House Votes Overwhelmingly To Condemn MoveOn; Large Majority Of Dems Votes "Aye"

Comments (27)

SquarePeg wrote on September 26, 2007 3:25 PM:

As a daily reader of your site, I was truly disappointed at your coverage regarding a significant population of this country, namely the Jena 6. I understand that your demographic is not composed of a majority of African-Americans, nevertheless I am sure if polled you would have a greater number of African-Americans who read and contribute to your blog.

With all the ranting about the inequalities of the justice system as it pertains to the Constitution, the hypocrisy of the Republican Party and other areas of interest to all Americans, it was disheartening to believe and by your actions, your disinterest in an event that affects the lives of families throughout this country on a daily basis, regarding the unequal treatment of African-Americans when having to deal with the not so-justice system in this country.

I am underwhelmed by your obvious indifference, I would never have belived that someone who purports to be a progressive would not have any comments on such an issue as this, so I will let the words of the Democratic Strategist speak for me:

Jena and the Internet
At the start of school last year, a black freshman at Jena High School in Louisiana asked his principal if he could sit beneath a tree, which was reserved by tradition for white students only. The administrator told the student he could sit where he pleased, and the freshman and his friends ate their lunch in the shade. The next day, three nooses hung from the tree, and ever since, the small town in LaSalle Parish has been ripped apart.

Things came to a head when six black teenagers were arrested and charged with assault and then attempted murder after a fight with a white student. Last week in Jena, more than 10,000 people, some of whom drove throughout the night, showed up to protest the arrests.

You've probably heard about Jena by now. But when the story first broke, there was little or no mention of it in the major precincts of the progressive blogosphere (including, just to be clear about it, this one). At Facing South (the blog for the Institute for Southern Studies), Chris Kromm did a post last Thursday, the day of the Jena march, that notes the lack of comment. His quick survey looked like this:

* DailyKos features a handful of posts about injustice in Iraq today -- but not a single entry on its main page, or even its user-generated "diaries," about this important case.
* TalkingPointsMemo, a favorite of the DC wonk set, is similarly incensed about foreign policy, but apparently not about racial justice in the South -- nothing there either.

* Long-time progressive blogger Atrios doesn't have a lot of posts up, but found time to touch on Paul Krugman, Iraq and the state of the Euro -- but not this major issue.

* Surely TalkLeft -- which has positioned itself as the leading progressive blog about criminal justice issues -- would have something? Think again -- not a single mention, not even in the quick news briefs!

* What about another progressive favorite, FireDogLake? A rant about Republicans being "little bitches," but nothing on the Jena 6.

When the Jena 6 does make an appearance on progressive blogs today, it's little more than a passing nod. Huffington Post has a blog post buried below the fold; ThinkProgress gives it a two-sentence news brief.

Now, in the wake of the protests, the bloggers are a bit more talkative about Jena, and Ezra Klein is one of those who commented on the late-developing coverage, saying: "[The silence] is telling as to the tenuous relationship between the online left and what's more traditionally been the left."

But outside the major blogs, the Internet hasn't been silent on this issue. On Facebook, there are more than 500 groups, with thousands of members, which reference Jena. On YouTube, there are more than 1,600 videos that mention the town, including this one -- which has been seen more than 1 million times. A Google Blog Search today yielded nearly 40,000 results. The Wikipedia entry is 2 months old, 3,000 words long, and contains 39 footnotes. In the progressive Christian community, the blogs are all over this. Obviously, Jena has been a lead topic on the African-American blogosphere (on sites that cover everything from politics to hip-hop) for months.

So why did the big progressive sites take so long to focus on Jena? Ezra's take that this was an "issue of the traditional left" is off-target. The big-name civil rights figures had to scramble to catch up with Jena. There wasn't a central planning committee directing yesterday's protests -- the organization came together from the bottom up. The protests in Jena were the result of conversation and debate on the social networks, in blogs, over message boards, through email, and on African-American radio shows. It looked like a true, decentralized, "people-powered" movement.

The big progressive blogs missed the story initially for a variety of reasons, including their and their readership's demographics, but also because of their focus on developments in Washington and in electoral politics. As the Jena story reached a critical point last week, most blogs were overwhelmingly focused on the Kabuki theater of the Senate debate on Iraq and MoveOn.

