Dethroned Kitten Killer, er, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is clapping as loud as he can.
In his parting shot to the American people today, the renowned Distance Diagnosis Doctor stamps his feet, jumps up and down, and insists that the 109th Congress was successful, really it was!
Join me below the fold and let's see what unmitigated crap the "good" "doctor" is throwing around his cage today ...
The Congressional session that just concluded actually leaves a solid record of achievement for America. The House and Senate both worked to protect our country, crack down on crime, promote a strong economy, improve education and approve sensible judges in a fair manner.
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Nonetheless, some widely supported measures fell victim to obstructionist tactics. Democrats, for example, blocked popular proposals to make it easier for small businesses to buy health coverage for their employees, reform our broken medical liability system, do more adult stem cell research, and increase the minimum wage.
It's clear, likewise, that "values" issues such as marriage protection and flag burning have broad appeal with the public as a whole. Voters in 27 states have approved marriage protection amendments, and all 50 state legislatures have called for a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. When such a popular groundswell exists, then Congress should act.
It's almost too easy, but a quick debunk ought to take care of this.
Stem cell legislation: Sen. Frist is referring here to two bills that Senate Democrats opposed because they were nothing but political cover, as Bill's replacement, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) patiently explained:
Mr. President, before we vote on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, the Senate will first consider two other measures: The Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act (S. 2754) and the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act (S. 3504).
Neither one of these measures is a substitute for H.R. 810. The only reason they are here is to provide political cover for the opponents of stem cell research.
They know their opposition to stem cell research is outside the American mainstream, so they want to give themselves political cover by voting for two meaningless bills. It’s a playbook straight from the Republicans Orwellian world.
Neither one of these bills would do any harm, but neither would have any real impact.
There is nothing included in S. 2754 which cannot already be accomplished without this legislation. Even officials at the National Institutes of Health will tell you this.
The second bill, the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act (S. 3504) would ban activity that no scientist is currently doing or wants to do.
I've said it before: it's like shooting fish in a barrel. This is pretty easy, too:
Minimum wage increase: Although they ultimately prevailed in raising the federal minimum wage, many Democrats in Congress opposed bills that included GOP-sponsored attachments, really repugnant stuff that stretched the definition of "germane" almost to the breaking point:
After years of opposition, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have now decided to support a long-overdue increase in the minimum wage. Unfortunately, the change of position was not inspired by a desire to help the poorest working families or because members of Congress have been criticized for taking thousands of dollars in pay raises since the last increase of the minimum wage.
With a vast majority of Americans supporting a minimum wage hike, Republicans now realize that opposing an increase will hurt their chances in the upcoming midterm elections.
If the change of heart on the minimum wage issue had ended there, we could say the GOP had reacted to the will of the voters. But they did not stop there. Instead of drafting a bill to increase the minimum wage and putting it to a "yes or no" vote, Republicans in the House decided to tack on a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates owned by some of the richest families in the country. A repeal of this estate tax has passed the Republican-controlled House before, but has been rejected by the more evenly divided Senate twice in the past month.
The tactic was clearly aimed at using the popularity of a minimum wage hike to achieve the party's longtime ambition of permanently cutting estate taxes for the wealthiest Americans. Even if the measure fails, Republicans will now be able to claim they supported a minimum wage increase during their campaigns for re-election.
The Senate rejected the legislation, of course, which gave Frist the cover for his specious claims.
Let's not stop there. Frist brings out the tired old saw about how the American people are concerned about "marriage protection and flag burning." I don't even have to debunk this - it's already been done for me, and based on Frist's own statements.
The truth is that only three countries ban flag desecration (China, Cuba, and Iran), and they're not exactly bastions of freedom. The limited about of polling on the issue shows that it's simply not a matter of significant concern for Americans. As for gay marriage (I eschew Frist's ridiculous euphemism), it ranks behind terrorism, the war in Iraq, and the economy among others in terms of what Americans believe are important issues.
So, Frist can take his fantasies and go back to Tennessee, secure in the knowledge that even though the GOP-led Congress did, well, nothing, he's proven that they really did do something. They gave the 110th Congress to the Democrats.
Thanks, Bill, and congratulations!
(Cross-posted in substantially the same form at Blast Off!)