan.", "We need to protect our rights.", "Action, rather than talk."

So, now protect our rights, (especially the right to keep and bear arms), end the War in Iraq without cutting and running, balance the budget without raising taxes and make us all safe from terrorists without becoming onerous and listening in on telephone conversations.

It's one thing to be the Loyal Opposition, but quite another to have to perform as the Ruling Party. All I see in the future is two years of still trying to "get" Bush, nothing accomplished and a wasted opportunity to show that Dems are really able to accomplish what they promise. They will prove to be worthless, self-centered politicians, just like they proclaim Repubs to be.

Go ahead. Prove that Bush is behind 9/11. Prove that Bush manipulated oil prices to make his friends rich. Prove all the conspiracy theories. When all is said and done, it will be one group of petulant children pointing their fingers and accusing another group of petulant children of being partisan. Maybe now all the students whose political awareness only goes back to Clinton will realize that there is more to governing than "Hate Bush" talking points. Now they have to perform, or they're just like what they proclaim to hate. Life's kind of a bitch that way.

As Homer Simpson once said, "DOH!"

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I think we should impeach and convict President Bush and then place a potato in Bush's place. It will be the same thing (both are vegetables) except the potato won't work as hard to fuck up America.

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Little known fact #46: Every definition of a given word in a dictionary is used equally as often.

Little known fact #53: Your testicles serve only one purpose: to reproduce. Every other function is a complete accident.

Little known fact #65: Because the human body does not prepare for death, humans never die.

I see we're off to a good start. So THIS is the Dem's plan?

The "hate Bush" plan is obsolete. Are you going to spend the next two years doing nothing but trying to get revenge on Bush? If you expect to keep power, this is not a good idea.

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its all they want to do

its all they have talked about for , forever

it is what they will do

and once again america has to take a bite out of a suck sandwich

Not to nitpick, but other than cut taxes and stay the course, I wasn't aware of any "Republican plan" for the last six years. And we can all see how well things have turned out with that plan.

But okay - I'll bite. Here's the Democrats' plan - most of it I lifted from the DNC homepage.

1. Restore honesty and openness in the government.

Work to pass Congressional ethics reform
Work to pass campaign finance reform
Challenge in court any President's right to ignore laws legally passed by Congress and signed into law by the President
Immediately halt any electronic surveillance of US persons being conducted in a manner that is contrary to existing law (FISA)
Immediately begin to fulfill the oversight responsiblity that Congress has largely neglected for the last six years

2. Provide real homeland security

Resist any efforts to pre-emptively attack any other country without first [1] reaching broad consensus that the country poses a real and immediate danger to this country and [2] using all diplomatic and economic pressure to resolve the situation
Immediately begin to re-deploy US troops from Iraq; begin direct talks with Iran and other Middle East countries concerning the sovereignty and security of Iraq
Improve border and port security, especially through the use of technology to examine ship cargo and to stem the flow of illegal immigrants
Re-invest in the Guard and Reserve so that they may assume more responsibility for homeland security rather than fighting wars overseas, as well as taking the lead for natural disaster relief
Immediately seek to enact the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission

3. Improve energy resources

Repeal any tax cut passed in the last six years that gave oil companies (now reporting record profits) any tax breaks
Invest this money in alternative energy sources developed in the country, employing US citizens
Provide additional tax relief to individuals and companies that use alternative energy sources at home or work

4. Grow the economy so that we all benefit

Repeal any tax cut passed in the last six years that cut any taxes on the rich (rich defined as an annual income in excess of $500K per year)
Raise the minimum wage, as so many states have already done
Make college more affordable to everyone: make college tuition tax-deductible, expand the Pell grants
Reduce or eliminate any tax benefit given to any company that ships jobs overseas
Bring government spending under control: eliminate earmarks, pass individual appropriations bills for the various parts of the government rather than one massive omnibus bill, balance the budget

5. Improve health care for all

Fix Medicare Part D and allow for prescription drug price negotiation and drug importation
Provide universal health care to all US citizens
Encourage and invest in stem cell research

6. Fix Social Security

Work to change social security so that people living on social security are provided with sufficient funds, making their retirement secure
Provide additional avenues to citizens still working to save more for retirement, and have those savings safe from Enron-like abuse

7. Protect the environment

Enforce environmental laws already on the books
Block any exploration or drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge
Encourage car manufacturers via tax incentives and stiff fines to develop, sell, and promote more efficient automobiles

8. Ensure justice and liberty for all

Hold all members of all branches of government equally responsible to uphold the Constitution
Immediately stop all surveillance, detainment, and interrogation of US citizens that are contrary to the Constitution
Re-examine the Patriot Act and make any changes needed to comply with the full protections of civil liberties under the Constitution
Encourage and enforce the separation of church and state
Examine and make all needed changes to our election laws so that each voter is assured that they are able to vote and that their vote is counted

9. Re-establish the United States as the leader of the free world

Immediately stop and denounce the practice of torture
Comply fully with all provisions of the Geneva Conventions
Re-energize mutual defense treaties
Renew our commitment to the United Nations, and work with the international community for the betterment of all

It's a lot, and at the same time, it's not nearly enough. And all Democrats won't agree with all parts, but then, when did we all agree on anything?

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Curly

The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

- Hermann Goering

Spad if you insist on taking the utterings of the fringe and assigning it as a basic belief in the entire party no wonder you feel the way you do. That is like people taking the utterances of David Duke or some other equally assenine Republican like oh say maybe Pat Robertson, and assuming all Republicans think like he does and want what he wants.

Actually Dems do not really have to do anything with respect to Iraq. Oh I am sure Repubs will continue to make this claim, but in the end foreign affairs is the Presidents responsibility. All the Dems have to do is excercise some oversight and they will be able to claim that they are meeting their consitutional responsibilities, ones the Repub congress abdicated by choice I might remind you. In the eyes of the public that will look like they are doing something the previuous guys refused to do.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu