John Murtha today:
Talk is cheap, which is why, up until Iraq forced me to, I didn't do a lot of it. But empty rhetoric is expensive. It has cost America three years in a failed war at nearly three thousand lives lost and will cost us a trillion dollars by the time we can extricate ourselves from it.
some thoughts below the fold, plus more quotes from Rep. Murtha.
I've heard people say more and more frequently in recent years that they are fed up with both sides and feel there should be more than two major parties.
I believe this is because Americans expect that Republicans and Democrats will work together, not dig in their heels and refuse to work toward compromises when it is clearly urgent that we move forward to get something done.
Someone once said, "A good compromise is when nobody is happy." But I think he was a pessimist. I think the American people are optimistic that their message has been received by both Democrats and Republicans in Washington and that the new Democratic leadership they've elected will not claim a "mandate" exclusive of the minority party, but that it will sincerely work to end the gridlock as well as the partisan rhetoric. The public wants us to put aside the rancor and the preconceived notions of the other side and our differences, roll up our sleeves, and realize that we were we sent here to govern, not to keep ourselves employed for the sake of our own employment. We have to GET SOMETHING DONE.
Well, this all sounds good, very 1993. of course, back then there was a majority party that didn't bend or break every rule of Robert's Rules of Order, didn't ignore every piece of common practice that had been built up over 200 years of legislating. but while newt et al probably felt justified in their behavior (the dems were pretty harsh as a long term majority in the house), they took it to a new level. they put majoritarian behavior on steroids, until it ended where we've been the past 6 years, with bills passed without minority input, codicils and amendments slipped in during the middle of the night, and so on.
does murtha have the stomach and the skills to pay lip service to intra-party comity while still getting the things done that the house must in order to move our country forward? i don't know. i don't know what kind of a parliamentarian he is. i don't know if he can hold the dems together.
i do know that hoyer is yucky. thoughts?
EDITED TO MAKE ME SEEM LIKE LESS OF AN IDIOT