This is how they do things in our House of People's Deputies these days:
House Democrats Storm Out of Ways and Means Committee
The blowup occurred as the panel began to mark up a wide-ranging pension bill sponsored by Reps. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.). The changes narrowed the original bill, but retained most of its key provisions.Ranking Democrat Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.) immediately complained about the timing, saying the measure was not on the House calendar for next week and there was no need to rush.
But Thomas refused to put action off.
At that point, the Democrats objected to a normally perfunctory motion to dispense with the reading of the 200-page original bill and the 91-page substitute. Thomas ruled that reading of the original could be dispensed with since it had been distributed weeks ago, but conceded that the Democrats could demand a line-by-line reading of the substitute.
The reading began, with Thomas interrupting at one point to say loudly, "In the House, the minority can delay. They cannot deny." When the Democrats left for the library, Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (D-Calif.) stayed behind to prevent the Republicans from obtaining unanimous consent to dispense with the reading.
After several minutes, Thomas again asked unanimous consent to dispense with the reading, and instantly brought down his gavel. Stark said later that he had objected, and Thomas had replied, "You're too late."
Thomas then recognized Portman for an opening statement on the bill. Stark attempted to make a "parliamentary inquiry," and Thomas ignored him. Stark then joined the other Democrats in the nearby room.
With no Democrats present, Thomas and the rest of the Republicans approved the substitute and then the final bill unanimously by voice vote and adjourned.
Just to make sure the minority got the message, Thomas called the Capitol Police and ordered them to clear the Dems out of the library. Understandable I suppose: People who hang out in libraries often read books and, well, those kind of people can be dangerous, especially if they're Democrats.
The ensuing comedy then unfolded:
The lone Capitol Police officer dispatched to the scene surveyed the situation and consulted with his superior, who in turn appealed to the Sergeant at Arms office. Sergeant at Arms representative Don Kellaher slipped into the room less than 45 minutes later, saying his office decided "this is a committee matter" and would take no action.
I'm not sure who would understand Thomas better -- these guys:
or these guys:
Update 7/18 10:08 PM ET:Alert (and historically knowledgeable) reader Ernest Tomlinson reminds me that there was a somewhat similar, if much more fateful, scene in the dying days of the Weimar Republic. At the time, the Nazis were the largest party in the German Reichstag, but lacked an absolute majority. However, they combined with the Communists (yes, that's right) to force a vote of confidence in the conservative government of Chancellor Fritz Von Papen. Papen, caught by surprise, tried to dissolve the Reichstag before the vote could be held.
The British historian Ian Kershaw picks up the story in Hubris, the first volume of his biography of Hilter:
When the Reichstag reassembled, Papen appeared with the red dispatch box which traditionally contained the the orders of dissolution under his arm. Amid chaotic scenes, the Reichstag President [Hermann] Goering announced straight away that he would proceed with the vote on the Communist proposal. At this, Papen tried to speak. Goering ignored him, looking intentionally away from the Chancellor to the left side of the chamber. Papen's State Secretary Planck pointed out to Goering that the Chancellor wished to exercise his right to speak. Goering retorted simply that the vote had begun.After again trying vainly to speak, Papen marched over to the Reichstag President's platform and slapped the dissolution order down on Goering's table. Followed by his cabinet, he then walked out of the chamber to howls of derision. Goering blithely pushed the dissolution order to one side and read out the results of the [vote].
"History repeats itself: First time as tragedy, second time as farce." -- Karl Marx
ugh. Americans may believe in participatory, multiparty democracy, but the GOP as currently constituted believes in one-party rule.
one-party rule, folks. get used to the phrase, because I think I'm going to have to use it a lot the next eighteen months.
I am reminded most definitely of the infamous case of the Nazis' uniting with the Communists in 1932 for a vote in the Reichstag to prevent Chancellor Franz von Papen's dissolving the government. Goering, as president in the Reichstag, contrived to affect not noticing von Papen's serving of the order to dissolve the government until the vote of no confidence was taken.
Has the Republicans' high-handedness and contempt for their fellow Democratic legislators ever been this bad?
Ernest - it's been like this since 1994, but only now are they safe to act out fully since if GWB and Blair can get away with making war for the love of it, nobody will question anything done in the House.
I'll be honest -- I vote for the Reichstag scenario myself. And I find this a very frightening development! If the Texas legislature -- that quorum-breaking movement and the resulting illicit interventions by DeLay and his cronies -- is any indication, it's going to get a LOT worse before it gets better ... *if* it gets better.
