We've got a month to prepare ourselves for the 110th Congress. I'm certainly not expecting much bi-partisanship and cooperation from those about to be investigated into reality, but let's have a look at one of the new Republican leaders.
Thaddeus McCotter, a Republican from Michigan's 11th district, was elected as Chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee. He's little known, yet this is the fourth highest leadership position in the Republican House Caucus. As the Policy Committee Chairman, he'll be responsible for pulling Republicans together on issues, as if they had experienced a problem with lockstep legislating so far.
But McCotter is billing himself as a disgruntled backbencher recently promoted by the all-new, no longer corrupt Republican Party out to save the day.
"We have nowhere to go but up," said McCotter.
McCotter advances his charade as a reformer in the local paper.
"Especially coming from our area you could tell they were ideologically adrift and the corruption was more a symptom of lacking a principled agenda to push," McCotter said Monday about the scandals involving GOP House members and the subsequent loss of the House majority to the Democrats.
Note the "they", not a "we". With such a distinction I would expect to find McCotter on the record voting against the non-principled agenda. Silly me. McCotter voted with President Bush 85% of the time, the GOP party line 92% of the time, and with DeLay 92% of the time. He voted to weaken House ethics rules for DeLay's benefit. He served as DeLay's Assistant Deputy Whip. He took, and refused to return, $20,000 from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC amongst others.
Yet now he wants to pretend all of that never happened.
"The rank and file Republicans felt that they weren't having the opportunity to do what they came to Washington to do," McCotter said. "And we're not simply going to be a committee that opposes everything that the other party does. But we do have a responsibility to put a different position forward."
Like on Iraq?
On Iraq, McCotter said the "Fresh Eyes Committee," which he supported, will be issuing its report shortly.
"It's important to remember that this is not to be the final word on the subject," he said.
The report isn't even issued yet, and he's already backtracking. An expression I picked up in Asia comes to mind here, "same-same, but different."
And as to broader bi-partisanship?
I think we'll have a brief bipartisan honeymoon, but there are so many people who have just fought with each other for years," McCotter said. "Those tribal animosities and ancient hatreds, they tend to reassert themselves."
This is the type of analysis and leadership we can expect in the 110th Congress.
Mock amongst yourselves.
Crossposted at michiganliberal.com
Update: edited from two months to one month for 110th start date. H/t sardonyx.