Saturday, July 30, 2005
Billmon gives a reasoned analysis
Of how your various congressmoops do "bidness"in DC.
I've been trying to think of something that I could compare to the scene on the floor of our Chamber of People's Deputies in the wee hours Wednesday morning, as the bidding for the votes needed to pass CAFTA went into hyperdrive. But it's not easy:Venality has long been a staple of power in Washington, but seldom has it been so blatant. Why you could probably ask your congressmoop what his or her particular price was and get an accurate answer. After all, it's not his money. It's yours and your childrens and their childrens and their childrens, if they have any left by then.
The last-minute negotiations for Republican votes resembled the wheeling and dealing on a car lot. Republicans who were opposed or undecided were courted during hurried meetings in Capitol hallways, on the House floor and at the White House. GOP leaders told their rank and file that if they wanted anything, now was the time to ask, lawmakers said . . .
And ask they did: for highway "demonstration projects," energy "research" grants (more on that later) "technical" corrections to last year's tax bill (i.e. special interest loopholes), industrial revenue bond authorizations, earmarked military appropriations -- in other words, the mob down the entire menu at Denny Hastert's House o' Pork. And then they ate the menu.
And what did our Porker in Chief have to say about that?
"I am proud that the House of Representatives has acted to advance America's economic and national security interests."
Arbustso Boy sounds like Harry Potter's stepmother -- praising her bloated biological son Duddy for his ability to pack away the chow.
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