Saturday, February 07, 2009

Election Over. Bipartisanship Dead.

After years of GOP rule, the Democrats are now in a position to run over the opposition without much resistance. As we see in the stimulus package story, they are bound and determined to run this thing as close to a trillion dollars (without going over) as they possibly can. And in the process, they are trying to push the faces of the GOP into the mud, while they do it.

Nancy Pelosi, the idiot Speaker who cannot count a census, is chief among the bullies. This article pretty much outlines the spirit of Democrats everywhere.

In a statement sure to rile Republicans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Friday dismissed calls for bipartisanship as “process” arguments extraneous to passing a stimulus bill — and warned Senate Democrats against slashing proposed increases to education spending.


Of course, it was Pelosi, who went on a crusade back in 2004 for House minority rights. Remember this story?

House Democrats' anger at heavy-handed Republican tactics reached a new level yesterday, with the chamber's top Democrat asking the House speaker to embrace a "Bill of Rights" for the minority, regardless which party it is.

In keeping with the general atmosphere of the House these days, aides to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said he will not respond to the two-page proposal from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

For decades, the party in power has used House parliamentary rules to limit the minority party's ability to amend bills and shape debates. But Democrats -- in the minority for 10 years after four decades of control -- say Republicans have gone to unreasonable lengths in recent years. GOP leaders dispute this, but congressional scholars and even some rank-and-file Republicans agree in whole or in part.

Pelosi's document, which she vows to honor if Democrats regain the majority, says: "Too often, incivility and the heavy hand of the majority" have silenced Democrats and choked off "thoughtful debate." She called on the majority to let the minority offer meaningful amendments and substitutes to important bills; to limit roll-call votes to the normal 15 minutes rather than keeping them open to round up needed votes; and to let all appointees to House-Senate conference committees participate in meetings and decisions.


The emphasis added is from me, but let's trouble shoot this a second.

If you are a Democrat (particularly a younger one), you may be tempted to present the argument that the GOP didn't respond to Pelosi's request back then; subsequently, all bets off now that the Dems are in control. After all, it was they who won, right? You may say that the Dems are giving the GOP a dose of their own medicine.

But if you are younger or suffer from selective memory loss, you may need to be reminded of the 30 year reign of terror the Dems had over the House. Just think back or pick up a book about the Carl Albert, Tip O'Neill, and Jim Wright eras. The Democrats had no trouble shooting down any productive ideas from Republicans during that era and cutting them out of any meaningful role in the system.

But the larger question I'd like to raise is, if it's unfair when one side does wrong, why is is fair when the other side does it? Seems to me that Pelosi would remember how she felt during all those years she felt like a nobody, with no rights to have any meaningful input. Now she wants to turn the tables on those that made her feel that way.

Nancy the Mindless Hypocrite is now vacationing in a upper class resort, warning people in the Senate not to tamper with her work and to ignore the calls for a spirit of bipartisanship, in a bill that is designed to help us all avoid catastrophic results from a tanking economy. Poor people are starving everywhere, just waiting for relief.

But if you will excuse her for a moment, she has an appointment for a seaweed body wrap. She has to stay young looking, you know. She will be back feeding the hungry, after that, her cucumber facial, and her nails appointment.


2 comments:

Tom said...

Isn't it amazing that the Dems want bipartisanship when they are out of power, but refuse to even entertain the idea when they have the majority?

Should give one a clue as to the goals of the Dems - unfettered power.

LA Sunset said...

//Should give one a clue as to the goals of the Dems - unfettered power.//

When I was a kid, it was explained to me that the GOP was a party that better represented the interests of businesses and institutions. The Dems were a party that represented the people. How ironic is it that now the Dems are the ones that seek to implement policies that enslave the people more than the GOP.

Not saying the GOP is all good and the Dems are all bad. The GOP does have more members that philosophically state they are for less government interference in the lives of individuals, even though it didn't show very much during the years they were in power. But the trend for the progressives controlling the Democratic party has been most troubling, because of the radical agenda they have been advocating for so many years and are now implementing.

Progressives are socialists that want to break the backs of private enterprise, because they have been educated to believe that corporations are evil. Marx, Lenin, and Mao would all be proud. They all advocated this form of unfettered power over the people, and were proponents of eliminating opposition.