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Today I found out that not one single Republican in the house voted for Barack's Stimulus plan. Am I surprised… no. Am I disgusted… yes. What is it with these people? They claim to have the best interests of the nation at heart, but everything they do says they don't care about the nation, they only care about themselves. They complain that the bill was put together with no input from them and yet this is the same party, that when they were in power, would not let the Democrats participate at all. Let me remind you of an incident in which the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee was at the time, James Sensenbrener of Wisconsin. 1 Political journalist Matt Taibbi described the incident in a profile of the 109th Congress published around October 2006: "Last year, Sensenbrenner became apoplectic when Democrats who wanted to hold a hearing on the Patriot Act invoked a little-known rule that required him to let them have one. "Naturally, he scheduled it for something like 9 a.m. on a Friday when Congress wasn't in session, hoping that no one would show," recalls a Democratic staffer who attended the hearing. "But we got a pretty good turnout anyway." Sensenbrenner kept trying to gavel the hearing to a close, but Democrats again pointed to the rules, which said they had a certain amount of time to examine their witnesses. When they refused to stop the proceedings, the chairman did something unprecedented: He simply picked up his gavel and walked out. "He was like a kid at the playground," the staffer says. And just in case anyone missed the point, Sensenbrenner shut off the lights and cut the microphones on his way out of the room. And, this is just one of many instances when the Republicans were in the majority, in both houses, that they left the Democrats out of things. They don't deserve to be included in any way in the majority work that goes on in the Congress now.
Barack said in his inaugural speech that it was time to work together and put aside politics as usual. The nation is in a bad situation thanks to Republican ideals, and it is time that the Democrats take the reins and fix the problems with our economy. The American people have spoken and given us a majority in the Congress and a Democratic President to lead them, so now is the time to fix the problems and if the Republicans get in the way, run them over.
1 Jim Sensenbrener article from Wikipedia.org
6 comments:
Yes my friend this is why I get upset with Obama. He has no meetings with the dems that support him and he bends over backwards to water down the stimulus bill to accommodate republicans and they slap him in the face and leave us with a crappy stimulus bill. Mr. O better step up to the plate and start doing what is in the best interest of his constituents and stop this nonsense with the party of Rush Limbaugh.
I don't know Joseph, most of the time I agree with you, but this time I gotta disagree. I think he knows exactly what he is doing and that is making the Republicans look like the idiots they are. The American people see him reaching out to them and they act like little babies who cry when they don't get their way. It seems to me he is letting them dig their own graves. You know, if he makes the package go through and he does somehow save this nation, the Republicans won't see power again for a very long time.
I can appreciate that Obama wants to appear inclusive. Mostly, this is to provide cover to about 80 House Democrats from more conservative districts that voted for Bush in '04. But I think he's giving too much too early in the negotiating process.
The problem ultimately is that Democrats are "reasonable" and the other side isn't. In the real world of grown ups, honorable people can disagree and reach an effective compromise. But the Republicans are neither honorable nor reasonable.
After reading both of your comments I will admit that your basing your responses on thoughtful pragmatism, and I on the other hand just react based more on emotion. That is why I still feel the left side of the aisle is worried about all things political rather than to just stand up and fight. Look I can't stand the right wing but at least they fight and whether they win or lose it doesn't seem to matter because the left always and I mean always ends up with a black eye.
Don't feel bad Joseph, it's a hard struggle for me to be pragmatic and not emotional. I really have to work hard at it! I still believe that sometimes emotion is a better tool than pragmatism.
Robert, thanks for the comment. What a great line, "the Republicans are neither honorable or reasonable".
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