Michael: A Little Life (on the) Left?
Watch as the GOP holds open a 5 minute vote for nearly an hour and Democrats chant "Shame!" on the House floor. (Quicktime) It seems the GOP needed to twist a few arms to float an oil industry subsidy through the House on the bloated bodies of Katrina's dead.Once again, a bill to line the pockets of a chosen industry was wholly rewritten in the GOP House caucus, from which Democrats are excluded, and circulated just hours before a vote was scheduled, giving Democrats, and even some Republicans, no time to even read the bill. Our House is being run like a seedy third-world junta.
After the Democrats rose repeatedly to voice their outrage with points of parlementary inquiry, the acting Speaker closed the vote after three swing Republicans were finally browbeaten or bribed into changing their votes. One wonders how many ethics admonitions this shameful chapter in Congressional history will generate. As Speaker gaveled the vote closed, the Democrats chanted angrily, "Shame! Shame! Shame!" For a moment, it felt like we live in a nation with a functional democracy.
But then I recalled that the ones abusing our democratic process won once again, and the Democrats' justified rage was futile. I hope voters will begin to feel that same anger at the dictatorial tactics the GOP are using to service K Street's boundless lust for pork and preference, and vote accordingly in 2006.
posted by Michael Bryan @ 10/07/2005 10:50:00 PM
2 Comments:
From my perspective, witnessing the Democrats vocal and clearly describing the unAmerican methods being used by the Republicans is encouraging. They've been too mouse-like for too long. The question is, can they, or will they, carry this assertiveness on or will they let a few attacks in the press make them wither them away.
Plain and simply, this is political bullying on the part of the Republicans.
A lot of "red-state" voters are probably psychologically beholden to bullies, meaning they like themselves to be tooled by their Republican representatives. But a lot of those voters do not like this. We will be hearing much less of "they all do it." And the Repubs will lose elections.
This will turn around and bite the Republicans squarely on theri tightly-puckered asses. Democrats will regain both houses and use this tactic against their corporate abusers, and the Republicans will have only their hypocrisy to console themselves with.
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