Press conferences and ribbon cuttings are designed to trick us into thinking that something monumental has happened. When a corporation opens a new hotel, we are made to believe that it is something really special, which it is not. We are made to believe that such an "event" is an event in the purest form of the word: a spontaneous intersection of events that results in the manifestation of real action.
Late Thursday afternoon, however, the House of Representatives witnessed something of a true event.
According to the Huffington Post article, House Republicans managed to summon enough votes to halt a $7.4 billion dollar bill that would've provided free medical care to those sickened by the events of 9/11. What Republicans took argument with was a procedural maneuver by Democrats that prevented the addition of amendments to the bill. This was appropriate, considering that Democrats were concerned that Republicans would tack on overly partisan amendments to a widely popular bill in order to sneak the measure in.
When the measure finally fell, Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY) did what I believe Democrats should have been doing for quite some time. Video follows:
The remarks of observing procedural order were directed at Republican Representatives attempting to interject in the middle of Rep. Weiner's time (which is a violation of parliamentary procedure).
My 2 cents: while the GOP consistently touts "political correctness run amok" when discussing Democratic opposition to discriminatory legislation, I believe that the true meaning of the term has already reared its ugly head. The continued politeness and kowtowing to blatant, petulant, destructive, and Machiavellian obstructionism has done a great deal of damage to financial reform, health insurance reform, and public progress in general.
For my money, Anthony Weiner's speech was the first motivating thing the Democratic party has done in the past several months. Thank goodness C-SPAN's cameras were running when a true political event arose.
2 comments:
Watching that video actually got my adrenaline pumping! When's the last time a politician ever did that (aside from my paralyzing fear of Sarah Palin)!?
That's what I said! I even emailed him to thank him for doing it. I mean seriously, these people are supposed to possess some level of conviction when it comes to defending their constituents and most of them just traipse about like animated carcasses with a paycheck...
It was inspirational. I'm seriously geared up about the midterms right now.
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