Procrastinet

Draining The Swamp: The First 100 Hours of a Democratic House

filed under: Stuff to be pissed off about

FINALLY.

I've been lamenting the absence of a centralized Democratic message, a concise "if you throw out the GOP and give us control of congress, this is exactly what we will do."

Nancy Pelosi has finally laid it out, in a soundbite-worthy plan for the "First 100 Hours of a Democratic House of Representatives."

Here's the AP story on it.

Key grafs:

Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours, time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule.

[snip]

Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."

Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds — "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.

All the days after that: "Pay as you go," meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority.

To do that, she said, Bush-era tax cuts would have to be rolled back for those above "a certain level." She mentioned annual incomes of $250,000 or $300,000 a year and higher, and said tax rates for those individuals might revert to those of the Clinton era.

Here's how I would love to see people repeating this rhetoric:

1) Drain the Swamp after 10 years of Republican control, with votes for sale to the highest bidder and unquestioning protection of big money interests over the American people.

2) Break the Link between lobbyists and legislation - the bought-and-paid-for GOP House system of Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, and Jack Abramoff.

3) Enact the recommendations of the 9/11 commission - it's been five years since 9/11, isn't it time?

4) Raise the minimum wage, start rewarding work instead of wealth.

5) Allow stem cell research. 'Nuff said.

6) Stop building the deficit. Record surplus to record deficit in only 6 years of unbroken Republican control.

CLEAN HOUSE. DRAIN THE SWAMP. These are the phrases that need to be associated with a Democratic takeover. If you give a shit about any of this, start using them.

The GOP is desperately worried right now, and they're using boogeymen like "cut-and-run" to scare people about a Democratic Congress. They want people to be afraid of a Democratic takeover. The agenda above is not scary - it's stuff a vast majority of America believes in. Help get the word out.

Posted by rjt at October 6, 2006 11:42 AM