The Blue State

The Administrations Latest Display of Hypocrisy

The White House criticized Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for her decisionto travel to Syria. State Department spokesman Sean McCormick told reporters onFriday  "In our view, it is not the right time to have these sort ofhigh-profile visitors to Syria," As reported by U.S.News & World Report. According to the administration, this is an act ofdefiance, and such acts of diplomatic overtures by lawmakers can do more harm thangood.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the speaker "should take astep back and think about the message that it sends".

 "This is a country that is a state sponsor of terror, onethat is trying to disrupt the Saniora government in Lebanon and one that isallowing foreign fighters to flow into Iraq from its borders," Perino said.Fuad Saniora is prime minister of Lebanon.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "probably really wants people to come,and have a photo opportunity, and have tea with him, and have discussions aboutwhere they're coming from. But we just think it's a really bad idea,"Perino said.

Now let's see if there is any hypocrisy by theadministration with this issue.

Others traveling with Pelosi were Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison ofMinnesota, Henry Waxman and Tom Lantos of California, Louise Slaughter of NewYork and Nick Rahall of West Virginia, and Ohio Republican David Hobson.Ellison is the first Muslim member of Congress.

In the Huffington Post story PelosiShrugs Off White House Criticism you can find the following.

"It's interesting because three of our colleagues, who are all Republicans,were in Syria yesterday and I didn't hear the White House speaking out aboutthat," Pelosi said, referring to the Sunday meeting of Reps. Frank Wolf,Joe Pitts and Robert Aderholt with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus.

Lastnight on Hannity & Colmes, Alan Colmes confronted guest Newt Gingrich aboutthe double standard, and in Newt's well honed political way answered that she isthe third in line for the presidency, and said the White House didn't ask therepublicans not to visit, but would have stood by that decision if they did.Nice try Newt. The video can be seen over at our friends TheNews Hounds

The administration isn't doing such a bang up job in the diplomacy dept. and if thedemocrats have to make some unpopular decisions to take some matters into theirown hands, then all I can say is they're doing what we asked them to do in November, and the Iraq Study Group recommended that we speak with Syria.

(Video) On House floor, Congressman Gordon debunks GOP attack on Pelosi

There has been all this fuss on Fox News and conservative talk radio about the fact that Nancy Pelosi sometimes uses a military aircraft to fly cross country.  Today on Capitol Hill, Congressman Bart Gordon (D-TN) debunked the smear.  After 9/11, the Speaker has had the option of being escorted two and from Washington.  She is second in line to the presidency.  Shouldn't we protect her?  Watch the video below:

Interestingly, as Think Progress points out, when Dennis Hastert was Speaker he used a military aircraft to fly a Mark Foley page scandal figure to Washington.

Democrats roll out agenda to the nation

The news networks paused for one week in their relentless cycle of giving six straight years of uninterrupted attention to President Bush, and met with a number of key Democrats to ask them about their agenda.  Conservatives that watched were probably shocked to find that Democrats stand for more than raising taxes, socialism, loving terrorists and wanting to destroy America.

Nancy Pelosi appeared on CBS' Face the Nation, and told Bob Sheiffer that the Democrats are planning a round of extra tax cuts for the middle class:

"What we're saying is Democrats propose tax cuts for middle-incomefamilies. And we want to have 'pay-go,' no new deficit spending. We'renot going to start with repealing tax cuts, but they certainly are notoff the table for people making over half a million dollars a year,"Pelosi said.

When you combine middle class tax cuts with cutting the interest rate on student loans and the lowering the cost of prescription drugs, the middle class would save a lot of money.  So where would the money for all those investments come from?  The Democrats estimate that large corporations have failed to pay about $300 billion in taxes this last year.  If you take that $300 billion and add it to the revenue taken in from the repealed tax cuts for those making $500,000 or more per year, balancing the budget within the next few years is not out of the question.

On the issue of foreign policy, Nancy Pelosi told Sheiffer that her party does not agree that a troop surge in Iraq would be the best idea.  Below is the video:

Pelosi puts Democrats in the spotlight

Earlier today, each cable television network gave the Democrats more exposure than they got at any other time since Bill Clinton left office.  For that reason alone, many Americans tuning into channels like Fox News were probably surprised to discover that Nancy Pelosi was more than some abortion-loving San Francisco liberal that right-wing pundits made her out to be.  She is a practicing Catholic, a dedicated grandmother, and a daughter of a Baltimore mayor that taught her about a higher calling for public service.

Until this evening, it will be a mystery what sound bites each of the three major news networks will use.  The odds are that they will include these comments about the Iraq war:

"The election of 2006 was a call to change -not merely to change the control of Congress, but for a new directionfor our country. Nowhere were the American people more clear about theneed for a new direction than in Iraq.  The American people rejected an open-ended obligation to a war without end. Shortly, President Bush will address the nation on the subject of Iraq. It is theresponsibility of the President to articulate a new plan for Iraq thatmakes it clear to the Iraqis that they must defend their own streetsand their own security, a plan that promotes stability in the region,and that allows us to responsibly redeploy American forces."

