Congressional wee hours: Democracy crumbles under cover of darkness

[Catshrink]

This article appeared in the St. Louis Post Dispatch on Thursday 12/11 so it's too late for LBN:

Democracy crumbles under cover of darkness
By Representative SHERROD BROWN

"House Republicans bend rules, press for votes during wee hours to
escape the light of accountability. Never before has the House of Representatives operated in such secrecy:

At 2:54 a.m. on a Friday in March, the House cut veterans benefits by
three votes.

At 2:39 a.m. on a Friday in April, the House slashed education and
health care by five votes."

<snip> here he lists more late night votes then continues:

"Always in the middle of the night. Always after the press had passed
their deadlines. Always after the American people had turned off the news and gone to bed."

This is an important article! I wanted to quote more but I hit 4 paragraphs already. Print it out - forward it.

Link:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/Editorial+%2F+Commentary/9ABAC0D463E4626F86256DF9003E0D2A?OpenDocument&Headline=CONGRESS+Democracy+crumbles+under+cover+of+darkness&highlight=2%2Csherrod%2Cbrown

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Thanks for this link!

One thing that everyone feels a need for is fairness. This sort of underhanded thing alarms and enrages many people.

[Catshrink]

2. Absolutely!

A difference of opinion or philosophy is one thing, but bending rules and this kind of manipulation is WRONG! I fear that we are heading down a road toward totalitarianism lead by the neocons. It's very very frightening.

[salin]

3. Important article.... hope folks keep this kicked for awhile

SOme things are important to all of is in future congressional elections - would hate to see this excellent piece - with info that is imp. locally - get lost to the candidate fights.

[Catshrink]

4. Exactly! I don't want this to sink too quickly!

Thanks for kicking!

[BeFree]

5. More...

And late last month, they did it again. The most sweeping changes to Medicare in its 38-year history were forced through the House at 5:55 on a Saturday morning.

The debate started at midnight. The roll call began at 3:00 a.m. Most of us voted within the typical 20 minutes. Normally, the speaker would have gaveled the vote closed. But not this time; the Republican-driven bill was losing.

By 4 a.m., the bill had been defeated 216-218, with only one member, Democrat David Wu, not voting. Still, the speaker refused to gavel the vote closed.

Then the assault began. "

*************************
They began rounding up and assaulting the nay voters getting them to change their previous votes.
I wondered how they did that: make all those radical changes to Medicare. Now we know. They played against the rules. Just wait till we get the majority again, the pugs are gonna wish they'd played by the rules. We, the People, will make sure. It's gonna be fun...

[soup]

6. Frightening

From the article:

"By 4:30, the browbeating had moved into the Republican cloakroom, out of sight of C-SPAN cameras and the insomniac public. Republican leaders woke President George W. Bush, and a White House aide passed a cell phone from one recalcitrant member to another in the cloakroom.

At 5:55, two hours and 55 minutes after the roll call had begun - twice as long as any previous vote in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives - two obscure western Republicans emerged from the cloakroom. They walked, ashen and cowed, down the aisle to the front of the chamber, scrawled their names and district numbers on green cards to change their votes and surrendered the cards to the clerk."

Whoa, Nelly!
"ashen and cowed", they changed their votes.

[salin]

7. another - "must read" - kick n/t

[demgrrrll]

8. Unbelievable. I feel like the guy in the Princess Bride. Maybe that

word does not mean what I think it means. Unbelievable.
If we do manage to retake the WH whoever wins is going
to feel like the guy who sweeps up behind the elephant in the circus parade.

[buddhamama]

9. "...subversion of democracy"

succinct. Regardless of public opinion they continue to push through their regressive policies.

we should all be afraid.

:kick:

[Catshrink]

11. That's what I like about this article

it's short and to the point and gives concrete examples of the abuse of power. It's this detail that is so critical to understanding what the repugs are doing.

[nostamj]

10. thanks for posting this!

republicans cared so much about the rule of law until they were in the position to subvert it.

I HATE REPUBLICANS

[kentuck]

12. It's a "pretend" democracy...

When in fact, it is closer to totalitarian and fascism.

[Catshrink]

13. The Patriot Act is a step toward formalizing this.

It's a direct assault on civil liberties.

Then we have the late night assault on the legistative process.

Then there's the gerrymandering of Congressional districts to favor republicans.

Anyone else spot a tend here?

[buddhamama]

14. kick

:kick:

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. I was watching C-SPAN

one Monday evening. They give their floor speeches on Monday nights and the(D) Rep. from Ohio...can't remember his name, sorry.. he has a real deep, husky voice, ANYWAY! THIS is what he said. He went through every noted "time" the day of the week and gave the dates of when the repukes did these things. It's amazing! Isn't it? What amazes me the most is that the Democrats haven't walked out of the House in a REVOLT! They should. Tom Delay and the asshole Thomas from the Ways and Means committee are running roughshod over the House Dems and they can't stop them. The Veterans cuts were done in the morning hours as the shrub invaded Iraq!!! We have lost control of our government to those ideologues in the House...the Senate isn't quite as bad, but very close.

