The House GOP in Full Glory
Watching GOP House members in action is truly an educational experience. You may think you understand the depths of cynicism and hypocrisy to which some politicians will plunge, but until you've seen Republican members of the House do their thing, you really don't know the half of it.
Senate Republicans can be obnoxious too, but there are certain structural factors that limit the level of pure lunacy on display. For instance, to become a senator, you have to win a state-wide election, which generally requires beating a relatively well-funded and respectable opponent. Not so in the House. Most of the remaining Republican members of the House represent heavily conservative districts and often run uncontested. For many of them, their only real concern is the threat of someone even more reactionary launching a primary challenge. Furthermore, the House is much more structured and hierarchical than the Senate. And the House GOP delegation was run for the better part of the last decade by Tom Delay, who is probably the most corrupt, dishonest, and generally reprehensible figure to rise to prominence in American politics since the Gilded Age. And he left his stamp all over the House GOP delegation, which is currently run by his proteges.
So it's not at all surprising that the House GOP delegation is now composed largely of shameless hacks and reactionary nutjobs. In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi: "you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Okay, maybe that's overstating things a little bit (but not much).
As if to prove the point, the House GOP members have convened a fake session of Congress for the second day in a row to demonstrate their deep concern over the impact that high gas prices are having on the American consumer, whom they care so much about. Specifically, they're protesting Nancy Pelosi's decision not to allow a vote on off-shore drilling prior to the August recess.
Remember this is the same group of politicians who were in power for over a decade and not only did nothing whatsoever to prepare for this day, but actively fought against efforts to spur research into alternative fuels and reduce consumption of oil (such as raising CAFE standards on automobiles). In fact, they didn't even push to increase off-shore drilling, the policy they now put forth as the answer to all of our problems. And even now, as they wrap themselves in the banner of lowering gas prices, they are fighting against common sense efforts to improve the situation--such as cracking down on commodity speculation and taking long term steps to reduce our dependence on oil altogether--and going out of their way to mock Barack Obama for having the temerity to suggest an easy way to reduce gas consumption.
Furthermore, they know that their proposed solution, off-shore drilling, will do little if anything to lower gas prices and nothing at all to solve the larger problem, which is our national dependence on oil. Indeed, what they're doing is, once again, following the bidding of the oil companies, which is how we got where we are in the first place.
It's okay, though, I don't expect anything but soul-crushing hypocrisy from the House GOP. That's what they do. To expect anything different would be like expecting lions not to hunt or fish not to swim.
Senate Republicans can be obnoxious too, but there are certain structural factors that limit the level of pure lunacy on display. For instance, to become a senator, you have to win a state-wide election, which generally requires beating a relatively well-funded and respectable opponent. Not so in the House. Most of the remaining Republican members of the House represent heavily conservative districts and often run uncontested. For many of them, their only real concern is the threat of someone even more reactionary launching a primary challenge. Furthermore, the House is much more structured and hierarchical than the Senate. And the House GOP delegation was run for the better part of the last decade by Tom Delay, who is probably the most corrupt, dishonest, and generally reprehensible figure to rise to prominence in American politics since the Gilded Age. And he left his stamp all over the House GOP delegation, which is currently run by his proteges.
So it's not at all surprising that the House GOP delegation is now composed largely of shameless hacks and reactionary nutjobs. In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi: "you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Okay, maybe that's overstating things a little bit (but not much).
As if to prove the point, the House GOP members have convened a fake session of Congress for the second day in a row to demonstrate their deep concern over the impact that high gas prices are having on the American consumer, whom they care so much about. Specifically, they're protesting Nancy Pelosi's decision not to allow a vote on off-shore drilling prior to the August recess.
Remember this is the same group of politicians who were in power for over a decade and not only did nothing whatsoever to prepare for this day, but actively fought against efforts to spur research into alternative fuels and reduce consumption of oil (such as raising CAFE standards on automobiles). In fact, they didn't even push to increase off-shore drilling, the policy they now put forth as the answer to all of our problems. And even now, as they wrap themselves in the banner of lowering gas prices, they are fighting against common sense efforts to improve the situation--such as cracking down on commodity speculation and taking long term steps to reduce our dependence on oil altogether--and going out of their way to mock Barack Obama for having the temerity to suggest an easy way to reduce gas consumption.