While Pelosi is not known for being the best public speaker, she definitely deserves an A for today's address.  Below are some videos of the events earlier today:

Morning in Washington: Democrats take Congress

Just a few hours from now, the gavel will be in their hands.  Ethics rules will be voted on today.  "First 100 Hours" agenda to begin Tuesday.

This entry is being posted right before history will be made in our nation's capital.  At noon eastern time, Democrats, led by their leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, are putting an end to 12 years of Republican reign on Capitol Hill.  Pelosi will become the first female Speaker of the House in United States history. 

Freshmen Senators and House members will be sworn in as well.  Montana Senator Jon Tester, one of the most well-known Democratic challengers to win in November, flew to the capital on Tuesday so he could beat the bad weather.  One day before getting on the plane, he felt ecstatic about the opportunity before him:

"We're really looking forward to getting back there and getting ourfeet on the ground," the freshman Democrat said in a telephoneinterview. "We've been working for this for over a year and a half now,and now it's time we can put all our hard work to use to help benefitMontanans and the rest of the country."

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill felt the same way.  Last night she held a rally in D.C. with about 500 supporters, and thanked many of them for their hard work during the campaign:

“I will work hard and try hard never to disappoint you,” the MissouriDemocrat told the crowd at the posh Willard Continental Hotel, just afew blocks from the White House.

“There are so many of you fromMissouri,” she said. "It’s been a long time since we filled so manyplanes to come to Washington, D.C."

Technically, even though Democrats take the gavel today, they will not begin their anticipated "First 100 Hours" until Tuesday.  H.R. 1, the first bill of the 110th Congress, will be submitted then.  Word has it that H.R. 1 will be the legislation that enacts the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which until now President Bush has refused to implement.  It is still unknown who will sponsor the bill.  Once H.R. 1 is submitted, the first 100 hours will begin.  Pelosi has promised that during the first 100 hours, the House will follow strict protocol and force through the following bills:

• Implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission
• Making it legal for Americans to buy cheaper prescription drugs from other countries, and forcing the government to negotiate with the drug companies for lower prices.
• Raising the national minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.
• Cutting the interest on college loans in half.
• Repealing the tax breaks for oil companies.
• Expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

After the House passes these bills, it is almost for certain that Senate Republicans will choose not to block them via filibuster.  The only uncertainty is whether the President will choose to veto them.

Bottom line: all that hard work from online activists throughout the 2006 campaign paid off.  We deserve a pat on the back.  Only, the true test is beginning.  Now that the Republicans are out of power, expect them to throw everything they have at the Democrats.  If you think Hannity and Limbaugh are too partisan now, just wait to see how they will act when their guys are not in power.  Publicly, every lawmaker and Bush Administration official is asking for bipartisanship.  In reality, it will be a slug-fest.  The wild ride to 2008 begins now, and we are all part of it.

Pelosi proposes independent panel investigating ethics

Is an Office of Public Integrity in the works?  No matter who is in the majority, the majority party tends not to investigate its own side's ethical wrongdoing.  New House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a bipartisan coalition have proposed the creation of an independent ethics arm that investigates Congressional ethics complaints.

NYT:

An independent Congressional watchdog, if approved,would be a major break with tradition. Some lawmakers say House andSenate members have sole responsibility for policing themselves when itcomes to internal rules.

Some lawmakers have said an independent entity could be unconstitutional.

TheDemocratic officials, who spoke only if they were not publiclyidentified because the proposal for the new panel was now beingpresented to lawmakers, said the prominence of corruption as a concernin the elections last month gave new impetus to such an idea.

An Office of Public Integrity is not a new idea.  Last March, that exact idea was rejected in the Senate.  It did not even clear committee!  The vote was 11 to 5.  It goes to show how resistant some lawmakers are to having someone else investigate them.

As the saying goes, those who are given power tend not to relinquish it.

Hoyer tells Congress to get ready for work

For the first time in quite awhile, the House of Representatives will work five days each week for an entire month.  New House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer gave a reality check to any Congressman who thought they could continue to slack off while on the job:

Forget the minimum wage. Or outsourcing jobs overseas. The laborissue most on the minds of members of Congress yesterday was their own:They will have to work five days a week starting in January.

The horror.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat who will become House majority leader and iswriting the schedule for the next Congress, said members should expectlonger hours than the brief week they have grown accustomed to.

"Ihave bad news for you," Hoyer told reporters. "Those trips you hadplanned in January, forget 'em. We will be working almost every day inJanuary, starting with the 4th."

The reporters groaned. "I know, it's awful, isn't it?" Hoyer empathized.

Our system works!  It's called checks and balances.  The Republican Congress gave themselves pay-raises, while working less hours and refusing to raise the minimum wage for millions of Americans.  Voters had enough and decided to kick the bums out.  Now we can finally get to work on the people's business.

And remember, usually Congress takes the gavel on January 4th and then adjourns until after the State of the Union Address later that month.  However, Pelosi and Hoyer want to get right to work.  The first 100 hours starts on January 4th, and then continues throughout the month.  That is called going above and behind the call of duty (sorry for the cliche, but it's true).

