Those are fightin' words, Ma'am

Lookie here! A Democratic Congressperson has woken up for a brief spell.

Dear Michael, Yesterday, Congresswoman Slaughter and I released a report, "Broken Promises: The Death of Deliberative Democracy," meticulously documenting the alarming assault on our democracy as framed in the Constitution. The report is a 47-page indictment of the unprecedented lengths to which the Republicans have abused their power and manipulated the rules in efforts to squelch dissent, to protect their Members from voting on popular measures that their special interests opposed, and to shut down any and all input from the minority side representing half of this great country. Democrats are not second-class citizens, and we will not stand by quietly as Republicans manipulate our very democracy to cram through Congress a partisan agenda that only rewards their campaign donors. Yesterday we exposed them to the world, but in order to bring it all to a screeching halt, we must have the majority. Congress was intended to be the primary check on the Executive Branch, a responsibility that the Republicans have not only abdicated themselves, but have done everything in their power to prevent us from fulfilling either. For Republicans, democracy and the Constitution are valuable only to the extent they can be used to ensure Republican power, and are to be shunted aside the moment they might get in the way. This is the single most important reason we need to have a Democratic majority in the House - to set the agenda, and restore a government where President Bush and Tom DeLay are not free to run rampant without fear of repercussions. As we show in our report, in 10 short years House Republicans have become the most arrogant, unethical and corrupt majority in modern Congressional history. Stifling deliberation and quashing dissent in the House of Representatives has become the standard operating procedure. Democrats MUST attain the majority in House to bring all of this to an abrupt end. No longer will Republicans be able to marginalize dissent, cover up President Bush's scandals and their own ethical abuses, or manipulate the process to kill legislation that the American people desperately want. Please make a secure contribution today so that we can continue our efforts to recruit candidates, hold the Republicans accountable for their records, and establish the conditions to restore a Democratic majority in America. https://secure.dccc.org/default.aspx?id=democracy Sincerely, Nancy Pelosi House Democratic Leader