Furthermore, they know that their proposed solution, off-shore drilling, will do little if anything to lower gas prices and nothing at all to solve the larger problem, which is our national dependence on oil. Indeed, what they're doing is, once again, following the bidding of the oil companies, which is how we got where we are in the first place.
It's okay, though, I don't expect anything but soul-crushing hypocrisy from the House GOP. That's what they do. To expect anything different would be like expecting lions not to hunt or fish not to swim.
posted by A.L. at 1:30 PM
6 Comments:
With their ship sinking fast, the Republicans think they've found a lifeboat with the issue of offshore drilling, and they are all scampering to get onboard. Who knows. From what the pundits seem to be indicating, they've gotten some traction. Although I personally think it's a pretty pathetic attempt to salvage their brand, I know a lot of dimwits who think that drilling offshore will lower prices at the pump regardless of what the facts show. My worry is not that the Republicans will stay true to form as you suggest but that the American public is today composed of an increasing number of dumbed downed people who have stored their thinking caps in a hatbox on the top shelf of the back closet and are willing to cling to beliefs untethered to reality which the Republicans, as usual, are only to willing to exploit.
What doesn't get said often enough is the fact that there are (thousands? millions?) of acres of land and large tracts of coastal waters that are already approved for drilling, and the oil companies are not drilling in them.
This puts the lie to the issue much more clearly than talking about it taking 10 years for the oil to get to market. If drilling were the answer, they'd be drilling.
I believe that the oil companies are not interested in drilling to lower the cost of oil, because they are profiting by the high cost of oil. All the noise about drilling is political, not practical.
Btw, when Gingrich ran the house my wife used to refer to it as "Newties House of Nuts." I always though that was apt.
My guess is that these guys are staying in D.C. during recess because they don't want to go home and face real voters, who would probably tell them what a crock this stunt is.
Kind a reminds one of the 80s, when Newt Gingrich used to stand up for hours giving "special order" speeches as if he were in fact addressing the House, and Speaker O'Neill had the cameras pan the empty chamber to show just how meaningless the "debate" was.
There is just no substance here. Increased domestic oil-drilling is a dead-end issue. If anything, we should have having a discussion about saving the remaining domestic oil for future use, after the oil economy. There are plenty of uses for petroleum that don't involve cars and engines, but most people don't think about them.
"lions not to hunt or fish not to swim"
I think you meant "sharks not to swim or bats not to fly" </Tom Lehrer>
The Republicans are attempting to distract low-information voters from the central question in this election. Do you want hope and change or do you want another four years of George Bush? Talking about the issues is just a clever ploy to fool these gullible folks. Plus which focusing on oil is obviously another attempt to insinuate racial issues into this campaign (you don’t hear them talking about the price of sugar).
Fortunately, the Obama campaign has responded by noting that John McCain is in the pocket of big oil, as evidenced by the fact that these companies have contributed way more to McCain than to Obama. This is a good start, but it doesn’t go far enough. True, the Obama campaign exaggerated the amount of contributions that McCain received, but it could do so much more.
“John McCain: has received millions of dollars in secret payoffs from Halliburton. Along with his fellow oilman Joe Lieberman, he has proposed “cap and trade,” which allows oil companies to dispose of depleted oil wells without paying for the environmental damage they have caused.” (Don’t worry, the low-information voters are way too busy clinging to their guns and SUVs to look up stuff on Wikipedia).
Also, the Obama folks should use the fact that hedge funds have contributed way more than to Obama than to McCain. Don’t worry, low-information voters have no idea what hedge funds are. If you use the right visual, they will think that hedge funds are church groups that invest in green technology.
“Why do hedge funds overwhelmingly back Barack Obama over John McCain? The answer is clear. While John McCain was pushing his cap and trade scheme at the behest of Big Oil [show picture of a major oil spill], Barack Obama was working to beautify poor neighborhoods throughout Chicago. [cut to shot of estate in Highland Park]
John McCain: Bad for hedge funds. Bad for America.”
MLS,
It's probably just the hedge funds hedging their bets in the likely event that Obama wins.
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