House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House and turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.
Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, arguing that Pelosi’s refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy. They have refused to leave the floor after the adjournment motion passed at 11:23 a.m., and they are busy bashing Pelosi and her fellow Democrats for leaving town for the August recess.
At one point, the lights went off in the House and the microphones were turned off in the chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) was speaking, the lights went back on and the microphones were turned on shortly afterward.
So, we are here. In the greatest hall of political representation in the world, the ruling majority has not only taken leave when work needs to be done, (For who among us would argue that the Congress certainly should be attending to national matters at such a time) , but found it necessary to shut the lights and the the microphones off so that the national conversation can continue only in spirited isolation. Mr Smith is rolling over in his grave.
**Update: Republican leaders just sent out a notice looking for a bullhorn, and leadership aides are trying to corral all the members who are still in town to come speak on the floor and sustain this one-sided debate.**
**Update2: Democrats just turned out the lights again.**
What a shameful, cowardly act. Unable to even have a meaningful, rational conversation about our energy problems, (no drill! no spill! is not a rational, meaningful conversation tactic) the Democratic leadership which now languishes in the single digit approval rating, cannot dare the conversation to continue. Ms Pelosi is obviously too busy “saving the world”. http://salmonandgrits.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/saving-the-world-one-oil-well-at-the-time/
Vern, my cross-eyed Pelosi car freshener that hangs from my rear view mirror is becoming VERY popular. People see it and THEN my McCain sticker these days. Course, its right next to my Barr sticker, but hey, I’m a full course meal kinda guy. Serve me anything but bloviated government, collectivist principles and the democratic party platform.
And don’t even START to compare previous Speakers to this action. Democrats threw fits when they didn’t get 50% of the say in committtees during the Gingrich era, and they would have screamed racist-bigot-homophobe if the lights had EVER gone out on them.
The democrats in Congress don’t speak for anyone anymore. It is startling to me that a candidate like Barry Hussein can even get 45%. In an era where it is so evident that government needs to remove itself from peoples lives, get out of their way, and let entrepreneurship and innovation thrive to fix these problems, folks who still haven’t evidently given up their baby blankets still want someone to take over and take care of them.
What a pity. Republicans, Independents, Non-conformists, lend me your ears!!!
This election should be a walk in the park for anyone who believes in the primacy of the individual! This election, the ENEMY is wearing its colors right out on its sleeves and it believes slick narcissistic marketing will carry the day.
We now have a cause celebre behind which to become more energized. This will be not just a referendum on Obama, but on the Democrats. Make your neighbor, friend and family member actually listen to what they are saying. Ask if making one mans efforts to pay for the expense of another makes sense. Remind them there is always someone behind “them” wanting more. And point out how leftist rhetoric both obligates the providers of this economy to paying for others, and then makes them the enemy at the same time.
Bloviate is such a fun word!!!
O.K., Nancy Pelosi is a goober. I think a lot of us Dems would agree. But I recently heard her explain that her refusal to schedule a vote on off-shore drilling had to do with her opinion that there were plenty of government-sanctioned places where drilling could take place. It sounded reasonable to me: why would we want to taint “virgin” land if there were already acres of drillable land ready to be tapped?
Wonderful, Ms. Pelosi won’t debate drilling because, in her belief, we have plenty of government sanctioned places in which to drill. Isn’t this the whole point of the floor debate? A difference of opinion, where one justifies support for their position.
I believe Ms. Pelosi’s position is so weak that it can not stand up to legitimate debate, and this is what scares her.
Right, debate on offshore drilling (which won’t have an effect on supply and prices for ten years, and for which ships aren’t even available for five years) JUST CAN’T WAIT till after the recess that the majority voted to commence. Can you say grandstanding, political theater?
I don’t have a problem with what happened here, but I still have a lot of problems with Pelosi which is why I’ve been supporting Cindy Sheehan as a protest candidate so we can maybe get a tougher, more progressive Speaker next year when progressive Dems like Darcy Burner and Debbie Cook take over the House like a tsunami.
I don’t want them to have to take orders from a lady who refuses to impeach this criminal administration, who has continued to fund the occupation of Iraq with no strings attached, who led the cave-in on illegal spying and immunizing the lawbreaking telecoms, and neutered the Congress on having any say on invading IRAN (which she admitted to doing on the orders of the Israeli government!)
So Terry, if you have an extra one of those “cross-eyed Pelosi car fresheners” I’ll buy one from ya…
Meanwhile I remember this
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/10/AR2005061002110.html
I think to call Mr. Obama “Barry Hussein” is disgusting. For you to claim ANY kind of moral high ground has zero credibility.
I’ll repeat that…you have absolutely NO claim to any kind of moral high ground.
But you can’t stop there. No, you have to go on and say this;
“This election, the ENEMY is wearing its colors right out on its sleeves and it believes slick narcissistic marketing will carry the day.”
Maybe the reason you can’t understand Mr. Obama’s popularity is because you’re out of touch with the reality that American’s are sick and tired of that kind of veiled racial bias.
Congratulations Art…you’ve allowed a racist to enter your blogpen.
This cry of racsm just fascinates me. Racist? Or has it entered the common vernacular, as personal attacks on a president because he sounds like the NASCAR loving, sweet-tea sippin crowd and cultural elites don’t like it are the new phenom?
Not only does this ad hominem:
a)try to control what the audience should know…
tried googling “barry hussein”? you get 1 – 10 of about 26,700.
b)it attacks the person, not the argument
c)it deflects entirely from my profound criticism of his ENTIRE AGENDA
d) AND denies my right to DISCRIMINATE between right and wrong…
… it also seems to me it is insulting to their national candidate in and of itself. After all, the more dimensions there are to him, he might actually, eventually, become interesting. What? You’d rather have boringly flawless and politically correct minority characters? Seems a bit narrow minded to me. Sort of like “native americans were all ecological.”
#5,
Heck, you have called me a racist too. I think you call everyone you disagree with a racist. That is quite tired…
Art,
I don’t call people racists on the basis of disagreement. I call them racists when they inject race into their arguments or exhibit racial prejudice.
You do the same thing.