Pelosi does more damage....

[Corbett]

http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2007/05/16/20070516_184710_flash.htm

After losing a string of embarrassing votes on the House floor because of procedural maneuvering, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has decided to change the current House Rules to completely shut down the floor to the minority.

The Democratic Leadership is threatening to change the current House Rules regarding the Republican right to the Motion to Recommit or the test of germaneness on the motion to recommit. This would be the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822.

In protest, the House Republicans are going to call procedural motions every half hour.

Of course, no mention of this on ATPN yet...

So what ever happend to all the crap about bringing back bipartisanship and "It's all about the children" like Pelosi was spewing out when the dems retook the house and senate?

I realize she has since withdrawn the motion but what was she thinking in the first place?

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Corbett
[Topic Title: Pelosi does more damage....

Doing a heck of a job Nancy. :thumbsup:

 

[conjur]

Leave it to Sludge to spin it in his perverse way


http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/hou...e-on-procedural-battle-2007-05-16.html

 

[boredhokie]

This is the thanks republicans get after their christ-like, deity-inspiring control of congress for the past 16 years? The vatican will hear about this!

 

[Lemon law]

I believe there is a Yiddish word that describes the republican position quite well and that word is chutzpah. But the Republican house members do have that better choice, Join the dems and fight the common enemy which is GWB&co. or perish. Unlike the Senate where the margin is thin, the Republicans in the house are vastly outnumbered and are now irrelevant. They can't lead, they can follow, but they will be crushed if they refuse to get out of the way.

That is the political reality of the election of 11/06. Past glories are no longer current realities. Their rubber stamp support of GWB&co. has proved their own undoing.

 

[db]

Nothing new here. Same thing happens every change of majority.

 

[SViscusi]

Sound like the republicans are just trying to run out the clock until '08. Don't they know that elections have consequences?

 

[theeedude]

Well, you can bring the Republican horse to the Bipartisan water, but you can't make it drink. If Republicans think that bipartisanship a synonym for obstructionism, they will get what's coming to them. The American people have spoken, and given the Democrats a mandate to govern. Republicans don't have a mandate to obstruct. They lost.

 

[fskimospy]

Ugh, who cares if the republicans are being obstructionists? I'm sure that's what you all wanted the democrats to do when they were the minority. Let them do what they want.

Pelosi is changing the house rules to stop them from doing it... big shock. The majority party in the house completely runs the show, in marked contrast to the senate. So if the republicans want to play games, then the democrats will just spank them with the house rules and get back to business until the republicans decide to behave themselves. This is really nothing new.

One thing though, bipartisanship is a two way street. I have seen NO sign that the republicans are the slightest bit interested in it, and so placing the blame on democrats alone is pretty disingenuous. I won't deny though that watching the republicans whine and cry about how the rights of the minority party aren't being respected is sweet sweet music to my ears though. Watching those dirtbags go out of their way to inflict petty insults and slights for 12 years and then get it thrown right back in their faces is so so satisfying.

Before anyone really gets too down on the democrats for how they run the show, they should read Rolling Stone's article on the last republican congress. Truly legendary.

 

[Jhhnn]

First we get the whining and finger pointing from the tightie righties about how the Dems can't deliver, and now they tell us why...

From Conjur's link-

"According to the Republican Study Committee, the Democrats would have attached the rule to the budget resolution, which is expected to come to the floor today."

In other words, no attempt to change the rules was actually made, so repubs engaged in pre-emptive whining and grandstanding... effectively obstructing the business of the House... as justification for continuing to obstruct the business of the House...

Nifty, ehh? It's like middle school- rip off a loud stinky fart in the lunch line, quickly blame the shocked guy standing next to you...

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

So the Republicans are the obstructionists now... I see...

Sucks doesn't it.

Personally I could give a sh*t. Gridlock is the best option now considering the leadership on both sides... I just think it's funny to hear the same voices who defended Dem obstruction tactics complain about the Rs doing the same thing. Ohhh the ironing....

 

[Corbett]

I love how you guys spin it to make the repubs look like the bad guys. Who was is that suggested they change the rules so Republicans have no say, just a few months after they claimed this would be the most bi-partisanship congress ever? Oh yeah, it was Pelosi....

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Corbett
I love how you guys spin it to make the repubs look like the bad guys. Who was is that suggested they change the rules so Republicans have no say, just a few months after they claimed this would be the most bi-partisanship congress ever? Oh yeah, it was Pelosi....

I think both parties suck.

Now that that's out of the way...
I don't believe either side, however you don't seem to understand what "bipartisan" means since the last several election cycles. It means that the minority party is free to do whatever the majority wants. The Reps were obstructing so it may have been an attempt to limit that. I only have the word of a politician for it, so I take any statement with a grain of salt. This is American politics at it's finest. Yep, it's as good as it gets.

 

[imported_Shivetya]

the only thing worse than a Republican Congressman is a Democrat Congressman.

