Human, all to human...

Stabenow (D-MI) is the #3 in Democratic leadership. How can we have a Senator in leadership voting this way?

STEVE AND ALL OF YOU WHO READ THIS BLOG. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE ANSWER IS BUT IT IS NOT THE DEMOCRATS. YOU ARE ALL WASTING YOUR TIME HELPING THE DEMS - THEY ARE CORPORATE WHORES LIKE THE REPUBS. WE MUST FIND A BETTER WAY TO FIGHT BACK THAN WITH THE DEMS. THE DEMS ARE A WASTE OF TIME!

Sen Ron Wyden (OR-D) was always my Paul Wellstone.

He's not very telegenic, so maybe that's why we don't see him often.

but he's always been on the average-American's side

No doubt Steve, we'll get the usual Joe Biden war story on Air America. How he faced down the Repubs and made powerful demands and how Joe Biden saved us all before he did his typical dive into the tank. Then Al Franken will congratulate him and tell him what a great American etc....

Because as Joe Biden has said so many times "to err is human to forgive divine". You know he made that up all by himself.

Color me disgusted.

I was sitting home sick yesterday and happened to have CSpan on when the cloture vote was being taken.

I was expecting three or four Democrats to vote with the Repubs on this (Johnson, Nelson-NE, and the DE twins, Carper and Biden).

I could hardly believe it when I woke up this morning to find that 14 Democrats had thrown consumers under the bus for the credit card oligarchy.

I'm truly at a loss as to what the party stands for, where we go from here, or even whether the party actually exists.

Bulworth - the dems are dead - don't waste your time or money on them. They continually betray us - we have a one party system - the corporations- and the dems and repubs are their whores.

I'm truly at a loss as to what the party stands for, where we go from here, or even whether the party actually exists.

Bingo Bulworth.

Steve, great rant....moral bankruptcy YES! I never imagined I would say this but I am questioning and wondering if perhaps Nader was right, there really is no difference between democrats and republicans.

OK maybe there is, At least I know republicans lie with impugnity, will support big bidness and corporate america over the average american at every turn but I expect that from them. I don't expect that from the Democrats.

I am extremely frustrated right now, where is Howard Dean...time to rally the base.

can't have no wellstones if you got no stones

I'm a registered Republican who sees no difference between the two parties. Republicans, Democrats, they are both self-serving sides of the same coin, whose only real loyalty lies with the highest-bidding lobbyist that walked out their office door.

After becoming so disillusioned with Bush (and the Neo-Cons), whose only "conservative" trait is he's a "born-again" ex-drunkard, I considered switching my party affiliation to Democrat. But then I ask myself, why bother?

This bankruptcy bill is heinous. As posted earlier it only serves the banks that created the mess in the first place. But maybe there is a silver lining in that once consumers learn of their lack of bankruptcy protection , maybe they'll be less likely to bet the farm on debt and quit biting at the "come-ons" proffered by these wannabe casino owners called banks.

As money is the mother's milk of politics progressives have two choices. The easiest choice would be to raise so much money through the internet that progressive Dems. can find the courage to eschew Corporate blood money in 2006.

If that doesn't work then in 2008 we must 'take a walk.' The creation of a new party would mean an almost certian GOP win in '08 but the new party would be pure from the start. As our political system is structured so that only two parties can have a realistic chance of winning this would mean the death of the Democrats, which at this point would consist of only 'hanger on wannabees' and a few game playing lawyers.(Yes, I know the troll jokes that we're already there are coming.)

The best possible outcome would be for a victory for the new party in 2012 as the repulsion grows to GOP policies that will continue to becomes more extreme. This is an extremely long shot and hopefully enough progress can be made through the next two years of reforming the party that this discussion can remain academic.

Biden is exactly what his name suggests....biding his time until the next paycheck arrives. He has blown so many directions in the last year his nickname should be "Kite". One week he's taking the Admin to task, the next week he's cooperating with them. I think he likes to see himself on TV and I think his personal opinion of himself is a pretty high one. He is a Politician, not a Democrat. Enter at your own risk.