Anyone else been noticing how frequently the most scurrilous of those Republikan partisans are themselves whipping out "partisan" accusations against their opponents' every objection? (I know Billmon has.) This is the kind of radical polarization that leads to the dissolution of governments. And Thomas has openly revealed himself an American Fascist on the loose -- no laughing matter, I''m afraid.
Enter Groucho Marx dressed as the statue of liberty. He IS the voice of the American people. Groucho duck-walks up to Dubya and drops cigar ashes on his head. Dubya does not notice so Groucho raises his eyebrows and does it again. Getting no response Groucho knocks on the side of Dubya's head. There is a hollow wooden sound. Dubya turns slowly so that Groucho is knocking on his face. Dubya scowls and there is business. At last Groucho speaks to Dubya.
Groucho: "You know my uncle Karl always says, 'History repeats itself: First time as tragedy, second time as farce. So feel free to slam the door on your way out."
That last post was by me. I posted before signing my name.
Anyone else been noticing how frequently the most scurrilous of those Republikan partisans are themselves whipping out "partisan" accusations against their opponents' every objection?
Well, I've noticed what they've done with the war vote.
If you voted against the war, you're irrelevant, because you're in the minority.
If you voted in favor of the war, you have no right to criticize, because you voted the same way we did.
Heads I win, tails you lose.
Ah, all those Marx brothers =D
The world is getting funnier and sadder every day.
If democracy requires partisanship, then so be it. USA won't be even a shell of a republic if republicans don't reform their ways - though democrats could try to grow a spine. This is just one vertebra. They must take a stronger stance, because playing soft in a game of hardball just won't do.
For shame, billmon, you are violating Godwin's law before the discussion even begins!
Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies: As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/godwin.if.html?pg=1&topic=
I think it's sad that things have come to this, but on the other hand, it's good to see the Dems standing up and doing SOMETHING. CNN had a great spoof on their sister "Headline News" channel, I did a screen grab and posted it on my site. Have a look.
I'm sorry, I put the wrong site, the site is
www.voiceunheard.com
It's at least good to see the Democrats starting to stand up and fight. Let's hope they follow through, and the American people wake up.
I don't know. Every time you have one guy holding a gavel and someone antagonistic to him, you are going to see this kind of thing happen. I saw it happen at a zoning-board hearing last week. It's not good, but it doesn't exactly strike me as news.
And wasn't it Jonah Goldberg who said something like "bipartisanship is another word for date-rape"? Yes, we can expect more from this lot.
I hate to be pedantic (no, that's a lie, I love it like sin), but as the one who brought up the 1932 matter in the first place, I should point out that technically speaking, Billmon did not _violate_ Godwin's Law, but _fulfilled_ it. Mark up another observation that the probability did indeed approach unity. At least you quoted the Law in its proper form, and not, incorrectly, in the "whoever mentions H****r or the N***s loses the argument" so commonly put about.
In any case, the historical analogy is there, and bandying about Godwin's Law like some kind of proviso out of Robert's Rules isn't going to change it. As David Niewert ("Orcinus", a fellow Seattlean, may I add) has amply demonstrated, elaborating the lessons of Naziism and fascism can be done intelligently and well, and not as some cheap rhetorical gimmick.
Adam —
Not tubby mama's-boy Jonah Goldberg; he's incapable of coming up with anything that perversely snappy. It's actually from Lenin-admirer and far-right politicial advisor Grover Norquist. Another fave from GN: "I'd like to get the federal government small enough that I could drown it in a bathtub."
IIRC, Goldberg worked up a snit when he didn't get proper acknowledgement for his "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" mini-meme — conveniently forgetting that he'd lifted it from "The Simpsons." Wanker.
One should note that Papen's government was pretty much universally disliked. The vote of no confidence came not only from Communists and Nazis, but from Social Democrats and Centrists as well - virtually everyone except the Nationalists, in fact. It was an extraordinary embarrassment for Papen's government - a pretty awful one, I'd note, that overthrew the democratic Social Democrat-Center coalition government in Prussia and replaced it with a dictatorship under Papen himself. That dissolution incident, I'd note, was probably farce the first time around.
I was just about to attribute that 'date-rape' quote to Grover Norquist as well, but jupiter beat me to it. Coincidentally, it was a quote from the Denver Post and now the link is down. Funny, that.
Also, in the vein of Bush 'changing the tone in Washington' (what, to an echo chamber?), another quote from Grover Norquist is, "We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals-and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship."
So they've at least accomplished that much.
Wow, I didn't know things had gotten so bad in there. That's the kind of shit I've seen at union meetings when flunkies from the FSP or the communist party try to take over. It's only a matter of time before those idealogues will be ruined by their contempt for process.