Ten thousand people marching on Jena is pretty substantive proof that the online left is bigger and more diverse than readers of Daily Kos. In fact, it extends beyond blogs altogether, as illustrated by the role of social networks in creating and channeling energy towards the Jena protests. The Rev. Al Sharpton said that the protests marked the start of a 21st century civil rights movement. Jena might also mark the start of a new phase in online progressive politics as well.

I am having concerns about ever reading your blogs or posts since apparently the feeling of shared concerns is not shared.

hoppy wrote on September 26, 2007 3:41 PM:

So, both houses of congress now are on record for ignoring the first amendment to the Constitution. This is a law, even though it does not call itself a law. It is Congress passing a law interfering with the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press.
Sadly, the Democrats also want to repeal that first amendment. All I can think of that is appropriate to say is, "dumb sh**s".

phil james wrote on September 26, 2007 3:42 PM:

Wow. Pelosi has about as much control of the House as Reid does in the Senate. Pretty soon we'll have resolutions introduced condemning the majority party in both houses for not sufficiently supporting the troops and CinC and procedural rules will require the Dems to vote Aye overwhelmingly. Then there will be a forced vote on requiring as many Dems to retire as members on the other side of the aisle to level the playing field which also will, through procedural maneuvers, force an Aye vote by the Dems. AT this point Pelosi and Reid will hand their gavels over to Dick Cheney in a ceremony broadcast by the Fox Ministry of Propaganda and Disinformation and we can all go back to whining about a Repub controlled Congress.

Agree about the Jena6 but that needs another page.

seroj wrote on September 26, 2007 3:43 PM:

You need to correct your first paragraph. You have the vote as 341-179; it was actually 341-79.

Kelly Burnett wrote on September 26, 2007 3:43 PM:

This Government from the President on down should be impeached. There laughable incompetence is unbearable. Free speech is just that, how dare these hypocrites who are suppose to uphold the Constitution put something like this on the floor. My patience has run out with these selfserving pukes, it time for a change! I am not proud to be an American. The contempt I hold for this government is beyond measuring! Phucking cowards!!!!

CT Voter wrote on September 26, 2007 3:55 PM:

Why is that Republicans are so successful at "forcing" votes on crap, and the Democrats so unsuccessful at avoiding this BS?

And SquarePeg? I would recommend going to TPMCafe, and blogging your post.

It's a worthwhile discussion topic.

For TPMCafe, or Atrios, or TalkingPointsMemo, Americablog, Firedoglake, ThinkProgress. Election Central? Seems a bit distant, but maybe that's the problem you're pointing out.

Legalize wrote on September 26, 2007 4:16 PM:

Is Canada hiring?

skip4PEACE wrote on September 26, 2007 4:35 PM:

Once again, the dems fail to provide leadership and conviction to the bill of rights. This road of bending over to the right is just a major let down! The house leadership is failing us and hurting our chances in 2008! Why haven't they gone after Rove, Miers, etc! Are they blind???

oleeb wrote on September 26, 2007 4:43 PM:

This vote, as well as the cowardice and stupidity it represents, illustrates quite clearly why we need Moveon and how much work we have to do. It never ceases to amaze me how cowardly the congressional Democrats are or how low they are willing to go in order to debase themselves as they cower before the big, bad, mean Republicans and their bullshit political stunts. A pox on them!

PlacitasRoy wrote on September 26, 2007 4:53 PM:

I sent the following e-mail to the NM Party Chair:

What in the HELL is going on!?
100% accurate advertisement and gutless wonders let the SLIME-BOAT LYING SONS-O-BITCHES attack the 1st amendment?! WTF?!

UDALL - one of the turncoats!!! Worse than Bingaman's Bankruptcy sell-out!

Don't insult me by asking for any money! All political donations are going to move on.com

With leadership demonstrated over the last 8 months it is obvious we will never take back the country. I am so disheartened I just want to weep for my grandson!

Terry wrote on September 26, 2007 5:29 PM:

I already did not vote for Herb Kohl and Sensenbrenner is the Congressman from my Distict, but I gave money to the Democrats the last election cycle and I feel that I have been robbed.

