From the Washington Post:
But one senior Republican, who spoke on background to avoid irking colleagues, said he was surprised that GOP leaders had allowed matters to reach the point of loud name-calling in the House. "At this point there appears to be little adult supervision over floor proceedings," the lawmaker said.After Reid shut down the Senate, John and I discussed how something like this could be pulled off in the House. I told him it was nearly impossible, Gingrich had done it on occasion, but the rules are too easy for the majority to stomp on the minority. Let me say something the President can't seem to say:
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) noted that GOP leaders did not want to bring up his panel's tax bill yesterday because they feared it would "step on our message of reducing the deficit."
"I was going around telling people, 'So we're not stepping on our message?' " Thomas said after the floor fracas. "I think some of them would take the tax bill right now."
Democrats said the GOP had galvanized their caucus by attacking Murtha. "It's impressive the uncanny way in which the Republicans have the ability to unify the Democrats," said Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.). "It just shows they know no boundaries."
I was wrong.
What happened tonight was impressive. Yesterday Murtha first spoke up and tonight, the entire House is shut down. For those that watched it, Republicans looked scared. They were in disarray. There was no adult leadership, and it showed. And all it took was one Democratic voice (a voice with standing being the key public relations lesson to be learned here) to unravel the entire House.
My take-away from tonight was also how the Democrats worked together as a party. Unlike the Republicans whose little egos all needed to be fed, parceled out in 30 second and two minute speaking opportunities, Democrats let one man speak for them. They came together and can go home to their districts proud that they finally spoke up and gave voice to the 60% of this country that sees that the Iraq policy is a failure and who have longed to hear our government recognize that mistakes have been made and they need to be remedied.
Hat tip to FedUp in the comments.
