The Naked Lust for Power

Like I said earlier, if you thought election year 2000was fun, you better just strap yourself in for the nonsense we are going to have to endure this year. The Democrats are willing to do or say anything to regain power in Washington. Exhibit A for the day regarding Democratic hijinks was posted below. Here are Exhibits B and C (and remember- this is just FROM TODAY).

Exhibit B:

One of the real problems for the Democrats is that even in the off-chance that Kerry wins the general election in November, he is going to be hard-pressed to pass any real legislative agenda because the House and Senate, barring an utter catastrophe for the GOP, are going to remain in Republican hands. Should Kerry win, in fact, the Democrats would automatically lose a seat in the Senate, because as the law states, the sitting Governor would choose Kerry’s replacement. This has only been the law for a half-century or so.

The problem, though, is that the Massachussetts governor is Mitt Romney, a Republican, and the replacement Senator would be a Republican. This, for a Massachussetts Democrat, is as close to armageddon as it gets. Thus, a fix must be found:

If John Kerry is elected president, his seat in the Senate would be filled by the winner of a special election rather than a successor picked by Republican Gov. Mitt Romney under a bill approved Wednesday by the Massachusetts Senate.

The Senate voted largely along party lines, 32-8, after a sometimes testy debate pitting the badly outnumbered Republicans, who opposed the change, against Democrats. The measure now goes to the Democratic-controlled House.

The bill requires a special election not more than 160 days and not less than 145 days after a vacancy is created in the Senate. Under the bill, a vacancy is created when a letter of resignation is filed, even if the incumbent senator does not actually resign until a later date. The winner of the special election would serve out the remainder of the unexpired term. Kerry’s term ends in 2008.

Although Romney could veto the measure, the Democrats have the votes to overturn it.

Democrats argue that allowing the governor to appoint a successor is less democratic than a special election, even a quick election.

The governor said he supports having a special election, but he wants to give the candidates enough time — up to nine months — to raise money, hold a primary, debates and then stage a general election. In the meantime, Romney said, he should be allowed to appoint a replacement who could then run in the general election.

Romney has called on Kerry to resign his seat, arguing that he has paid little attention to his Senate duties while campaigning for president.

You have to admire the brazenness, if nothing else.

Exhibit C: Nancy Pelosi’s Minority Party Bill of Rights

House Democrats’ anger at heavy-handed Republican tactics reached a new level yesterday, with the chamber’s top Democrat asking the House speaker to embrace a “Bill of Rights” for the minority, regardless which party it is.

In keeping with the general atmosphere of the House these days, aides to Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said he will not respond to the two-page proposal from Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

For decades, the party in power has used House parliamentary rules to limit the minority party’s ability to amend bills and shape debates. But Democrats — in the minority for 10 years after four decades of control — say Republicans have gone to unreasonable lengths in recent years. GOP leaders dispute this, but congressional scholars and even some rank-and-file Republicans agree in whole or in part.

Pelosi’s document, which she vows to honor if Democrats regain the majority, says: “Too often, incivility and the heavy hand of the majority” have silenced Democrats and choked off “thoughtful debate.” She called on the majority to let the minority offer meaningful amendments and substitutes to important bills; to limit roll-call votes to the normal 15 minutes rather than keeping them open to round up needed votes; and to let all appointees to House-Senate conference committees participate in meetings and decisions.

Translation- “We don’t have the votes, but we still want to run shit.”

*** Bonus Flashback- Nancy Pelosi on ‘Civility’ ***

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi lashed out at President Bush on Thursday, saying his Iraq policies show incompetence and the only conclusion to draw is that “the emperor has no clothes.”

“I believe that the president’s leadership and the actions taken in Iraq demonstrate an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience,” the California Democrat told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.

More Civility from Pelosi:

“As far as we know, Senator Kerry got three Purple Hearts for risking his life in Vietnam and President Bush got a dental examination in Alabama,” Pelosi said.

I wonder what the Vice-President might say to her?