A MISGUIDED VICTIM COMPLEX…. To add a bookend to the previous post, Justin Rood noted that the 110th Congress hasn’t even officially begun, but several House Republicans have already started feeling sorry for themselves.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter circulated to fellow Republicans, three House GOPers are trying to push a “Minority Bill of Rights” — based on a two-year-old proposal by then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). You can read the letter here.
“Unfortunately, as you are well aware, the Democrats’ forty-year reign over the House was plagued by consistent, systematic efforts to usurp the rights and privileges of the Republican minority,” write Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Tom Price (R-GA).
I’m afraid on the hypocrisy-o-meter, these three just buried the needle.
Two years ago, Nancy Pelosi and other House Dems proposed some modest measures that would improve the democratic process on the Hill: bills would only come to the floor after open committee hearings, lawmakers would be able to offer amendments to bills, and members would have at least 24 hours to actually look at legislation before being asked to vote on it.
What happened in response to Pelosi’s written request? Dennis Hastert blew it off and refused to even acknowledge the correspondence.
Now, all of a sudden, the same ideas have been repackaged as a Republican-backed “Minority Bill of Rights.” For reasons that escape me, McHenry, Cantor, and Price seem to believe “their” idea should be taken seriously.
As for their argument about abuses that may have existed before 1994, Kevin thoroughly debunked the Dems-were-just-as-bad notion a couple of years ago.
When it comes to abuses of power, modern Republicans are in a league of their own. And now that they’re in the minority again, worried about abuses that haven’t actually happened, we’re apparently supposed to feel sorry for them. Please.