[Catshrink]

16. Remember when the repugs called the police on the dems?

I'm having a pre-senior moment here and can't remember the bill. I think it was the budget. But the repugs made changes and wanted the dems to vote on it without having seen the changes. The dems retreated to the committee conference room and the repugs called the cops to remove them.

The one dem lawmaker remaining in the committee room called a repug thug a fruitcake.

[dsc]

17. It was likely Sherrod Brown

who is the author of the piece. He represents Ed Feighan's old district in Ohio (along with parts of some others). I think my district borders his at some point.

[in_cog_ni_to]

24. Yup, That's him... Thanks!

I know him when I see him and hear him...very distinctive voice. I love the guy. Every time I see him, he's stickin' it to the republicans. He's a fighter.

[AWD]

18. Sherrod Brown

used to be the Congressman of Medina County, and they gerrymandered him out of it....and gave it to Ralph Regula.

The Ohio Repubs thoughtthatRegula was safe enough to give him a Dem area and hoped it would take Brown out ofthe race...he won in 2002 anyway, and now they've given me more Dems to reach out to!

They're PISSED, and I get to give my message to them with Sherrod Brown by my side. That will be the area that will win my election for me.

He's a great man, and I'm proud to have met him.

We have a joint fundraiser in the works for February....more details when his scheduler gets back to me.

[Catshrink]

19. Thanks for the info on Sherrod Brown

I wasn't sure who he was -- but he sure wrote an interesting and frightening article.

I'm so glad you saw this, Jeff. This info might be helpful as campaign points for you.

[AWD]

20. Thrice

3 times this week alone I was in contact with his office. They asked me to circulate a petition for him, so I jumped all over it.

His endorsement would get me a TON more votes in Medina County. And Medina County would dearly love to be a battleground county in this race, because they've been ignored by Regula since the day he became their congressman.

[Catshrink]

22. Cool!

That is terrific! Glad to hear things are going well. You're working hard and it's paying off. DU's own!

[proud patriot]

21. once again GOP hides it's agenda from the people

Gosh What are they so ashamed of ? :shrug:

[Catshrink]

23. And the media sleeps... let's them get away with it.

[frustrated_lefty]

25. I've noticed this.

I have frequent bouts of insomnia, rarely being able to get to sleep before 3 or 4 in the morning. And, stupidly, I have the news on while I fritter away the morning hours. Invariably, the worst sort of news is released between 2 and 3 am: Congress just passed a bill to sell your children to Thai crack houses, and in other news....

I don't sleep well these days.

[ithacan]

26. excellent!

If only the mainstream media would report on this underhanded, sneaky, dishonest and deceitful action on the part of the GOP.

[Catshrink]

27. It's a glaring omission in coverage, that's for sure.

This should be the lead story... so much for the liberal media.

[Sugarbleus]

28. GREAT Post!!

I've been posting here and there in DU about this very thing.

While we are debating/arguing about who gets the nomination, the legislature is passing some hideous bills out of sight! It's almost a whole year before we can remove that dweeb from the WH, which means he and his boot lickers can try and indeed pass a whole load of uncivlized bills/laws. STAY VIGILANT! CALL YOUR REPS...

[Catshrink]

29. Thank you -- these need to be our "talking points"

You know how the repugs have theirs (Clinton's penis did this, Clinton's penis did that, etc.), we need to develop our points. These need to be rational and concrete -- like the info in the original post.

[never cry wolf]

30. Thanks for posting!

These guys have me sooo disgusted.

[LTR]

31. "the House cut veterans benefits by three votes"

Is this what they mean by 'supporting the troops'?

[Catshrink]

36. Hey, it's compassionate conservatism..

Right up there with leave no millionarire behind.

[Zomby Woof]

32. yay!

A Catshrink thread in GD for me to kick!!! :kick:

Damn good post too. Have some NyQuil! ;-)

[Catshrink]

33. I need Nyquil...

got me a bad cold.... more on this in the Lounge.

Kinda strange, huh? Me in GD? I actually started two threads here today. I'm movin' up. Or down. Not sure which. I don't engage in candidate discussions.

[Zomby Woof]

34. I knew you were smart!

I get into a few scraps, because it's just my gentle good nature to do so. :evilgrin: You're smart staying out, lol.

GD gives me the chance to flex some good analytical muscles too. It's hard these days amidst the relentless cheerleading and spam to get a good thread going, but worth a try. Glad you did!

I posted in your Lounge thread with my diagnosis. :-)

[Catshrink]

35. Got it....

it's yakilicious. (Just like Cherry Nyquil.)

[Torgo Johnson]

37. I'm so proud that Sherrod Brown is my rep...

and I'm so ashamed that Mike Dewhiney (I'm sorry about what happened to his daughter, but that does not give him an excuse to use the tragedy in a campaign commercial)and George Voinovich are my crappy senators.