Rolling Stone Takes Congress to Task

Throw the bums out -- Picture courtesy Rolling Stone

by blogSpotter
Matt Taibbi, writer for Rolling Stone, gives our 109th Congress a lambasting in this week's issue. His article is lengthy, but I can give a short review of it here. Matt lays out the Congress's method for hijacking our nation, in 5 simple steps: (1) Rule by cabal (2) Work as little as possible (3) Let the President do as he pleases (4) Spend a lot and (5) Line your own pockets. He devotes a lot of time to each step, but I'll just highlight what he says under "Rule by Cabal". Long dead are the days when members of opposing parties would play golf together, share rides, or even staffers and mistresses. Congress has become like a Russian Duma, where the minority party is consigned to basement offices and excluded from most hearings.

James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis) was so incensed that the Dems wanted to hold a hearing on the Patriot Act (over which he had to preside as Judiciary chairman), that he cut short their time and even turned off the lights and microphones as he huffily left the room. Dems are routinely left out of meetings where House and Senate versions of bills are ironed out. Bills that have been modified through bipartisan discussion are reverted back to original form in a GOP-dominated Rules Committee. A requirement for a public, open meeting for Senate Bills is circumvented in a nearly childish way; a televised press conference is held to announce the proceedings. Then, everyone disbands and the GOP members meet later, in secret to hash out the essential details. The 109th Congress is known as the "Dracula Congress" because it has passed more than 20 bills after midnight. One might say all this is payback for how Democrats dominated proceedings prior to 1994. Mr. Taibbi allows for that, but indicates the GOP has had its vengeance and then much more. You have to wonder if Democracy is victim when either party devolves to this kind of behavior.

Mr. Taibbi gives us the 10 worst Congressmen as a bonus. Here they are, in brief, along with their monikers:

• Dennis Hastert (R-Ill) - Highway Robber
• James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis) - Dictator
• Don Young (R- Alaska) - Mr. Pork
• William Jefferson (D-La) - Bribe taker
• Jerry Lewis (R-Calif) - King of Payoffs
• Tom Tancredo (R-Colo) - Mr. Bigotry
• Dick Pombo (R-Calif) - Enemy of Earth
• Curt Weldon (R-Pa) - Conspiracy nut
• Hal Rogers (R-Ky) - Homeland Security hog
• Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo) - Queen of gay bashing

Taibbi gives an explanatory blurb for each Congressman, and you can only shudder when you read about Tancredo's "Pro-white" group. If you want the rest of the dirt, you'll have to spring for the latest copy of my favorite political rag, The Rolling Stone.

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