tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22183958.post5398706527913493773..comments2023-12-24T15:36:16.969-05:00Comments on Chuck for ...: Reid and PelosiChuck Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13656874242638324636noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22183958.post-51722419509150699572009-01-07T22:57:00.000-05:002009-01-07T22:57:00.000-05:00You raise a fair point, Chuck. From everything I'v...You raise a fair point, Chuck. From everything I've read and watched (big time decumentary junky...), the worst that we've seen these last couple decades are child's play compared to what Jefferson, Adams and their partisans (especially Jefferson's) dished out to each other.<BR/><BR/>On the one hand it's comforting to know that as a nation we've survived worse. <BR/><BR/>But on the other hand it's disheartening to think that the House under Tip O'Neil or the Senate under Bob Dole were about as civil as it's ever going to get.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22183958.post-27498857197635438672009-01-07T21:01:00.000-05:002009-01-07T21:01:00.000-05:00I certainly don't disagree about the abrogation of...I certainly don't disagree about the abrogation of power.<BR/><BR/>A lack of partisanship is not any more desirable than an excess of it. There is an actual difference between the parties and reason to maintain that.<BR/><BR/>I'll leave it to anyone that is interested enough to chronicle the meaness and twisted versions and trace it to whom.<BR/><BR/>I'll say this, nobody has shot anybody in Congress lately. Just how pretty politics has been through out our history is pretty interesting.Chuck Butcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13656874242638324636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22183958.post-66996351796527521192009-01-07T20:44:00.000-05:002009-01-07T20:44:00.000-05:00I worked as a congressional liaison officer for a ...I worked as a congressional liaison officer for a while, and in other jobs I had frequent contact with members and staff. I've worked directly with members, attended hearings, helped prepare and soothe nervous witnesses, worked with staff in their generally ratty offices, watched numerous House and Senate debates from the galleries. Which is to say, I kind of got to watch the sausage being made. Often not a pretty sight.<BR/><BR/>In my opinion, Congress in recent years has steadily become little more than a mob of bickering children. They slog it out over partisan issues, ignoring their real jobs. Some are better and more serious than others, of course, but taken as a group they've become worse than useless--they're dangerous. <BR/><BR/>We bemoan the slow transfer of power from the legislative branch to the executive, which has certainly happened. It began long before Bush II, and it will continue unless Congress reforms itself. That seems really unlikely.<BR/><BR/>This isn't an issue of parties. Neither chamber is working better under the Democrats than it did under the Republicans, and the Republicans when they were in the majority were a disaster.<BR/><BR/>President Obama will exercise the excessive power Congress has permitted the executive to hold. I hope he does; someone has to. And maybe he can improve things, but it's doubtful. Presidents of either party don't generally yield power. <BR/><BR/>Reid and Pelosi are pretty much worthless. Their Republican predecessors were no better. How will it all get turned around? I don't know; maybe it won't.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22183958.post-45154513024200377932009-01-07T18:33:00.000-05:002009-01-07T18:33:00.000-05:00I can see some merit in both sides. I think we'd a...I can see some merit in both sides. I think we'd all agree that some principles are worth making a stand on regardless of their political viability. And I think that most of us would agree at least in principle that real politick requires playing the game intelligently.<BR/><BR/>The problem seems to me to be that few can agree on where to draw the line between the two.<BR/><BR/>Pelosi and Reid both appeared to acquiesce on some mighty important Bush policies and that naturally led to resentment among the ranks. And to an extent I share that resentment. But both leaders have no choice but to deal with a complexity of real politick that I really don't think many (including myself) can fully appreciate and appropriately factor in.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com