STENY HOYER, POMPOUS OLD GAS BAG...PART II

To use Bill Maher's terminology, as was previously posted, in what has to be an example of one of the stupidest things I've yet heard come from any politician, even a Democrat politician, comes once again from that pompous old gas bag, Steny Hoyer. It seems that old Steny suggested on Tuesday that it is the voters who are, in fact, to blame for the partisan bickering and standoffs that have defined Congress this year. Yup my friends, it's all the fault of little old me and you. And you thought it was the corrupt old farts like Steny. Shows what you know! Anyway, old Steny went on to say that voters are “absolutely right” to think that “Congress isn’t working very well.” But that dysfunction, he said, is largely of their own making. “The American people have every right to be angry [and] disappointed by the performance of the Congress,” Hoyer told reporters in the Capitol. “Of course, the American people have also elected people with hard stances, so that to some degree the American people are realizing the results of their votes." He went on to say, “If elections have consequences — which I think they do — some of those consequences are getting what you vote for.” Finally adding, “In this case, many people voted for people who thought compromise was not something that they ought to participate in.” What Steny really means here is that because people took it upon themselves to vote for individuals not quite so willing to bend over and spread 'em and who are now finally demanding a little compromise come from Steny's side of the aisle, things aren't getting done.

So I uess if I've got this right, in response to a continuing downward economic spiral and and escalation of deficit spending, Steny seemed to be imply that it's all because voters had the nerve, last year, to send scores of Republicans to Capitol Hill with a mandate to fight a rising debt created by the Democrats, that we now find ourselves in a place where nothing is getting done. And it is solely for that reason, not because of, in any way, an unwillingness on the part of Democrats to take it upon themselves to seriously compromise in the addressing of the numerous problems that we as a country are now facing. If you listen to Steny, the Democrats have been perfectly justified in their "our way or the highway" stance. How dare the American people take it upon themselves, and in such a manner, to deny the Democrats from being able to do what's best for we the common folk, regardless of how we may feel about that, and to continue spending money that is yet to be earned by children yet to be born. Many of the freshman Republicans have taken a hard stand against escalating government spending, which is exactly the reason they were sent to Congress in the first place. As a result, House Speaker John Boehner, of whom I am not a big fan, has been able to pass some of the biggest budget bills of the year only after first garnering some Democratic support, a rather odd dynamic to say the least, and one that makes very plain the effort, once again, to circumvent actions taken by the voters.


The year’s budget battle culminated with the creation of some silly deficit-reduction super-committee that is to be made up of 12 stellar members of Congress. And if you've seen the cast of characters to be involved in this little circus, there's not much reason to hold out any amount of hope that anything of substance will be arrived at. This "bipartisan" panel is charged with identifying $1.5 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade. The move was an obvious acknowledgement that we have in Congress a cadre of career politicians made up of individuals who insist upon putting politics above what's actually best for the country and as such remain lacking in the level motivation required for them to muster up the necessary political will to actually make those tough choices through traditional legislative channels. Although the members of this "super-committee" have met several times in recent weeks, in both public and private forums, old Steny on Tuesday suggested the panel isn’t moving quickly enough to meet its November 23 deadline. Ok, is anybody really surprised by that? “The timeline is getting short. I think there needs to be a growing sense of urgency among the 12 [members],” Hoyer said. Steny droned on saying, “The 12 have been given a responsibility by their country, which ought to weigh on them. And hopefully it will impel them to act … on the absolute necessity to come to grips with the fiscal challenge that confronts us.” So I think it safe to say that contrary to Steny's rather warped opinion of things, what is now going on in Washington is in spite of, not because of ,what the voters decided last November.