Wait a minute, how can they be worse when they are the same?

Hey, look at it this way, as long as she keeps trying to play her bs games nothing is getting done which means less of our money is wasted.

 

[imported_Shivetya]

OK. This gets worse.

What this is really about is having the ability to raise taxes without allowing for a vote.

This is because currently the minority party is having great success, using the same tactic the other side used a year ago, in blocking bills they did not like. The side effect of the rule is that tax increases and the like can go through without debate.

 

[Double Trouble]

This is kind of like when the republicans threatened to change the rules in the senate (the so-called "nuclear" option) to prevent the democrats from using the rules to thwart the agenda. What the folks in control always seem to forget is that there will be a time when the other guys are in control, and those changes you put in to squash / silence the other guys will come back to bite you in the butt.

Making those kinds of changes is always short-sighted. Find a better way to outflank your opponents, or make it such that it's going to cost them political capital to oppose your agenda, but don't resort to changing the rules of the game anytime the game doesn't go the way you want it to. That goes for dems and repubs.

 

[EagleKeeper]

All this proves is that the Dems came into power riding on a cloud of euphoria that demonstrated that they did not understand how Congress operated.

They made all these claims on cleaning up the rats nest and then found out that to do so would be at odds with their primary function. (To represent the Representative, not the people).

They (Dems) spouted two story lines for the months after the elections.
1) Bi-partisan
2) Revenge

When they showed up, they showed the second which has undermined what ever honest attempts they made at the first.

The House also has demonstrated the wisdom of the founding fathers in having the Senate act as a counterbalance to the hot heads/egomaniacs that rule the House.

The "calm and cool" attitude of the Senate acts to delay and force rational thought to prevent the House from royally screwing up the way the government operates.

 

[Jhhnn]

I love how you guys spin it to make the repubs look like the bad guys. Who was is that suggested they change the rules so Republicans have no say, just a few months after they claimed this would be the most bi-partisanship congress ever? Oh yeah, it was Pelosi....

How lame. It was the Repubs who merely claim that Dems were going to change the rules- reminds me of the claims of WMD's in Iraq...

Nor has any of the whiners offered that Dems would be breaking the rules to change the rules, even if an attempt were ever made. Contrast that with the Repubs' threat of the "nuclear option" in the Senate... And the conduct of guys who used the Grover Norquist definition of bipartisanship (date rape) when they were in the majority...

None of which is particularly surprising, considering that the repub leadership is leading their members right off the nearest electoral cliff in support of the Bush Admin... I can smell the fear, sweat and urge to break ranks from here... More than a few repubs would actually engage in some real bipartisanship, if it weren't for their radical rightwing leadership holding them back...

 

[umbrella39]

Originally posted by: Corbett
http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/data/2007/05/16/20070516_184710_flash.htm

After losing a string of embarrassing votes on the House floor because of procedural maneuvering, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has decided to change the current House Rules to completely shut down the floor to the minority.

The Democratic Leadership is threatening to change the current House Rules regarding the Republican right to the Motion to Recommit or the test of germaneness on the motion to recommit. This would be the first change to the germaneness rule since 1822.

In protest, the House Republicans are going to call procedural motions every half hour.

Of course, no mention of this on ATPN yet...

So what ever happend to all the crap about bringing back bipartisanship and "It's all about the children" like Pelosi was spewing out when the dems retook the house and senate?

I realize she has since withdrawn the motion but what was she thinking in the first place?

"nuclear option"

/thread and your hypocrisy.

 

[kage69]

Not sure why some righties really give a damn. They were able to go years and ignore the results of Bush's uniting and not dividing, yet a few months into a new Congress and suddenly the Speaker's words are a scathing indictment of political inaction and duplicity.

As Jhnnn noted as well, no changes were actually made.


Double standards and sour grapes FTW!

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: kage69
Not sure why some righties really give a damn. They were able to go years and ignore the results of Bush's uniting and not dividing, yet a few months into a new Congress and suddenly the Speaker's words are a scathing indictment of political inaction.

Double standards and sour grapes FTW!

It is amazing to see their desperation especially as each month ticks by towards next November.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: SViscusi
Don't they know that elections have consequences?

I have a feeling Pelosi and company will find that out the hard way.

 

[GDaddy]

With every change, things are more the same.

 

[palehorse]

I just hope the Democrats realize that they won't be the majority party forever. Eventually any severe changes they make to the rules will come back and bite them on the arse!

The entire House of Representatives is a fvckin cesspool of selfish mediocrity.

 

[ntdz]

Originally posted by: senseamp
Well, you can bring the Republican horse to the Bipartisan water, but you can't make it drink. If Republicans think that bipartisanship a synonym for obstructionism, they will get what's coming to them. The American people have spoken, and given the Democrats a mandate to govern. Republicans don't have a mandate to obstruct. They lost.

One could say the same for the Democrats for the last 12 years...but I didn't hear you saying that then.