The party of the hissy fit
In The Times today, Timothy Egan had an opinion piece in which he branded the Republican Party the "party of the hissy fit." It seems to be a particularly apt sobriquet.
This is the party in which the most recent presidential candidate has said that he's through cooperating(!). He will not be cooperating or participating in the legislative process for the rest of the year. I'm not really clear how this is supposed to be different from what's been happening over the last year. It's a bit like a kid who loses in a playground game threatening to pick up his marbles and go home.
Then we have the spectacle of Republican state attorneys general around the country rushing to file suit challenging the constitutionality of the new Health Care Reform law. I admit I am not a constitutional expert, but I would estimate that their chances of prevailing in such a suit stand at about the same as a snowball's chance in hell. But that doesn't bother this party of "fiscal conservatives" who will be profligately spending taxpayers' money on these doomed efforts. And, by the way, whatever happened to those conservatives who were so dead set against "frivolous lawsuits"? If this isn't the definition of a frivolous lawsuit, I don't know the meaning of the words.
Of course, here in Texas, we have the esteemed member of the House of Representatives who took pitching a hissy fit to a new level, breaching the decorum of the House by shouting "Baby killer!" at another House member during the debate on the HCR bill. He's now using this example of his temper tantrum worthy of a two-year-old as a fund-raising vehicle in his political campaign and apparently people are actually sending him money because of it!
Meanwhile, the Republican Party leaders in the House and Senate are pledging to "repeal the bill" without quite explaining just how they are going to go about that. Apparently, their aim is to reinstate all the inequities that have existed in access to health insurance in this country. It will certainly be interesting to hear just how they explain this to voters.
Honestly, are there no grown-ups left in this party, no one to tell their colleagues that holding their breath until they turn blue just doesn't work?
This is the party in which the most recent presidential candidate has said that he's through cooperating(!). He will not be cooperating or participating in the legislative process for the rest of the year. I'm not really clear how this is supposed to be different from what's been happening over the last year. It's a bit like a kid who loses in a playground game threatening to pick up his marbles and go home.
Then we have the spectacle of Republican state attorneys general around the country rushing to file suit challenging the constitutionality of the new Health Care Reform law. I admit I am not a constitutional expert, but I would estimate that their chances of prevailing in such a suit stand at about the same as a snowball's chance in hell. But that doesn't bother this party of "fiscal conservatives" who will be profligately spending taxpayers' money on these doomed efforts. And, by the way, whatever happened to those conservatives who were so dead set against "frivolous lawsuits"? If this isn't the definition of a frivolous lawsuit, I don't know the meaning of the words.
Of course, here in Texas, we have the esteemed member of the House of Representatives who took pitching a hissy fit to a new level, breaching the decorum of the House by shouting "Baby killer!" at another House member during the debate on the HCR bill. He's now using this example of his temper tantrum worthy of a two-year-old as a fund-raising vehicle in his political campaign and apparently people are actually sending him money because of it!
Meanwhile, the Republican Party leaders in the House and Senate are pledging to "repeal the bill" without quite explaining just how they are going to go about that. Apparently, their aim is to reinstate all the inequities that have existed in access to health insurance in this country. It will certainly be interesting to hear just how they explain this to voters.
Honestly, are there no grown-ups left in this party, no one to tell their colleagues that holding their breath until they turn blue just doesn't work?
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