Power To The People?

Would you believe that the two architects of the biggest wall of obstructionism in the history of the United States Congress over the first six years of the Bush presidency are now bitching, moaning, and complaining about....Republican obstructionism?:

Pelosi sounded more apologetic than celebratory Friday when she announced with her Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democrats' list of accomplishments six months after they seized control of Capitol Hill and promised "a new direction" in Washington.

"I'm not happy with Congress, either," Pelosi, of San Francisco, conceded.

She pinned the blame on "the obstructionism of the Republicans in the United States Senate." ...

"The Republicans are doing what the Democrats did," said Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs scholar at Boston University. "They're using the power of the Senate filibuster, and the power in the House when you have narrow majorities, to make a do-nothing Congress - even when there's a lot of issues on the table, even when there's a lot of interest in accomplishing things."

I don't know what Congress Crazy Nancy has been watching, but if there's been any "Repubican obstructionism" at all, it's been in her own chamber where House 'Pubbies have done an uncovered and underrated job of tying up the Donk agenda. But then they've had a lot of help in that regard from the Democrats' obsession with making George W. Bush's last two years in office a living hell. If they would focus on the objective of dragging domestic policy to the extreme Left, they would probably make significant progress toward re-communizing America, lay the groundwork for further congressional gains in 2008, and doubtless enjoy quite a bit of RINO collaboration in the process - including more than a few presidential signatures. In the name of "bipartisanship," of course.

Instead, they're making themselves irrelevant by continuing to attack a lame duck president, allowing the Republican candidates to succeed him the room to distance themselves from his "compassion" and revive the dormant Reaganian spirit of the GOP. And they're pissing off, and therefore remotivating, the conservative movement and GOP base, which will be of critical importance if the horrifying spectre of a Hillary Clinton presidency is to somehow be averted.

That is what House Republicans are now preciently tapping into in their move this week to enact the overwhelmingly popular border control/enforcement portions of the dearly departed "comprehensive" immigration reform bill:

House Republicans are planning to use the ashes of the Senate immigration bill to resurrect the debate on border security....

Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Representative Brian Bilbray (R-CA), who chairs the House Immigration Reform Caucus, said the demise of the Senate bill was a positive development for border security and the debate forced Congress to “come to grips with the reality that the illegal immigration issue is an issue of national importance.”

“The defeat of the Senate bill is not an excuse for Congress to do nothing when we have within reach a broad consensus on the need to address employer verification, interior enforcement and border security … we should instead renew our commitment to getting something done immediately.”

Homeland Security Committee ranking member Pete King (R-NY), a cosponsor of border security legislation that will be introduced later this month, said through a spokesman that the Senate bill has “reinvigorated the border-security debate.”

During a press conference on Thursday, Republican leaders joined the chief House critics of the Senate immigration bill in applauding its defeat and touting the importance of border security legislation.

“Until we’re able — the government’s able — to demonstrate to the American people that we can in fact secure the borders and enforce the laws, the American people aren’t willing to take those next steps in this process,” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said.

House Pachyderms are doing what RINOs claimed the Donks will never allow: enforce and strengthen existing immigration laws. And maybe the majority won't allow it - right now. But rarely is significant legislation on a "controversial" issue (i.e. legislation liberals don't want) passed on the first try. If the Democrats obstruct such legislation, Republicans can use it as a leading issue in the 2008 campaign and turn illegal immigration into a double whammy of blocking popular border security and employer enforcement measures after trying to arrogantly and dishonestly force another unpopular amnesty scheme down our throats. And if the three dozen or so House freshman "blue dogs" choose not to be sucked down that electoral vortex, true immigration reform might even pass, leaving the choice of political wind-whizzing to the man who wrote the book on congressional obstructionism.

Justice that poetic is neither illegal nor immoral - but it darn sure is fattening.

Anything that delicious would HAVE to be.