Fellow Traveler wrote on September 26, 2007 5:32 PM:

the democrats in the house and senate vote to attack one of the organizations that was a key to their 2006 electoral success instead of attacking their corrupt repubenron opponents; hillary clinton states that the u.n. should not have veto power over american foreign policy, which is, of course, the same argument that the far right wing has always used in opposing the u.n.; the demo leadership claims that they have no way to end the illegal, immoral, and ill-conceived occupation of iraq when they, in fact, do via the pursestrings. and, that same leadership makes a lot of noise with threats of sanctions and supeonas against the executive branch for a myriad of transgressions...and then do nothing.

it should now be apparent to all that this democratic party is controlled by those who don't want to end the war, who disavow the united nations, and who suffer from a severe lack of competent and courageous leadership.

they go by the name of the democratic leadership council and they have abandoned the core values of the party for a self serving, republican lite "wall street democratic party" that is more than willing to address the needs of the sick, the poor, the working class, and minorities...as long as it doesn't negatively affect their investment portfolios.

we cannot save the country until we save the democratic party and return it to the values embodied in the new deal, the fair deal, the new frontier, and the great society, and until it once again makes itself the party of the people against the special interests and wealthy elite.

tatere wrote on September 26, 2007 5:36 PM:

I hope that everyone remembers that the fabulous Rahm Emanuel voted for this piece of crap the next time he comes calling asking for money on behalf of the DCCC...

SusanUnpC wrote on September 26, 2007 6:32 PM:

SquarePeg, please check BoomanTribune.com and NoQuarterUSA.net -- we both ran Steven D's excellent piece on the Jena 6.

dasher wrote on September 26, 2007 6:33 PM:

"using a `motion to recommit' procedural motion, which they are automatically allowed on every bill and which does not need to be announced beforehand, Republicans forced a vote"

Well, isn't that special. How come Democrats NEVER managed to do anything like this when they were in the minorityl No, they were complelely cowed!

And I'm completely disgusted.

phil james wrote on September 26, 2007 6:50 PM:

As it turns out the thug party apparently is just WAY better than the Dems at this Congressional legislative process thing. They know the rules and subrules inside and out. They know how to play bank shots and how to launch surprise gotcha votes. And the Dems apparently must be baffled by the thugs success since its the Dems who, believe it or not, are actually supposed to be setting the agenda, running the process, you know, because they are now the MAJORITY party in both Houses of Congress. The good news though is it looks like the Dems will soon be back in the minority and then we can really watch them do their thing. And oh yeah, congrats Nancy and Harry on your next careers.

Arabi wrote on September 26, 2007 7:11 PM:

I don't know why this hasn't been mentioned:

In Arabic, there is no "p" sound (voiceless bilabial plosive), so it is often replaced with a "b" sound (voiced bilabial plosive).

Hence Colin Powell was known as "Colin Bowel" in Arabic.

And Petraeus would be pronounced like "Betray Us" in Arabic.

looking for a leader wrote on September 26, 2007 8:36 PM:

Like a bunch of grade-schoolers expressing revenge because the adults refused to let them fail. Maybe it's clean sweep time.

David1234 wrote on September 26, 2007 9:01 PM:

I would like to see the House and Senate pass resolutions condemming what the Bush administration did to General Shinseki and others in the military who had the courage to simply tell the truth. It seems to me that was real disrespect for those in uniform, and much more serious than calling someone who was trying to mislead the public a name.

Alfred E. Newman wrote on September 26, 2007 11:52 PM:

I got an email from MoveOn about the vote in the House, pointing out that my Representative voted for the condemnation of MoveOn. The email asked me to call my Representative. I forwarded the email to her, and then called up her local office and told them I was disappointed in her vote. "It was a terrible vote" I said. This Representative is a first term Democrat who ran on a campaign to "stand up to Bush". She also voted to continue the war funding last spring.

Then the Democrats tell us they can't get any legislation through because of the Republicans.

Next time I get a request for a contribution from the DCCC or any other Democrat I will tell them that I already made a contribution to MoveOn, and they should go ask them.

Tsuu wrote on September 27, 2007 12:28 AM:

LOL @ Jena 6 post. As people who live in that town know, the media story is filled with inaccuracies.

http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2007/09/jena.php

Chuckwrox wrote on September 27, 2007 2:16 AM:

Newb: I'm not very adept at reading all that legalese, so I'm having trouble finding the part that's got my representatives rolling over on me. I'm sure it must be in there, somewhere, but my text search fails after 'MO' when searching for 'MOVEON'.

The version posted on the Library of Congress' site and referenced by the Congressional Record and Legislative Archive must not be the final version, it's dated 9/25/2007, and I gather this steaming pile plopped out today, 9/26/2007?

Maybe it will be there in the morning, eh?