House Democrats to lengthen amount of time spent on ethics reform

This is a brilliant strategy right here.  And it happens to be on one of those issues that Republicans would look horrible if they opposed it.  Tuesday's Washington Post goes into detail regarding how Nancy Pelosi plans to control debate time on ethics reform:

Instead of forwarding one big bill,Democrats will put together an ethics package on the House floor pieceby piece, allowing incoming freshmen to take charge of high-profileissues and lengthening the time spent on the debate. The approach willensure that each proposal -- including banning gifts, meals and travelfrom lobbyists as well as imposing new controls on the budget deficit-- is debated on its own and receives its own vote. That should garnerfar more media attention for the bill's components before a final voteon the entire package.

"This will be the most significant ethics and lobbying reform that Congress has ever voted on," promised Rep. Martin T. Meehan  (D-Mass.), one of the point men on the effort.

And Democrats hope to showthat they are attentive to issues of corruption that, according to exitpolling, proved to be of major concern to voters on Nov. 7. House andSenate GOP leaders pledged early this year to pass major lobbyingreforms in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal butnever delivered on their promise.

Unlike the Senate, there is no filibuster in the House.  The minority party cannot delay or block legislation, and the majority party is in complete control of the gavel.  That gives the green light to Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, the two Democratic House leaders, to completely control what and how long issues can to be debated.  The hope is that by extending the debate in the House, making this a week-long ordeal, advocates of ethics reform would give their bill enough public relations momentum to fly through the Senate without a Republican filibuster.  If that happens, it is highly unlikely that President Bush would veto it.  After all, the package would affect legislators, not Bush himself.

Hoyer's impact in '06 campaign paid off

Steny Hoyer's dedication in terms of helping Democratic candidates elected was, in the end, the difference-maker in yesterday's closed-door vote for House Majority Leader.  The Washington Post elaborated on Friday morning:

Congenial and diligent, Hoyer scored big points with his colleaguesby laboring in the trenches throughout the 2006 campaign season. Heraised money, helped recruit candidates and appeared at events acrossthe country. When Congress was in session, he was a fixture on theHouse floor as the Democratic whip, cajoling colleagues to sticktogether on tough votes. And when Democrats won a House majority lastweek, Hoyer received a large share of the credit.

But why the 40-year friendship between Pelosi and Hoyer came to a sudden halt is still a mystery:

The two Maryland natives first met in the 1960s, while serving asinterns in the office of Sen. Daniel B. Brewster (D-Md.). Pelosi helpedHoyer in his race for majority whip against David E. Bonior (Mich.) in1991. Ten years later, Bonior gave up his post, and Hoyer's competitionwas Pelosi.

The race was long and bitter. Hoyer ran as the moremoderate and experienced candidate, while Pelosi portrayed herself asforward-thinking and progressive.

That is what power can do to people.  When you and someone else help one other up the ladder, only in the end to find the both of you on top, your only competition is one another, and a political war ensues.  Pelosi may have been a bit paranoid about Hoyer's ambitious attitude, and could have thought that if Hoyer got the Majority Leader position he would eventually try to become Speaker.  So she had every reason to support Murtha, who had never been disloyal to her.

Let this experience be a lesson to Pelosi.  If she messes up, Steny Hoyer, the number two person, has the support to take her out.  He will be breathing down her neck the entire time.  It's not her show like she thought it was going to be.  Hopefully that motivates Pelosi to be an efficient manager of the Democratic House majority so that a face-off with Hoyer never has to happen.  In that sense, Hoyer's victory was a net-plus for the country because more will get done in the House.

Clyburn issue solved, Majority Leader race gets ugly

A bitter fight that could have created a rift between Nancy Pelosi and the Congressional Black Caucus has been averted, The Hill online magazine reports. 

Originally, Rahm Emanuel, the architect behind the Democrats' House victories last week, had planned to run for House Majority Whip.  However, South Carolina Congressman James Clyburn had been in line for the job.  Word circulated yesterday that Pelosi worked out a compromise with Emanuel and Clyburn, which would allow Clyburn to be the Whip.

The only messy situation left is over the race for Majority Leader, where the battle between John Murtha and Steny Hoyer just got ugly:

..a Washington watchdog group is questioning the party's sincerity andalleging that Murtha steered Pentagon contracts to businesses thathired his brother as a lobbyist.

"How can Americans believe thatthe Democrats will return integrity to the House when future SpeakerPelosi has endorsed an ethically challenged member for a leadershipposition?" Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens forResponsibility and Ethics in Washington, asked in a written statement."Rep. Murtha is the wrong choice for this job."

Murtha responded, calling these "swift boat" style attacks.  Personally, I have mixed views on all this.  It might just be better if Rahm Emanuel got the Majority Leader position, and Clyburn was Majority Whip -- leaving neither Murtha nor Hoyer in a powerful position.  Obviously this is a preliminary opinion.  But how can you clean up Congress if your newest number-two-guy has a corruption problem of his own?  I am going to do more research on this in the coming days.