| Well, they're Dhimmicrats, aren't they? |
When Dhimmicrats Democrats were in the minority, they lambasted Republican tactics on the House floor, reserving particular vitriol for the GOP practice of holding votes open longer than the allotted time in order to round up enough support for victory. Now in the majority and facing their first close vote with the $124 billion wartime spending bill, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Dh-Md.) is leaving open the possibility that Dhimmicrats Democrats might extend the vote beyond the usual 15 minutes.
Asked Wednesday night whether Dhimmicrats Democrats would keep to the time limit, Hoyer paused, then pointed out that many votes can run a few minutes longer for various reasons. Pressed further by a reporter who pointed out that Dhimmicrats Democrats themselves had often criticized Republicans on this very point, Hoyer said, "It won't be open three hours. How about that?"
"How about 30 minutes?" the reporter asked. "I won't guarantee it," Hoyer replied.
| If they're at 217 votes they'll hold it open as long as it takes. |
On their first day in the majority in January, Dhimmicrats Democrats amended the House rules to mandate that a vote "shall not be held open for the sole purpose of reversing the outcome of such vote."
Under earlier GOP rule, Dhimmicrats Democrats routinely attacked Republicans for extending the voting time, often citing the 2003 vote on the Medicare prescription drug bill that was famously held open three hours. And Hoyer himself was one of their foremost critics.
In a July 8, 2004, news release, Hoyer railed against GOP leaders for extending a 15-minute vote to 38 minutes in order to defeat a spending amendment offered by former Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). "House Republican leaders proved once again today that they will stop at virtually nothing to win a vote, even if that means running roughshod over the most basic principles of democracy such as letting members vote their conscience and calling the vote after the allotted time has elapsed," Hoyer said. "They ought to be ashamed of themselves, but when it comes to holding votes open and twisting the arms of their own members they clearly have no shame,’’ he went on. “These back-alley tactics have no place in the greatest deliberative body in the world. They might be the lifeblood of the tin-horn dictator, but not a world leader. It's an embarrassment.”
| Shoe really hurts when it's on the other foot, doesn't it? |
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