House Republicans Can Dish Out Lots, Take Little
So last night's dust-up in the House seems telling to me. The Dems, having been in power for only 7 months, pulled a one shady bit of business that wasn't nearly as bad as the things the Republicans used to do routinely, and did routinely for years. In response, Republicans walked out. To top this all off, the Democrats apologized for it--something Republicans never did throughout their entire reign of terror.
So, on the one hand we have systematic, long-term, egregious unfairness and partisanship...on the other hand, we have a single admitted mistake. Despite this extraordinary disparity, the Republicans freaked out. One wonders how they would react if they had to take anything like a full dose of their own medicine.
Now, I actually have some sympathy with the Republicans here in that I think that their reaction was reasonable...but that the Dems should have been more touchy and more vocal about Republican oppression and bullying. But the hypocrisy of the House Republicans is just astonishing.
So last night's dust-up in the House seems telling to me. The Dems, having been in power for only 7 months, pulled a one shady bit of business that wasn't nearly as bad as the things the Republicans used to do routinely, and did routinely for years. In response, Republicans walked out. To top this all off, the Democrats apologized for it--something Republicans never did throughout their entire reign of terror.
So, on the one hand we have systematic, long-term, egregious unfairness and partisanship...on the other hand, we have a single admitted mistake. Despite this extraordinary disparity, the Republicans freaked out. One wonders how they would react if they had to take anything like a full dose of their own medicine.
Now, I actually have some sympathy with the Republicans here in that I think that their reaction was reasonable...but that the Dems should have been more touchy and more vocal about Republican oppression and bullying. But the hypocrisy of the House Republicans is just astonishing.
posted by Winston Smith at
6:29 PM
3 Comments:
I thought you had a good point before last fall's elections that the GOP had become pretty tyrannical in running Congress. (Altho the Democrats before 1994 were pretty bad, too.)
We'll see what happens here on in, and so far it looks like more of the same ol' same ol', but I do think you're right that this Republican moaning is pretty funny.
And the Dems need to make sure this crap never happens again. This was bullshit when the GOP did it and it's bullshit now.
O.k....maybe a little payback is permissible...but it really should take a different form than this. These are the kind of DeLay-esque shenanigans that actually interfere with the nation's business.
I'm writing a letter to my (Democratic) congressman harassing him about this.
I dunno if this is a new cancer on the polity or just a regression to the mean.
There was a certain settledness from the mid-fifties to the mid-nineties where the GOP was resigned to minority status as long as they has a shot at the presidency now and then. In congress, as the bug, not the windshield, it was they who avoided collisions.
But for the foreseeable future, it'll be more like a seesaw. Maybe this is the norm.
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