Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (doesn’t that sound nice?) is talking a lot about bipartisanship, working together with Republicans, and so forth. I hope Digby‘s right and it’s all just talk. Bipartisanship is a fine thing, but it only works with people who are not psychos.
I say ‘psychos’ because the Republicans carried out government with sociopathically thuggish petulance, shutting Democrats out of the process. Check out the Rolling Stone article for examples like the following:
According to the rules, conferences have to include at least one public, open meeting. But in the Bush years, Republicans have managed the conference issue with some of the most mind-blowingly juvenile behavior seen in any parliament west of the Russian Duma after happy hour. GOP chairmen routinely call a meeting, bring the press in for a photo op and then promptly shut the proceedings down. “Take a picture, wait five minutes, gavel it out — all for show” is how one Democratic staffer described the process. Then, amazingly, the Republicans sneak off to hold the real conference, forcing the Democrats to turn amateur detective and go searching the Capitol grounds for the meeting. “More often than not, we’re trying to figure out where the conference is,” says one House aide.
As a parent, I have a suggestion. It’s Time Out.
I don’t like to use Time Out, because it’s too commonly used by frustrated parents who want to silence or punish angry kids. However, used rarely, Time Out is very helpful when a child has clearly lost control and needs to cool down and clear the mind. After some time away from the scene of conflict, the child and the parent can return to the situation with a bit of focus, or just a change of mood.
Now, if it were Speaker Midgley (we’d all be in big trouble, but) I’d say, “Republicans: You are in Time Out. When you can shown that you have the ability to act in a grown-up fashion, then you can rejoin us. Until then, we’ll be taking care of things.”
I like this approach because this way the Democrats aren’t inviting more abuse from the very same people who got us in this situation. It also puts a ‘spoiled child’ frame on Republicans, which regular people with kids can grasp easily.
Of course, I’m not a politician, and I’m not actually very good at working with people to scam resources. (Pity.) Maybe it’s a terrible idea, and Pelosi is playing it the right way. You talk bipartisan comity, get a reputation for being friendly and nice, and then no one notices when you crush the other guys. But the way the Republicans have acted, they deserve to sit in their room for a few years, and think about what they did.
10 November 2006 at 4:40 pm
I love the picture in my head of the repubs, especialy Bush, sitting sadly in their room, waiting for the adults to tell them they can come out and play again.
10 November 2006 at 4:50 pm
Ha! Me too.
I also love the thought of George ‘Macaca’ Allen in his KKK outfit, trying to deal with the thought of not getting to run for President in 08, and probably turning to drink.
11 November 2006 at 4:29 pm
Don’t you wish we could find out what Lauren said in the first comment? It’s like when someone says, “You know…?” And you say “What‽” And they say, “Oh, nothing.”
12 November 2006 at 5:13 pm
Sorry! Sorry! Sometimes I am technology impaired. I was trying to post a link and blogger didn’t accept it. I really did mean to come back.
What I was tryig to say was that the article reminded me of another that Rolling Stone had done about Bush.
http://tinyurl.com/kjg79
It never ceases to amaze me that a magazine that people usually associate with young kids and music really tries to inform the younger generations of important issues. I find this particularly heartening especially after watching the US news Tuesday night and hearing how college aged students aren’t voting because the election wasn’t important to them (midterm election not important?) or it wasn’t a presidential election. Maybe those kids should go into time out with the Republicans.
12 November 2006 at 11:24 pm
Take heart — young voters seem to be doing their bit.
link
I don’t know where that meme came from. It’s a zombie meme. Won’t die.
12 November 2006 at 11:49 pm
Well I hope that article was right because while I was watching ABC (the one in the States – not the Australian ABC), I was listening to them and thinking, please tell me that I wasn’t this stupid 10 years ago.
13 November 2006 at 6:36 am
You, Lauren? Surely not.
There’s a good deal of confusion as to What This Election Means.
Check Kevin Drum for some clarity and mythbusting.