Minutes after he was officially elected to Whip the Minorities in the House, Roy Blunt (R-MO) released the following
statement, which I cannot resist chopping up and commenting on:
"For twelve years, the Democrats have gotten away without leading, without offering an agenda, and without saying what they're actually for. Now they will be forced to govern.
Um... Do those 12 years include 6 years that Clinton governed? And "gotten away without leading" sure reveals that Blunt didn't much like leading. It's much more fun to sit in the back row and throw spitballs... but more on that later. Let's see what he says next:
"Under this Republican leadership, the job of the Minority Whip will no longer be to go to the House floor every day and lose. Instead, each time we hold our team together and force the Democrats to vote like Democrats, we'll be taking one more step toward recapturing our majority in 2008.
He seems to contradict himself here, don't he? The first sentence, saying that his job will not be to lose, seems to imply that his plan is to get the Republican vote to stick together and peel off some Democrats to vote with him, thereby winning. Right? But then he says that he's going to "force the Democrats to vote like Democrats," which would imply that he wants the Democratic caucus to stick together. I hope their actual strategy is as incoherent as this statement.
"One-hundred-forty-nine Democrats demonstrated yesterday that they are willing to buck Nancy Pelosi. We'll work each day to give those Democrats a viable alternative to her liberal, San Francisco agenda.
Ouch. Buck Nancy Pelosi! Of course, Blunt doesn't mention that he won his race with a split vote of 147-57 whereas Nancy herself was elected Speaker by the Democrats unanimously.
Yes, that Murtha-Hoyer leadership battle gave the Republicans some glimmer of hope that the Democrats will be infighting for two years. I would say it's the responsibility of Hoyer and Pelosi to work out their differences behind closed doors so that they can present a united front, and, with Majority Whip Clyburn, get the Democrats to vote together when it's important. The Republicans will clearly be trying to undermine them whenever possible.
Compare Blunt's election statement with Nancy's very gracious remarks at lunch with President Bush:
We both extended the hand of friendship, of partnership to solve the problems facing our country...
...I look forward to working in a confidence-building way with the President, recognizing that we have our differences and we will debate them, and that is what our founders intended. But we will do so in a way that gets results for the American people...
...as Speaker, I understand my responsibility: Speaker of the House, of all of the House, not just the Democrats...
Now that's a classy statement from a leader.
I'm not sure the Democratic caucus is prepared for the level of hatred and venom that the Republican minority is ready to spew at them. Just think about the amount of acid bile the Republicans vomited up against the Democrats in a typical week when the Democrats had no power, and imagine the level of anger and shame that House Republicans currently feel on top of their normal mean-spiritedness.
Be ready to see that the Republicans will be much more effective as a minority party than they were as a majority party. Hell, they couldn't be much less effective. But Blunt's statement that the Democrats have "gotten away without leading" is a telling one. He knows his party will be better in the minority! They excel at smearing, threatening, and spinning the press, not at making policy.
It's gonna be ugly. Clearly, the Repugs are already planning to try everything they can to divide and conquer our caucus. Hopefully, we can be smart, avoid stabbing each other (at least in public), and lead together.