Ray wrote on September 27, 2007 2:41 AM:

Hoppy: "So, both houses of congress now are on record for ignoring the first amendment to the Constitution."

Actually, both Houses are on record as telling you Soros-funded assclowns at moveon.org to take your libel and shove it up your ass.

And maybe that you traitors don't own the Democratic Party as you might think.

Petraeus has *9* rows of ribbons on his chest. He's seen combat and been a leader of men and women (that lets you moveon.org pieces of shit out) for decades.

HOW DARE YOU LYING MOTHERFUCKERS CALL HIM A TRAITOR AND A LIAR?

Ray wrote on September 27, 2007 2:45 AM:

looking for a leader wrote on September 26, 2007 8:36 PM:
"Like a bunch of grade-schoolers expressing revenge because the adults refused to let them fail. Maybe it's clean sweep time."

You're right.

Let's start by investigating Pariser and Soros for treason and violation of the tax codes.

Already a convicted criminal, George Soros should be "denaturalized" and his fat, Hungarian ass kicked out of the country.

Ray wrote on September 27, 2007 2:59 AM:

Since SquarePeg brought up Jena....

6 teenage thugs beat the snot out of another, lone, teenager. One of these "yutes" (he's a juvinile) has 4 felony convictions, and you fucktards think that keeping this menace to society in jail without bail IS SOME KIND OF A CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATION?

Where was your self-righteous rage when Hugh Christopher Newsom, Jr., 23, and Channon Gail Christian, 21 were raped, murdered and mutilated by *4* black men and women? Oh, I forgot, Newsom and Christian were WHITE and that excuses them! Oh wait, so was the teenager your hero beat up in Jena.

This isn't SELMA.

This isn't LITTLE ROCK.

The little thug is getting due process. You've got NOTHING to complain about.

This whole thing is because race whores Al "Tawana" Sharpton and Jesse "Pastor Pussy" Jackson got on their private jets and drove out in their rented limos to get you fucktard guilt-ridden liberals to cough up some pocket money "for the cause."

God are you people STUPID!

runescape money wrote on December 6, 2007 2:10 AM:

runescape money runescape gold runescape money runescape gold wow power leveling wow powerleveling Warcraft Power Leveling Warcraft PowerLeveling buy runescape gold buy runescape money runescape items runescape gold runescape money runescape accounts runescape gp dofus kamas buy dofus kamas Guild Wars Gold buy Guild Wars Gold lotro gold buy lotro gold lotro gold buy lotro gold lotro gold buy lotro gold runescape money runescape power leveling runescape money runescape gold dofus kamas cheap runescape money cheap runescape gold Hellgate Palladium Hellgate London Palladium Hellgate money Tabula Rasa gold tabula rasa money lotro gold buy lotro gold Tabula Rasa Credit Tabula Rasa Credits Hellgate gold Hellgate London gold dofus kamas buy dofus kamas 血管瘤 肝血管瘤 音乐剧 北京富码电视 富码电视 富码电视台 7天酒店 7天连锁酒店 7天连锁 自清洗过滤器 过滤器 压力开关 压力传感器 流量开关 流量计 液位计 液位开关 温湿度记录仪 风速仪 可燃气体检测仪 wow power leveling wow powerleveling Warcraft PowerLeveling Warcraft Power Leveling World of Warcraft PowerLeveling World of Warcraft Power Leveling runescape power leveling runescape powerleveling
runescape money runescape gold wow power leveling 棕榈树
eve isk
eve online isk
eve isk
eve online isk

runescape money wrote on December 6, 2007 2:13 AM:

runescape money runescape gold runescape money runescape gold wow power leveling wow powerleveling Warcraft Power Leveling Warcraft PowerLeveling buy runescape gold buy runescape money runescape items runescape gold runescape accounts runescape gp dofus kamas buy dofus kamas Guild Wars Gold buy Guild Wars Gold runescape accounts buy runescape accounts runescape lotro gold buy lotro gold lotro gold buy lotro gold lotro gold buy lotro gold lotro gold buy lotro gold runescape money runescape power leveling runescape money runescape gold dofus kamas cheap runescape money cheap runescape gold Hellgate Palladium Hellgate London Palladium Hellgate money Tabula Rasa gold tabula rasa money lotro gold
buy lotro gold Tabula Rasa Credit
Tabula Rasa Credits

Post a comment

Name:
Email Address:
URL:
	Remember personal info?
Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)