As if this wasn't bad enough:
The House had a meltdown today in the middle of the memorial service for the late Rep. Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who was chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The service, in the Capitol's historic Statuary Hall, was disrupted when a Republican House member [Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart] unexpectedly called for a procedural vote.
they decided to greet Lantos's successor, Jackie Speier with another display of childish petulance during her inaugural speech on the House floor.
For a few feel-good moments on the floor of the U.S. House today, Jackie Speier basked in bipartisan applause as she was sworn in as its newest member. Her family, supporters and kids cheered as she embraced her new colleagues.
Then, in her first speech in Congress, Speier spoke out about Iraq, and the boos and hoots began from the Republican side of the aisle.
"When will we get out of Iraq?" was the most frequent question she heard, she told the House, while campaigning in the special election she won Tuesday to succeed the late Rep. Tom Lantos.
"The process to bring the troops home must begin immediately," she said, as several Republicans loudly booed. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Vista Republican, bolted from his seat and left the floor.
The hoots grew in volume as Speier, a Hillsborough Democrat, continued....
"Why are they booing my mother?" Speier's middle-school daughter Stephanie asked, according to a staffer.
Nice.
Apparently Darrell Issa's sensibilities were so confounded by a frank assessment of the Iraq war that he was overcome and had to leave the chamber. This is the same Darrell Issa who dismissed the 9/11 attacks as "simply" a plane crash.
Class acts, these House Republicans.