"The only thing I can say in favor of my party is the other one is worse."

What do you expect, miracles? There are only 49 Democrats in the U.S. Senate, plus 2 Independents who support them to varying degrees (note that one is Lieberman), vs. 49 Republicans. And the Republicans have ALWAYS been better at marching in lockstep.

With constant filibusters, it takes 60 votes to pass anything, and that's before considering the likely veto from a Republican president. It takes, what, 67 votes to override that?

Hey, I'm not happy with what many of our Congressmen have done, either. Like most politicians, they generally have no political courage whatsoever (if they do, they don't get elected). But individually, some have done well (usually those in a safely Democratic district) and others haven't. This is reality. Get used to it.

Or work to elect more Democrats. As long as the divide is so narrow, you won't see anything but a logjam. Well, until Barack Obama takes the presidency, anyway. Having a president behind you is a BIG help.

I agree Tom. I remember way, way back when, before the election process started, we turned our outrage and our voices to our members in congress. The scandals of the Bush Administration racked up daily. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, BAM!

Trying to get our dem reps to get a backbone after so many years being the underdog is a Herculean task. It seems our voices have turned more to this election process, thus letting off on the heat.

There is truly only so much we can do with the current batch we have there in Washington. The best we can do is look to next year and get the best person possible in the WH to counter all of this.

The Hillary vs. Obama struggle is not easy. While once we would have been happy with either, it is becoming quite clear that one offers more of the same dreaded deadlock, while the other has the REAL potential to not only get things done but bring others like him to elected office.

But I agree we cannot just narrowly observe the campaign alone. Too much is going on that will not be easily (if not impossible) to reverse. FISA for one, getting to the bottom of NSA's program. Why haven't they called Mark Klein or Babak Pasdar both with intimate legally documented knowledge of the widespread abuse?

While fillibusters are a problem, there is no problem with calling for hearings. The dems hold all the chairmanships. What is the deal? What don't they want to uncover right now? Is it political manuvering when our privacy is as stake?
We have to know who to dump in the next election.