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You are here: Home / How Soon They Forget

How Soon They Forget

by John Cole|  November 28, 20032:15 pm| 11 Comments

This post is in: Democratic Stupidity

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Often times, I am guilty of attributing the worst to Democrats, assuming they are just liars and hypocrites. I am starting to think they are just suffering from groupthink induced memory loss. The most amusing example of this is the recent outrage over certain Republicans being pressured to vote a certain way on a major piece of legislation.

For the record, I am not in favor of these sorts of strong-arm tactics, but it is absolutely absurd for Democrats to pretend this is a Republican-only sin. How soon they forget:

Back in August, when he was trying to get his budget passed, Clinton made a deal with moderate and conservative Democrats who argued the plan relied too much on higher taxes or didn’t cut spending early and often enough: Vote for the budget, and the moderates–including Penny–could propose a new set of spending cuts in the fall. (Clinton made a similar agreement with Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska.) They relented. Clinton’s budget passed by one vote in the House and by Vice President Al Gore’s tie-breaker in the Senate.

Democratic leaders thought they were off the hook. They obviously didn’t understand how painful the vote was to moderate Democrats. Citing his frustration with the recalcitrance of the pro-spending groups in Washington, the 42-year-old Penny announced that he would resign from the House at the end of his term.

And the following weekend’s talk shows prominently featured freshman Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (D-Pa.), who cast the decisive vote. The Almanac of American Politics 1994 calls Margolies-Mezvinsky’s district a “quintessentially Republican seat.” Margolies-Mezvinsky had run for the open seat in 1992 as both a liberal and a deficit hawk, winning by only 1,300 votes. She had announced her opposition to the Clinton budget a couple of hours before the vote.

Margolies-Mezvinsky had to be bullied into changing her position. The televised images of a harried, almost-tearful member of Congress explaining her switch made Margolies-Mezvinsky an instant, if unintentional, celebrity.

These bullying tactics also provided an opportunity for the moderates to demand that Clinton deliver on his promise. Penny got Clinton and House Speaker Tom Foley to agree to a vote on spending cuts before the House adjourned in November. When Clinton offered his “rescission” package, House members could propose amendments that would be voted on individually, without any revisions, at that time.

Strong-arming is nothing new, and Kevin’s implication that some physical harm might come to Republicans who voted against the Prescription Drug Benefit (“Nice kid you’ve got there, Nick. Be a shame if anything happened to him….”) is more over-the-top rhetoric from the theatre of the absurd that once was the Democratic mainstream.

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Reader Interactions

11Comments

  1. 1.

    JC

    November 28, 2003 at 2:31 pm

    Kenneth, what’s the frequency?

    It’s not whether both parties do it from time to time. It literally is the frequency of use. Every body’s going to twist arms sometimes. But if the dominant strategy is one of twisting of arms, then I would start getting alarmed.

    Maybe you can dig up a few more examples to show that this was the dominant pattern of Clinton’s regime? If not, then simply bringing up a dirty spoon from the kitchen utensil drawer isn’t proving your thesis.

  2. 2.

    JadeGold

    November 28, 2003 at 2:41 pm

    Exactly, JC.

    I’d say arm-twisting occurs on every vote; it usually is of the variety of ‘vote my way on this bill if you want my vote on your bill’ or ‘give us your vote if you want to see that water treatment plant in your district.’

    This was personal where the GOP was going to attack one of their own by going after the kid.

  3. 3.

    John Cole

    November 28, 2003 at 3:08 pm

    JadeGOld- Threatening to cutoff funding for elections, threatening to run a primary candidate against an incumbent, etc., are all old tactics that have been in use on the Hill for years. My goodness, it is so common that the West Wing has even used it as part of several episodes.

  4. 4.

    Kimmitt

    November 28, 2003 at 3:27 pm

    I did like the shameless bribe attempt, though. “Vote for this and we’ll give 100k to your kid. Waddayasay?”

  5. 5.

    Doug Turnbull

    November 28, 2003 at 3:35 pm

    God, what I wouldn’t give for the good old days when “strong arming” a Rep. meant bringing up spending cuts for consideration by Congress. If the Republican majority managed a few hundred strong-arm tactics of that kind instead of sending spending through the roof, I’d consider voting for them in 2004.

  6. 6.

    John Cole

    November 28, 2003 at 4:30 pm

    Tell me about it, Doug.

  7. 7.

    Andrew Lazarus

    November 28, 2003 at 4:58 pm

    Speaking just for this member of the loony left, I’m not so interested in whining about Republican party discipline as in EMULATING it. Some parts of the Medicare story, like what sounded very close to a $100K bribe, might be overthe top as a tactic, but the strategy is fine.

  8. 8.

    Kimmitt

    November 28, 2003 at 11:40 pm

    What baffles me is why one would join and support a Party which so gleefully presses you to abandon your princples on a regular basis.

  9. 9.

    SDN

    November 30, 2003 at 8:39 am

    Which is why I’m not a Democrat.

  10. 10.

    Greg Bermont

    December 5, 2003 at 11:14 am

    Do you have the email address for Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky?

    Thanks,
    Greg

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Curmudgeonly & Skeptical says:
    December 5, 2003 at 8:32 am

    Indeed

        I was just Googling “Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky” for rant ammo (Group asks Justice Department to investigate alleged bribe attempt

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