Subject: 60 votes to win
Date: 3/19/2008 6:46 AM

Dear MoveOn member,

It’s happened again and again this year, on every issue we care about. Iraq. Health care. The climate crisis. Strong bills have sailed through the US House, only to stall in the face of Republican obstruction in the Senate. Republicans are on pace to double the Congressional record for the most filibusters.

Here’s the good news: Republicans are defending 23 Senate seats next year, compared to just 12 for the Democrats. Democrats could gain as many as 60 seats in the Senate, enough to break Republican filibusters and usher in a new era of progressive reform.

We’ve got a plan to take advantage of every seat that’s in play, make even more races competitive, and create a progressive majority that will last for a generation. But it’s going to take sustained support from you to pull it off and there’s no time to waste. Can you contribute $15 per month (you can cancel at any time) from now through Election Day?

Last year, the Senate Republicans obstructed numerous bills including stalling health insurance for the children who need it most and blocking a time-line to bring the troops home from Iraq.

Now look at some of the proposals from the Democratic presidential candidates that will almost certainly take 60 votes in the Senate to pass:

No more blank checks in Iraq

...

Bogus. From FAIR:

In fact, if the Democrat-controlled Congress wanted to force the Bush administration to accept a bill with a withdrawal timeline, it didn't have to pass the bill over Bush's veto—it just had to make clear that no Iraq War spending bill without a timeline would be forthcoming. Given that the Constitution requires Congress to approve all spending, Bush needs Congress's approval to continue the war—Congress does not need Bush's approval to end the war.

Democrats may not have wanted to pay the supposed political costs of such a strategy, but...this was a choice, not something forced on them by the lack of a veto-proof majority.

MoveOn: shitting in your mouth and calling it a sundae since...since whenever it was they started lying to you to get you to the polls.

Note to MoveOn: Stick with 'McCain will make it worse' instead of 'Democrats will make it better'. You'll get a similar electoral outcome without completely shredding your integrity. You might find this useful a few years into the Dem presidency when America is collectively smacking its forehead that the war continues and you are facing declining membership because the rank-and-file suspects you're just a bunch of power-hungry Party whores. People are going to be very upset when your candidates don't deliver. Your apologetics are going to look feeble if anyone bothers to compare them to your past promises. Best to start thinking ahead.