I’ve always suspected that you call yourself an independent to impress some little office girls with your deep thought, research and analytical prowess… as evidenced by your thoughtful response. Congrats! You make Dick Cheney look like a saint!

Yes, the illegal Abramoff money went to twice as many Republicans as Democrats. Seems to be logical, since he was a Republican. Yes, more Republicans have been jailed; typical response from Republican leadership is to punish our own wrong-doers, as opposed to Democrats’ reactions.

Yes, Murtha refused to take $50,000, with an inference that the offering was too small, and without slamming the door on future, greater offers. The man is dishonest, scum, and he’s in the right party. Even Foley could have saved his political career if he had simply switched parties.

It is amazing how ever ill in society or the world at large is all the fault of them Evil* LIEbruls… clean air and water=scientists and lobbyists! grrrrrr! “death taxes” that siphon some of the loot from the very rich=grrrrrr! We rethugs failed to stay on target and kill Osama=Dems r surrender monkeys! grrrrrr! Abortion legal?=prepare for political irrelevancy! grrrrrr! Of the 17 reps and senators under indictment, fully 15 of those are Rs=TV drudges (intentional miss-spelt wyrd for all the grammar nazis - oooops invoked Godwin again! grrrrr!) up some crap from 15 years ago! grrrrr! Funny how the vast majority of the illegal Abramoff money went to R pols, yet you fail to list a single one (how many in jail so far?). CREW took Murtha to task over his unindicted Abscam problems (he did actually refuse the $50k btw).

Wait until the Dems subpoena power uncovers the sickening cesspool of Iraq war profiteering. grrrrrr! hahahahaha! Loser.

1. “We encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.” You forgot to add that, when we do so, we will be labeled as nazis.

2. “We will let you marry whomever you wish.” I can be persuaded along the lines of this argument.

3. “We will not spend your grandchildren’s money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends.” Obviously, you’re not talking about death taxes.

4. “We will bring your sons and daughters home [from Iraq], too.” Thanks, but when we are subsequently attacked, how will the perceived nation of cowards be able to convince allies to join in our defense?

5a. “When we… America… universal health coverage.” Will it differ from the other Western countries with regard to years-long waiting lists for medical solutions that are currently available immediately, and will the socialist system treat retirees (non-contributors) be treated equally to active “state contributors” to the government treasury?

5b. “We’ll make sure [stem cell research] advances are made available to you, too.” If you’re talking about adult stem cell research, those many advances are already available to all of us. Embryonic stem cell research is already being conducted. No positive results to date, although lots of researchers and their lobbyists are making big bucks.

6. Thanks for the clean air and water; and, again, the environmental scientists and their lobbyists surely thank you, too.

7. “Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil….” we will hunt him down; unless he shoots back, in which case we’ll surrender.

8. You will continue to support the abortion industry, and when your political base continues to diminish, you’ll wonder why.

9. “We will not take away your hunting guns…” etc. I happen to agree with your contention about automatic weapons. Handguns? Check the steady rise of violent crimes after citizens were deprived of the tools of personal defense in their homes in London.

10. “When we raise the minimum wage…” As Teddy said, “We’ll raise it, and raise it, and raise it, and raise it…” - continue until sober - anything for votes! Interesting personal experience today. My druggist hires 15 high school kids every day for 4 hours each, at minimum wage. Most stand around idly, but he’s trying to provide them an income. He says that when the minimum wage is raised to $7.25, he’ll have to dismiss 5 of them. When it goes to $10, he’ll only keep 6-7. The “laid off” kids will have to look elsewhere for jobs with other employers facing the same dilemma. The 2% of our population that presently work for minimum wage will be better off? Will the government force businesses to hire a set number of employees?

11. “We will respect your religious beliefs…” That will certainly be a refreshing change! Will be still be allowed to ring church bells, or do they constitute too much of a threat?

12. “We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich.” Hmmm. At least 90 Democrats were among the number who accepted about $500,000 in Abramoff money (including Murray, Rangel, Reid, Pelosi, Feinstein, Boxer, Clinton and Kerry), plus another $500,000 to the DSCC, the DCCC, and the RNC. Where will you start? Will there be anyone left in Congress?

Alcee Hastings? William Jefferson? I’m trying to perform an important duty as the loyal opposition.

1. We will always respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never, ever, call you “unpatriotic” simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.

2. We will let you marry whomever you want, even when some of us consider your behavior to be “different” or “immoral.” Who you marry is none of our business. Love and be in love — it’s a wonderful gift.

3. We will not spend your grandchildren’s money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It’s your checkbook, too, and we will balance it for you.

4. When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home, too. They deserve to live. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on either a mistake or a lie.

5. When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you, too, will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that affect you and your loved ones, we’ll make sure those advances are available to you and your family, too.

6. Even though you have opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up our air and water, we, the Democratic majority, will let you, too, breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water.

7. Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.

8. We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.

9. We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren’t much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, pick up another sport. We will make our streets and schools as free as we can from these weapons and we will protect your children just as we would protect ours.

10. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you — and your employees — that new wage, too. When women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage, too.

11. We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don’t put those beliefs into practice. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs (”Blessed are the poor,” “Blessed are the peacemakers,” “Love your enemies,” “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” and “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn’t just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism — starting with the fanaticism here at home, thus setting a good example for the rest of the world.

12. We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and who are bought and paid for by the rich. We will go after any elected leader who puts him or herself ahead of the people. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side FIRST. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.

I promise all of the above to you because this is your country, too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans — and for the rest of the world.

Ramamdan was the reason for the increased attacks, not the election, just like every October. TV, you need to stop twisting things because its making you look like an idiot. Don’t be upset that just because you wanted to “stay the course” and your fellow countrymen and women thought otherwise, it’s called democracy.

I can’t believe you agree with the logic of terrorists. You are contantly quoting Osama and other fanatics. You will say anything without even giving it some thought. We are done talking. You are a a lost cause. I’m so greatful there are less of you in power now.

The end.

I thought Bush personally lowered OPEC prices, then just forgot to raise them back following the election. Of course, he also forgot to reset the global thermostat after the election, so he still owes us few devastating hurricanes.

A bunch of clowns running around in the desert don’t care about American democracy and election results? Then why did they state a resolve to increase casualties (successfully) in the month prior to our elections in order to affect the elections (again, successfully), then celebrate the results?

The simple fact is that they care greatly about the division of our people because that divisiveness is their only chance of winning. As Osama famously said, Americans are cowards who will submit, retreat and surrender if the going gets tough - and, unfortunately, he’s right about half of us.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/16/markets/oil/index.htm?cnn=yes

If anything they’re just upset because now that Bush can’t carry out anymore crazy ideas the price of their oil won’t be so sky high.

So contrary to your ridiculous notion, the results of the US election will actually harm the people you mentioned and their countries because oil will continue to fall in price, thus reducing the coffers of said countries which in turn will hinder their ability to finance terrorism.

Btw, Khameini “Calls American Elections A Victory For Iran,” and al Queda in Iraq seems pleased by the election result, vowing to carry the battle to our mainland once we pull out of there. Is that the “new direction” we’ve heard so much about?

But unfortunately you were working for a campaign that used race (successfully) as a card - that ad was targeted at a specific group, and we all know why. To try to dismiss it is ridiculous. And to come out a month after the fact and say well, that white chick was actually of mexican decent is really quite desperate and that type of trickery explains why your party just lost. Please, keep it up untill 2008…