Posted on 01/02/2007 1:22:54 AM PST by RWR8189
As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.
House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans.
But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.
Nancy Pelosi, the Californian who will become House speaker, and Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, who will become majority leader, finalized the strategy over the holiday recess in a flurry of conference calls and meetings with other party leaders. A few Democrats, worried that the party would be criticized for reneging on an important pledge, argued unsuccessfully that they should grant the Republicans greater latitude when the Congress convenes on Thursday.
The episode illustrates the dilemma facing the new party in power. The Democrats must demonstrate that they can break legislative gridlock and govern after 12 years in the minority, while honoring their pledge to make the 110th Congress a civil era in which Democrats and Republicans work together to solve the nation's problems. Yet in attempting to pass laws key to their prospects for winning reelection and expanding their majority, the Democrats may have to resort to some of the same tough tactics Republicans used the past several years.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
surprised?
no
To the victors go the spoils. Can't whine about it now.
All you can do is file it away for future reference....
You all remember those tactics by Frist, Hastert, Lott et al. You don't? Well the Washington Post will make some up for you. It's a service they provide.
Don't count on it. Stuck on stupid mean just that: Stuck.
Oh dear. Anyone surprised?
First, to the person who said "can't whine about it now"- are you kidding me? That's the whole point of being in the minority- to make the majority's burden as unbearable as possible, till they rue the day the voters entrusted them with any responsibility, and are only too happy to relinquish it.
As to the Democrats new argument: that they want "bipartisanship" from Republicans so long as that means acceding to a far-left agenda hijacked so long ago by union special interests and the likes of George Soros, all I can say is...I can't wait till they try. When America wakes up and realizes that rather than getting a new approach on Iraq, they get a tax bill in the billions for unrequested big government programs and culture war legislation written out of San Francisco, it is going to have a heck of a hangover. The mainstream media couldn't pull of the big lie in 1992-1994, and it won't be able to do it today either.
I'm glad we still have Karl Rove on our team. While I've resented the way he's spun the Iraq issue of late, he's going to have an immense opportunity to redeem himself over the next two years. As the initial weeks of centrist symbolism recede, the Democrats will be forced to show their true colors when the people who pay their bills come asking for favors...there is no way to avoid it. I can't wait myself. Whereas Rahm Emanueal and Chuck Schumer's media savvy may have been enough to carry the day 30 years ago...today the MSM doesn't have a monopoly on the press anymore. Because of that, liberalism cannot be rammed down the American people's throat. I'm looking forward to playing offense for a change.
Yes. But the washington post won't report the strongarm tactics as a negative thing. They will blame the lack of civility on the R's because they resist the tactics. It's not symmetrical.
I thought that Karl Rove just recently resigned from being a political adviser to the President.
The Democrats either don't care or don't know that House Bills are not laws of the land.
Don't worry Nancy, the MSM will never report on your agressive tactics. They reserve that for Republicans only.
That said, it's true that they would have some difficulty in getting thier 100 hour plan through if they invited the Republicans along for debate. It's just ironic that they have to admit being as ruthless as the majority must be to get anything through the house.
In a way, as I always say to my extremely liberal co-worker, I wish they could live in the world they think they want to create for the rest of us. Just for a day.
It would be wonderful to see my co worker's taxes go through the roof to pay for all the social programs she and her husband want. It would be heaven to here them complain (as they already do, but don't realize it) about the latest illegal alien problem next door to their $700K house. Or, for that matter..What right do they have to private property at all? Being avid Marxists, I can't see how they justify owning more than the poorest among us anyway.
Liberals are such hypocrites..Yet they think they're being godly. Now, that's hypocracy!.
I am sure Dubya has his Veto Pen in hand.
Does he even own one?
The power American voters gave the democrats can be taken back just as fast as it was transferred. Democrats are not charged with the responsibility to end the war but to manage it better; not to ignore the Republicans, but to work with them in an even-handed and just way FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COUNTRY, not their party. We wait. We watch.
Gee, whoda thunk this?
DimocRATS=Commie light...
I expect, unfortunately, to say that a lot in the next two years.
I hope it's not the next twenty.
The Republicans with few exceptions will cower in the corners. It wouldn't matter so much with the DBM ignore if these guys grew some and got out there on the steps of the Capitol and kept hammering away at what's going on like the RATS do. When they hide under their desks, there is no chance of anything seeing the light of day.
Let's hope it's the Ford pen - no time to break in a new one now.
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