A Spork in the Drawer

Classy As Always

The House GOPers:

Yesterday, Jackie Speier was sworn in as Congress’s newest Democratic member from California, succeeding the deceased Tom Lantos. During her opening speech, Speier was loudly booed by House conservatives when she began speaking about Iraq. “The process to bring the troops home must begin immediately,” she said. “The President wants to stay the course, and a man who wants to replace him suggests we could be in Iraq for 100 years.”

What a welcome!

The sooner these Republicans are consigned to the dustbin of history the better.

Video at link.

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No Matter How Low You Think They Can Go...

...the Republicans can go lower. Aravosis:

Even the dead are political pawns to the Republicans (then again, we already knew that post-September 11). House Republicans, at the bidding of the Bush White House, are upset that House Democrats are voting on contempt citations for Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton today. So the House GOP members are disrupting proceedings in the House today, calling for "protest votes" and the like that eat up 15 minutes of the day at a time. Well, they just called one such protest vote in the middle of recently-deceased Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos' memorial service, which they certainly knew was taking place. This is akin to forcing people to leave a wake on purpose. The House Republicans and the White House couldn't wait for Lantos' service to be finished before forcing everyone back to the House floor to vote for something silly. They intentionally disrupted a dead man's memorial service for political gain. But as was already noted, the Republicans have been abusing the memory of 3,000 dead for seven years now, so why expect anything new and better from them now.

Disgusting.

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Hee Hee

Poor dears:

House Republicans are fuming over Democrats' decision to hold the next vote on the State Children's Health Insurance Program on Thursday -- when many Republicans will be in California as President Bush tours areas hit by wildfires.

"Five to seven members are going, all of whom would be 'no' votes, and [Democrats] know it," House Republican Whip Roy Blunt told CNN. "This is clearly designed to minimize the Republican opposition to this bill."

Oh no, the Repubs would never, ever, use tricks to get a bill passed (such as holding a 15-minute vote open for 50 minutes so a bribe can be offered arms can be twisted).

I'll leave it to my friend to sum up:

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Lovely

Providing cover:

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party's efforts to press for a timetable to end the war.

[...]

Clyburn noted that Petraeus carries significant weight among the 47 members of the Blue Dog caucus in the House, a group of moderate to conservative Democrats. Without their support, he said, Democratic leaders would find it virtually impossible to pass legislation setting a timetable for withdrawal.

"I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course and if the Republicans were to stay united as they have been, then it would be a problem for us," Clyburn said. "We, by and large, would be wise to wait on the report."

We might as well get used to the fact that unless Dennis Kucinich is elected (not an endorsement) we're going to be in Iraq forever. None of the leading Democratic candidates will remove the troops in any significant way and I need not even mention the All War All the Time party.

Yes, we might as well just get used to it. There are no more Profiles in Courage.

BooMan has another look.

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Enough

It's well past time to be sending polite letters. It's well past time to be setting new deadlines to comply with subpoenas. It's well past time to be politely questioning twinkies from fourth-rate law schools.

It's time for the House Judiciary Committee to consider Articles of Impeachment for Alberto Gonzales.

Enough is enough.

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The Good Guys Win One

Aravosis reports that the House voted 237-180 to pass the Hate Crime Bill.

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Gonzo II - Electric Boogaloo

You know you wanted a sequel:

For those of you eager to relive Alberto Gonzales' hearing from two weeks ago, you're in luck. Gonzales is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee next Thursday, May 10.

Any guesses on how many times his memory fails him?

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You Lose

The Republic Party knows which way the wind is blowing:

"The debate should not be about the [troop] surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date," Reps. John Shadegg of Arizona and Peter Hoekstra of Michigan wrote.

"Rather the debate must be about the global threat of the radical Islamist movement…. If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose."

They admit they can't win on the facts - so they have to introduce new, irrelevant facts.

Good going, GOoPers.

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Efficiency

100 becomes 42:

As the House's new Democratic majority celebrated the completion of their populist 100-hour agenda Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) unveiled the party's next legislative target: an ambitious plan to wean the U.S. from foreign oil and slow global warming.

Pelosi announced that she intended to create a select panel to help craft the party's environmental agenda and had asked committee chairs with jurisdiction over the issue to pass legislation "to truly declare our energy independence" by July 4.

[...]

On Thursday, though, Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) stressed the positive and extolled the success of their agenda, which Hoyer's office calculated passed in 42 hours, 13 minutes and 28 seconds of legislative time.

[...]

Pelosi addressed about 35 Senate Democrats at their weekly policy lunch. Her appearance, a rare move by a House speaker, was as symbolic as substantive — an attempt to continue her teamwork with Reid, which helped Democrats take control of Congress.

"She is not only a leader in the House, but a national leader for our party, and she understands that for the legislative process to be effective, to get anything done, you need both bodies," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).

Keep it up, Nancy!

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Unbelievable

Actually, it's all too believable. Following the Repubs' whinging this morning they're now demanding the passage of a "Minority Bill of Rights" so they're not treated the way the Democrats were treated by, well, the Republicans.

Ideally, I'd like to see Congress run on a fair basis for all but this latest spate of cry-babyism from the most authoritarian bunch in this nation's history makes me conclude: Screw the Republicans. Give them what they so richly deserve. Which is to say: Give them nothing.

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We Saw This Coming

On Nancy Pelosi:

"Come January, we'll take her head off every day," said a top GOP aide involved in the planning. "It will be a pure war of ideas over the next two years."

Leading the battle with be incoming House Minority Leader John Boehner and his conservative team. Insiders say that the goal is to pick at Democratic initiatives as pro-tax, pro-spending, or unworkable.

Let's face it: That's all they have. But it is going to be brutal.

Happily, we have a strong, skeptical news media to expose the Repub's lies.

On second thought, we're fucked.

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Hastert To Step Aside

Time:

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will not seek reelection to the Republican leadership when his members return as a minority party after taking heavy losses in Tuesday's elections, a Republican official tells TIME. Hastert, 64, a low-key former high school wrestling coach, was beloved by members as a "good cop," compared to the enforcer style of the longtime number two leader, former Rep. Tom Delay (R-Tex.). But Hastert was badly damaged by questions about how much he had known about former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and his contact with pages, and members felt Hastert also handled the aftermath of the revelations clumsily.

[Via TPM.]

The hits keep on coming.

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