Pitiful, Helpless Democrats?
Well, I feel Jim's pain when he talks about putting together posts only to have them eaten by Blogger. That has been happening to me this morning...hopefully this one will make it through.
While not a big Dick Morris fan, I found this article interesting. It echoes what I've heard from a couple of people at National Review, people whose opinion I greatly respect. One in particular told me right before the election when I was complaining about how worried I was about the outcome, "Don't worry. No matter what happens, nothing much will change."
Morris says:
For all of the dire warnings and pre-election commotion about the impact of a Democratic majority in Congress, the fact is that - now that it is upon us - it can do little or nothing but harass the Administration.
There is no real danger of any legislative action emerging from this Congress. Yes, the President has a veto the Democrats cannot override, but nothing will ever make it as far as the desk at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, are just spinning their wheels.
Later in the article, he explains the problem the Democrats have with satisfying their many liberal spinoff groups within their party:
First, one has to go to check with the Black Caucus - hat in hand - to see if one's bill has enough liberal giveaways to round up its forty or so votes. Thence to the Hispanic Caucus for a similar screening. Then, with one's legislation weighted down with liberal provisions added by these two groups, one has to sell it to the Democratic Leadership Council moderates and, even worse, to the Blue Dog Democrats - the out and out conservatives.
If you are fortunate enough to pass these contradictory litmus tests, you then have to go to the environmentalists, the labor people, and even the gays to see that your bill passes muster. Only then can you begin to hope for House passage.
The result of this labyrinth is that the relatively moderate bill you first sought to pass ends up like a Christmas tree, laden with ornaments added to appease each of the caucuses. Unrecognizable in its final form, it heads to House passage.
He does a good job of explaining how, once they Democrats please all of their "payback" people, there is little chance of it passing in the Senate, and even less of a chance of being able to override a veto.
Made me feel a *little* better. :-)
JASmius adds: Morris is neglecting the RINO factor. Whatever difficulties the Democrats have in unifying their own caususes (which I think he's vastly overestimating in any case), they'll be more than offset by timid, supine 'Pubbies drawing all the wrong lessons from the '06 election outcome.
In short, they'll steamroll over us (including the impeachments of Bush and Cheney) and, with Hillary at the helm, blow us out at the polls again in 2008.
Hey, Morris is also saying that American women are demanding a female president. If you can't believe a turd-in-every-pocket analyst like the Toe-Sucker, whom can you trust?
While not a big Dick Morris fan, I found this article interesting. It echoes what I've heard from a couple of people at National Review, people whose opinion I greatly respect. One in particular told me right before the election when I was complaining about how worried I was about the outcome, "Don't worry. No matter what happens, nothing much will change."
Morris says:
For all of the dire warnings and pre-election commotion about the impact of a Democratic majority in Congress, the fact is that - now that it is upon us - it can do little or nothing but harass the Administration.
There is no real danger of any legislative action emerging from this Congress. Yes, the President has a veto the Democrats cannot override, but nothing will ever make it as far as the desk at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, are just spinning their wheels.
Later in the article, he explains the problem the Democrats have with satisfying their many liberal spinoff groups within their party:
First, one has to go to check with the Black Caucus - hat in hand - to see if one's bill has enough liberal giveaways to round up its forty or so votes. Thence to the Hispanic Caucus for a similar screening. Then, with one's legislation weighted down with liberal provisions added by these two groups, one has to sell it to the Democratic Leadership Council moderates and, even worse, to the Blue Dog Democrats - the out and out conservatives.
If you are fortunate enough to pass these contradictory litmus tests, you then have to go to the environmentalists, the labor people, and even the gays to see that your bill passes muster. Only then can you begin to hope for House passage.
The result of this labyrinth is that the relatively moderate bill you first sought to pass ends up like a Christmas tree, laden with ornaments added to appease each of the caucuses. Unrecognizable in its final form, it heads to House passage.
He does a good job of explaining how, once they Democrats please all of their "payback" people, there is little chance of it passing in the Senate, and even less of a chance of being able to override a veto.
Made me feel a *little* better. :-)
JASmius adds: Morris is neglecting the RINO factor. Whatever difficulties the Democrats have in unifying their own caususes (which I think he's vastly overestimating in any case), they'll be more than offset by timid, supine 'Pubbies drawing all the wrong lessons from the '06 election outcome.
In short, they'll steamroll over us (including the impeachments of Bush and Cheney) and, with Hillary at the helm, blow us out at the polls again in 2008.
Hey, Morris is also saying that American women are demanding a female president. If you can't believe a turd-in-every-pocket analyst like the Toe-Sucker, whom can you trust?
posted by Jennifer at 3:07 AM
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