Here is my very first effort with a Booman Tribune diary.
I just love this sentence that can be found in an article in the N.Y. Times:
“The Democratic majority has made clear they will stop at nothing to use the rules to provide political cover for their members and avoid substantive debate,” said Representative David Dreier of California
Clearly Dreier thinks that Democrats are being underhanded because they are using rules, and Republicans know that rules are made to be broken… or something like that. Quick, someone call the waaahmbulance for Dreier.
I may be bit snarky with the first take on Dreier’s remark, but House Republicans routinely breaking the rules is actually a very serious matter. The house under Republican control was governed for years as the fiefdom of Tom Delay, who didn’t mind breaking the rules to get his way. I don’t recall Dreier going all crybaby on us when Delay was extending the time for members to vote on various bills as Delay and his henchmen strong armed their members to vote their way. Remember Delay breaking the rules by offering a bribe to a congressman for a crucial vote on a hard fought bill? I wonder if Dreier remembers? This is a very small portion of the rampant corruption and rules breaking Republicans conducted as leaders of the house. Having a Congress which follows the rules may be a shock to the Republicans, but it looks like the American people are relieved.
What kind of chutzpah do the Republicans demonstrate when they cry about Democrats using the rules to push their issues? Even now we have had two FBI raids on Republican House members in the past week, and Democrats have to be assailed by a Republican for USING THE RULES! I think the Republicans would be well served to discover the rules, and start abiding by them.