Gamesmanship is nothing new to either--or all--sides in Washington.But the GOP surely hit a low yesterday. We know the details thanks to Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank's canny reporting from the Hill.
The setting was the House Judiciary Committee, where one of the architects of the Iraq invasion, Douglas Feith, was scheduled to testify. Feith recently wrote a ridiculous op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal defending both the decision and the process used to make that decision, to go to war.
He certainly appears sure of himself and the rationale used by the White House, so you'd think Republicans would be delighted to hear what he had to say in his defense.
But nooooooooooooooooooooo. The GOP does not want you and I to hear what Feith has to say. Not at all. Instead, Rep. Steve King, Republican from Iowa, and Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican from California, spent most of the hearing in juvenile antics intended to delay and hold things up.
They demanded a roll call vote at the start of the proceeding. They objected to unanimous consent to proceed. Issa made a point of "parliamentary inquiry" to "summon" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the hearing.
They then insisted on strict adherence to a five minute rule for questioning by each Committee member, instead of extending the usual courtesies of extending time.
So, it's pretty obvious that, by making complete asses of themselves in the Committee hearing, King and Issa had something they wanted to hide. The question is, what is it?
3 comments:
Interesting strategy: savaging the GOP for invoking rules passed by DEMOCRATS.
Perhaps it is because it was on the same day that Bush lifted the Executive bar on offshore drilling, highlighting he fact that it is congressional DEMOCRATS who are solely responsible for high gas prices.
James, James, James--how can you say something as ridiculous as "congressional Democrats are solely responsible for high gas prices?"
If you recall, it was W's father--a Republican I believe, who put the offshore drilling ban in place in the first place.
It has also been Republicans standing in the way of programs that look forward to the day when cheap oil is no longer available, and that day has always been foreseeable. Congressional Republicans have been like the proverbial grasshopper, thinking summer would last forever.
It really doesn't make sense for Americans to drive 40 miles a day round-trip between home and work, with one person sitting in a behemoth SUV that sucks gas. Those days are gone now, as well they should be.
High gas prices are here to stay. Offshore drilling can moderate the increase, but you have to remember that all that offshore and arctic drilling is only economical at higher prices.
Even T. Boone Pickens gets it now.
As I recall, gas was about a buck a gallon when the ban was put into place. It was about two bucks a gallon when the Dems "swept into power" in 2006. Circumstances have changed, and now Bush 43 --- unlike the Dems in Congress --- has changed the policy. And where are the Dems? AWOL.
Of course, nuclear power is one such alternative energy source, and yet, you oppose it. Curious.
And when will you Dems/moonbats ever offer a solution which deals IMMEDIATELY with a problem, rather than finding another problem in the distant future to use as an excuse for inaction? Of course, it's just your excuse for telling Americans how they should live. Of course, it's much easier to control people in small confined places.
Post a Comment