How quickly things change

So I stumbled across this news conference (real Player required) by House Republicans (none of the leadership, by the way) where they stand in a big group and announce their Minority Bill of Rights.....OK, I'm pausing for laughter now.

But seriously, they say they've lifted the language for this Bill of Rights from what was proposed by Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi at the beginning of the 109th Congress. Furthermore, it seems like their major gripe is this "first 100 hours plan" proposed by the Democratic majority, which will be moved to the floor and voted on without the ability for the minority to amend it. From what I've read, after the first 100 hours, the Dems are going to allow more amendment opportunities than the GOP allowed when they were in the Majority.

I expect the minority to essentially debate via press conference, because by virtue of the system we have, the minority just has much less power to control the debate inside the chamber. Furthermore, I expect the minority to take every opportunity to try and paint the majority in a negative light and to expose what they see as hypocrisy. But in this case, I actually think it goes even further.

I think most objective observers would agree that the GOP-led House saw marked increases in the control which was wielded by the majority. Some members, specifically former Majority Leader Tom DeLay were even openly unapologetic about running the House with an iron fist and strictly enforcing both party loyalty and unilateral control of the Floor and the overall legislative process.

What I found so interesting in listening to this press conference was that their argument was essentially, though not so plainly stated - "We never promised an open, fair process for the minority and we never provided one. They had asked in the past for an open and fair process and have promised one on a going-forward basis, and given the 100 hours plan, they are not starting off the Congress by meeting their pledge. Therefore, we expect you the American people to be more angered by the 100 hours of departure from their promise than our 12 years of iron-fisted rule."

Sure enough, the first question out of the box from a reporter at the news conference was if any of the GOP participants had co-sponsored Pelosi's Bill of Rights in 2004. The response was essentially, "No, but the people have spoken in the last election, and this is a new day, and we should listen to them and run things more openly." Gag....

I guess you can't argue with this logic, with the tiny exception that they spent all of September and October tell us about how our country would go to hell in a hand basket if we voted for the Dems.

The second, and much funnier, justification, given by Rep. Patrick McHenry, was that Pelosi never had her Bill of Rights drafted into legislative language. His implication was that had she done this, rather than just releasing it as essentially a press release, it might have garnered more support.....OK, I'm pausing for some more laughter.