If Republicans were in charge of Congress right now...

[Emit]

GRIDLOCK WOULD BE THE LEAST OF THE COUNTRY'S TROUBLES.... If the truly ridiculous interest in the Sestak job-offer story tells us anything, it's that a House Republican majority in 2011 would look an awful lot like the House Republican majority in the mid-1990s. Paul Waldman noted the other day the kind of political environment we could expect.

...If Republicans were in charge of Congress right now, they'd be holding endless hearings on not just this issue, but a hundred other cases of alleged Obama administration malfeasance. For those of you too young to remember, the Clinton years were a parade of ridiculous "investigations" into things like whether aide Vince Foster was murdered by a nefarious conspiracy. The Republican Congress heard 140 hours of testimony -- repeat, 140 hours of testimony -- on the burning question of whether the Clintons had misused the White House Christmas card list.

Should they be fortunate enough to take one or both houses of Congress in this fall's elections, you can bet the GOP is going to get right to work on renewing that sorry spectacle. The only thing holding them back now is the fact that their lack of institutional power renders them unable to create events -- like hearings -- to which cameras can go and around which news stories can be built. If they do take back even the House, it'll be a long two years.

My personal favorite was the time Rep. Dan Burton (R) of Indiana, the bizarre chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, fired a bullet into a "head-like object" -- reportedly a melon -- in his backyard to test his Foster-related conspiracy theories. Burton wasn't just some talk-radio shock-jock or publicity-hungry activist; he was the chairman of a congressional committee with oversight authority over the White House. And he wielded that gavel as if he were a fringe blogger with a chip on his shoulder, reinforcing the non-existent line between the GOP base and the GOP mainstream.

~snip~

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_05/024035.php

[Richardo]

1. Sobering thought - and absolutely right on the money

This is why seats count, and before people get all foamy and righteous about replacing DINOs and Blue Dogs with 'real' Democrats, they'd better be absolutely goddamn sure that the people of the district in question will ELECT a 'real' Democrat, and not replace that blue dog with a Republican.

K&R :kick:

[Submariner]

2. It's amazing that a car thief like Darrel Issa gets so much attention

this punk has no shame.

[charlesg]

3. They'd be proposing tax credits for BP clean-up costs

[old mark]

4. ...and taxpayers like us paid for every minute of republican madness.

I don't care for many current democrats, but the republicans are so much worse there really is no comparison.
rec.

mark

[butterfly77]

5. Kicked&Recommended!!!

[Dawson Leery]

6. k/r