There are credit cards out there that have lower interest rates than 30%. That may come as a shock to folks here, but you can probably find credit card rates quite a bit lower than 30% with a little searching.

That being said, I don't recommend the use of a credit card unless you pay it off monthly.

Regarding bankruptcies, I think it's easy for folks to abuse it. It'll be interesting to see what happens as long-term rates rise with the growing economy. Because many folks are leveraged to the hilt in real estate; some even have adjustable rate mortgages. There have been many opportunities to lock in rates under 6% for 15 or 30 year terms.

Can you imagine if long term rates went to 8%, 10%, or 12%?

benjoya, hahahhaa, good one

One thing we can do is remind these Dems that we are watching. I just sent emails to Melissa Bean amd Ken Salazar, both of whose campaigns I supported with cash this time, not to bother asking me for money next time around. We don't have as much money to spread around as the big corporations do, but it was small contributers in the aggregate, remember, that kept Kerry competitive in fundraising this year. As the internets giveth, the internets can taketh away. Let these suckers know this costs them money as well as votes.

Your dunces of the month?

"But what about the other Dems who voted for cloture? The full list:

Biden (DE)
Byrd (WV)
Carper (DE)
Conrad (ND)
Johnson (SD)
Kohl (WI)
Landrieu (LA)
Lieberman (CT)
Lincoln (AR)
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Pryor (AR)
Salazar (CO)
Stabenow (MI)

What was their motivation for voting this way? As Atrios points out, many of these senators will vote against the final bill and campaign against the evil bankruptcy bill, but ultimately, this is the vote that will matter most." Hat tip to Daily Kos

Y'all think you can keep 'these' senators from supporting W's SS reform? Don't think so. All of my credit card rates are under 6.49% with one at .90%, none of them intro rates either. You can find and shop lower rates. It just takes a little time on the phone and being current on all your bills. No credit taken here, my wife gets all that.

peter, what happens if you get sick and can't work for a year and you lose your insurance? What happens to your wife then?

I think it's easy for folks to abuse it.

The facts show otherwise. But thank god the wealthy still get the privilege of bancruptcy.

All of my credit card rates are under 6.49% with one at .90%, none of them intro rates either.

Pay them off every month and they all become 0%. You're playing a fools game if you are running credit card debt. Any late bill on ANYTHING, your fault or not, and the rates change dramatically.

Mary, There is short term, long term disability insurance at a very low cost of $8.25 a month.

peter, yup and many people can barely afford their heatlhcare or medications, what makes you think they can afford $ 8.25 without charging them on their credit cards? Please get yourself out of the alternate universe and come back to reality will ya peter. Plus many of those short term &long term disability insurance don't cover as much as you think, and often don't kick in when you find you really need it.

SAD TRUTH ABOUT DEMOCRATS

I wish there were big differences between Repubs and Dems. Sadly, there's is less and less. Just look at California's Feinstein. This Democrat voted FOR the bill to kill the estate tax. Like almost all senators, she is worth a fortune and basically voted for her own narrow interests. Senators like Feinstein call themselves "centrists." They know the difference between their rhetoric and their actions, even if most voters don't. She also voted for Bush's absurd changes to Medicare that were designed to give more money to insurers, hostpitals, HMOs, and drug companies.

Look at our standard bearer, Kerry, who said knowing what he knows "today" he'd still vote yes on the Iraq invasion bill. He was scared to comment on the obvious wi-fi box Bush wore on his back during the debates. He was scared to even oppose those jurisdictions that hired the Diebold Company to count their votes electronically -- with no paper trail. Democratic leaders are weak-kneed, useless people. I say this in sorrow, because bad as they are, they are slightly better than Republicans, and for this reason I opposed Nader anyway.

TheStranger