x-posted at the DCP
The RoadBlock Republicans have now become the RoadBlock Revival Revue.
This is the definition of irony--in action! The group who has filibustered the most bills ever are now refusing to leave the hallowed halls in Congress. And of course this irony follows the footsteps of this breaking news,
Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation.
(More irony in action...)
In a mock performance, pretending to show they care about oil prices, the Republicans have started their 'anti-road show.'
According to the Washington Wire, the Republicans have enacted their staged protest using a combination of blogs, radio hosts, and media outlets.
Take a look....
At 11:23a.m. today, the U.S. House adjourned for a month-long recess, but on Capitol Hill, political theater knows no fixed time or season. A few dozen House Republicans refused to leave the House chamber Friday afternoon, doing their best Jimmy Stewart impression in protest of Democratic leaders declining to bring up legislation that would allow expanded oil drilling in the United States.
Joined by a bevy of staff and summer interns, the Republican lawmakers donned mostly straight faces for an afternoon of speechifying without microphones, C-SPAN or their Democratic counterparts.
How many of you remember the Boston Tea Party?" Republican Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona asked the raucous crowd. "This is the Boston Tea Party!"
Texas Republican Rep. John Culberson and Michigan Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra sent play-by-play dispatches about the pep rally via Twitter, an online messaging service. Indiana Republican Rep. Mike Pence, a former radio talk show host, called in to one of his brethren, Rush Limbaugh, to apprise nationwide listeners of the details. Another Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady came to the House floor with suitcase in hand, saying that he’d walked out of his scheduled flight home to join the rally.
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri said the group of members – comprised largely of the conservative wing of the Republican caucus — had themselves come up with the idea, with Georgia Republican Rep. Tom Price and Pence, taking the lead to stage the protest.
That's quite impressive for a group of people who could have stopped actual White House crimes if they had only dedicated as much energy towards protecting the common good not just their lobbyists common wealth.
According to the "breaking news" on msgop, the Republicans have initiated a protest after the vote to adjourn was cast, the mics were all turned off, and the Congress left for home.
In a hilariously entertaining style, these same Republicans who spent this whole last year preventing hundreds of legitimate votes from coming to the floor are now decrying the high oil prices and they are using this political theater to promote off-shore drilling. They've even, according to msgop, asked President Bush to "call Congress back into session."
According to the laughing journalists, these Republicans are outside right now busily inviting out of town guests to sit in and listen to their speeches in the Congressional Hall.
Of course, those fiery speeches and that dedication could be applauded if it was indeed real.
Unfortunately, this is nothing more than an election year Revival Show--trying to breathe life into a party who has allowed eight years of unfettered crimes against the people of the United States of America. It's from a party who refused to allow bills to increase the minimum wage to happen unless they could tie it into Paris-Hilton-tax-breaks. And if you check out the RoadBlock Republicans site, you will see the hundreds of ways the Republicans have caused harm by refusing to come to meetings, by refusing to allow votes to the floor, and by refusing to reveal who has a 'hidden stay" on numerous bills.
For now, the Republican Revival Show is planted in DC, because most of those Republicans are going home to their districts and are unable to explain their own cowardices of the last eight years.
So give the Republicans a hand and then invite them to perform for you and your neighbors at home in their own districts. Give them real questions by real people in a real theater. Let them take the stage then and explain why they refused to stop wall street's oil speculation. Ask them why they have allowed gross unfettered oil company profits and have risked our national security?
They may have the stage now, but the curtain is ready to fall.