Comments (10)

Scott L wrote on October 17, 2007 8:17 PM:

The only question is why didn't the Democrates pull these stunts the last six and a half years.

Joe Bonham wrote on October 17, 2007 8:17 PM:

Remember how we used to snicker and point fingers at so-called 'rubberstamp' Soviet, North Korean and Chinese politburo sessions, deriding them for their weak-knee Willie approach to governance?

Remember? Seems like only yesterday huh? Or was it today, watching the Dems roll over and show their belly again on FISA?

Waiting for 2008 to straighten stuff out? It won't change a goddamn thing in this country. Forget national elections I guess and concentrate all your efforts, worry, concern and heart on the most local stuff you can find. Make your own neighborhood a decent place to live, your own schools a place of learning and pride, your own lives meaningful and worthy of honor.

Forget the United States - permanently. Think locally.

chabuka wrote on October 18, 2007 1:11 AM:

Scott L, my thoughts exactly, are the Democrats really that stupid...they didn't know about all these dirty little tricks and couldn't perform them while they were a minority....something smells like sh*t here...

DaDrone wrote on October 18, 2007 2:40 AM:

I don't know House rules, but I do seem to recall that the majority gets to set them. Assuming that is correct, the pre-2007 Democratic minority may have been laboring under a different and possibly more onerous set of rules than does the current Republican minority. Combine that fact with Tom Delay's utter ruthlessness, and willingness to violate even his own rules - remember when that health care bill (Medicare D??) was kept open beyond the time House rules allowed? - and a case can be made that the Democrats may be restricted by their own rules.

Of course, the Democrats HAVE often acted like beaten spouses, so the wimp explanation could be accurate. Just thought I'd throw the alternative explanation out for discussion, hopefully by better informed folk than my own self :-)

DaDrone wrote on October 18, 2007 2:45 AM:

correction:
...remember when THE VOTE ON that health care bill...

JW wrote on October 18, 2007 4:01 AM:

"Senate Democrats and Republicans reached agreement with the Bush administration yesterday on the terms of new legislation to control the federal government's domestic surveillance program, which includes a highly controversial grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have assisted the program, according to congressional source".

So reports the Washington Post.

Goddamn the democratic party. May it die on the vine- the sooner, the better.

Helena Montana wrote on October 18, 2007 4:19 AM:

This morning's WaPo:
"Senate Democrats and Republicans reached agreement with the Bush administration yesterday on the terms of new legislation to control the federal government's domestic surveillance program, which includes a highly controversial grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have assisted the program, according to congressional sources.

Disclosure of the deal followed a decision by House Democratic leaders to pull a competing version of the measure from the floor because they lacked the votes to prevail over Republican opponents and GOP parliamentary maneuvers.

The collapse marked the first time since Democrats took control of the chamber that a major bill was withdrawn from consideration before a scheduled vote. It was a victory for President Bush, whose aides lobbied heavily against the Democrats' bill, and an embarrassment for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who had pushed for the measure's passage.

The draft Senate bill has the support of the intelligence committee's chairman, John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), and Bush's director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell. It will include full immunity for those companies that can demonstrate to a court that they acted pursuant to a legal directive in helping the government with surveillance in the United States.

Such a demonstration, which the bill says could be made in secret, would wipe out a series of pending lawsuits alleging violations of privacy rights by telecommunications companies that provided telephone records, summaries of e-mail traffic and other information to the government after Sept. 11, 2001, without receiving court warrants. Bush had repeatedly threatened to veto any legislation that lacked this provision."

Nancy Pelosi's e-mail address is: sf.nancy@mail.house.gov

Since she is our majority leader, I know that she will be happy to hear from each and every one of us on this issue.

Helena Montana wrote on October 18, 2007 4:21 AM:

This morning's WaPo:
"Senate Democrats and Republicans reached agreement with the Bush administration yesterday on the terms of new legislation to control the federal government's domestic surveillance program, which includes a highly controversial grant of legal immunity to telecommunications companies that have assisted the program, according to congressional sources.

Disclosure of the deal followed a decision by House Democratic leaders to pull a competing version of the measure from the floor because they lacked the votes to prevail over Republican opponents and GOP parliamentary maneuvers.

The collapse marked the first time since Democrats took control of the chamber that a major bill was withdrawn from consideration before a scheduled vote. It was a victory for President Bush, whose aides lobbied heavily against the Democrats' bill, and an embarrassment for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who had pushed for the measure's passage.

The draft Senate bill has the support of the intelligence committee's chairman, John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), and Bush's director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell. It will include full immunity for those companies that can demonstrate to a court that they acted pursuant to a legal directive in helping the government with surveillance in the United States.

Such a demonstration, which the bill says could be made in secret, would wipe out a series of pending lawsuits alleging violations of privacy rights by telecommunications companies that provided telephone records, summaries of e-mail traffic and other information to the government after Sept. 11, 2001, without receiving court warrants. Bush had repeatedly threatened to veto any legislation that lacked this provision."

Nancy Pelosi's e-mail address is: sf.nancy@mail.house.gov

Since she is our majority leader, I know that she will be happy to hear from each and every one of us on this issue.

dmh wrote on October 18, 2007 7:27 AM:

This was not trickery but entirely predictible under the House rules. A motion to recomitt is in order on every piece of legislation and if the Democrats are not clever enought to anticipate and prepare for such a certainty, well, they are dumber than I thought and I thought they were pretty dumb before this. They need to make Barney Frank majority leader and this kind of nonsense can be averted. What are they thinking over there? That the more ridiculous they look the more seats they will pickup?

GrannyBgood wrote on October 21, 2007 10:51 AM:

Helena, the only thing you get when you e-mail Pelosi is "If you aren't a California Resident, I don't have time to deal with you." (paraphrasing. I know, I've tried it several times)

SOME "Speaker" for us all, eh?