Dumping Denny Won't Do It

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301106.html

By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; Page A25

It is a mark of the sheer panic sweeping the ranks of Republican congressmen that one of their most levelheaded members, Ray LaHood of Illinois, has suggested that Congress abolish its page program altogether in the wake of the Mark Foley scandal.

snip//

One thing is certain: Just dumping Denny Hastert as speaker, as many conservatives are demanding, won't clean up the Republican act. House Majority Leader John Boehner -- No. 2 in the House GOP hierarchy to Hastert's No. 1 -- now says that the failure to do anything about Foley since his e-mails first became known to the Republican leadership is Hastert's responsibility.

snip//

Instead, the larger purpose of the Republican Congress has been to enrich the rich and to cling to power by all means necessary -- with the financial assistance of the grateful rich. Purging Hastert, like dumping DeLay, does not signal any shift in these priorities. Democratic candidates challenging Republican incumbents are well within their rights to note that their opponent voted to give control of the House to Hastert and DeLay in January of 2005 and to ask why anyone would think he or she would make a better choice next time. What would be different? After all, in not sharing what he knew about Foley with Kildee, Shimkus was merely following the Republicans' practice of cutting the other party out of all legislative deliberations and running the House of, by and emphatically for themselves.

And who are the Republican members of Congress who've opposed this? Who has voted for rules that allow Democrats to offer amendments to key bills from the floor of the House? Who among them would consider not just defenestrating Denny but also changing the way the Republican Congress does business? Nobody springs to mind.

So -- dump the pages? Come now. Let's just dump the Republicans.

[e-mail]

[peacebird]

1. "Dump all republicans" - That works for me!

[calimary]

2. I like the last line here. "Let's just dump the republi-CONS!"

Although it IS rawther entertaining to watch hastert squirm. Every seat he takes from now on is a hot seat.

[MADem]

3. The Page program has been in place for EONS. They have a huge

two floor brick dorm for the pages. They already RAISED the age from minimum 14 to minimum 16 twenty some odd years ago.

The page program ain't going away...

Dumping Denny IS a good idea, though...even if they have to clean house and put the most junior GOP stooge in his place.

[pa28]

4. Republican Washington is a barrel of rotten apples.

You don't worry about sorting the good from the bad. You Just dump the whole thing.

[librechik]

5. It's a beginning. Visualize this:

you know, if you find a bunch o ROTTEN APPLES in the top of a barrel, and you go to tip them out, but somehow they get the whole barrel sticky with their rot, and the whole lot of them just rolls right out of there, right to the bottom.

:toast:

then you make cider. It's all they are good for.

[babylonsister]

6. As Schieffer said, they're eating their own. I guess that

could apply to apples as well. Not sure about that cider though. :puke: