LAT: Washington's abuser in chief

[Rose Siding]

Rosa Brooks:
Washington's abuser in chief
May 5, 2006

MOVE OVER, battered women! There's a new syndrome in town. It's called "battered Congress syndrome," and it was first identified by Norman J. Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. It's strikingly like those of "battered women's syndrome," only the abusive partner is the Bush administration.

I know. You're thinking, "Come on. Aren't we talking about consenting Republicans here? Sure, there's an occasional spat between Congress and the White House, but it's just a minor domestic dispute. We shouldn't interfere." But that trivializes both the abuse and its broader societal ramifications.

Think back to 2000, when George W. Bush swore he was a "uniter, not a divider." He seemed so sincere. So he was a little inarticulate? Nothing the love of a good Congress couldn't fix. But honeymoons never last.

The abuse started small, with some minor infidelities to conservative principles, such as Bush's insistence on federal micromanagement of education. Then there were the empty promises, such as the endless emergency "I swear I'll never do this again" requests for supplemental funding. At times, Congress even got publicly slapped, like when administration officials simply walked out of a Senate hearing on mine safety.

Still, Congress made excuses........

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-brooks5may05,1,3044900.column

[ninkasi]

1. The article has some good points

but Republicans have enjoyed being in power, and if Bush's polls weren't so bad, there would be no talk of things like investigating his "signing statements". Arlen has a habit of talking big, then wimping out. I know the pukes love to blame every ill in the world on liberals, but they control all three branches of government, so the state of affairs we find ourselves in is their baby.

[WilliamPitt]

2. Aw, the poor widdow congwessfolk...

These assholes marched in lock-step with Bush for five years, got re-elected to the majority with his help in 2002 and 2004, and now are paying the piper. In Wisconsin, that's just what they call "hard cheese."

[SeattleGirl]

3. I've been saying this for years about the Bush Cabal. Only not

about Congress so much as about the ordinary Jane and John Doe's who live in this country. We are the battered ones, and like all abusers, Bush goes berserk when the abused fight back.