Unexpectedly, Capitol Hill Democrats Stand Firm. Republicans "were over-reaching. There was no mandate for what they were doing."
Democrats were supposed to enter the 109th Congress meek and cowed, demoralized by November's election losses and ready to cut deals with Republicans who threatened further campaigns against "obstructionists." But House and Senate Democrats have turned that conventional wisdom on its head.
They have stymied President Bush's Social Security plan and held fast against judicial nominees they consider unqualified. To protest a GOP rule change, they have kept the House ethics committee from meeting. And they have slowed -- and possibly derailed -- Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton to become ambassador to the United Nations.
Democrats credit House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) with promoting solidarity through pep talks, lectures on loyalty and constant reassurances that Republicans are overplaying their hand. But the GOP has inadvertently helped, they say, by unwisely diving into the Terri Schiavo case and by starting the year with a drive to rewrite Social Security, considered sacrosanct to the Democratic Party.
"Rather than break Democrats apart, it brought them together," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), a former Clinton White House strategist.
From there, he said, emboldened Democrats hung together when House Republicans tried to change ethics rules to their advantage, and when Senate Republicans threatened to change filibuster rules to confirm judges who Democrats oppose. And when GOP leaders tried to insert Congress into the case of Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman -- a move polls found deeply unpopular with many Americans -- Democrats had greater confidence than ever in their leaders' strategies, Emanuel said.
Republicans "were over-reaching," he said. "There was no mandate for what they were doing."
The 109th Congress is still young, and Republicans have plenty of time to recover from their early setbacks.
In the House, several Republicans privately worry they are losing the public relations battle over ethics, which centers on Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). The GOP opened the year by changing ethics committee rules, making it harder to investigate complaints lodged against lawmakers. But Republicans have shown hints of retreat in recent days -- first by offering to waive the new standard in order to investigate DeLay, and later by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) saying he would consider restoring the original rule altogether.
(4-25-05, The Washington Post.)
They have stymied President Bush's Social Security plan and held fast against judicial nominees they consider unqualified. To protest a GOP rule change, they have kept the House ethics committee from meeting. And they have slowed -- and possibly derailed -- Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton to become ambassador to the United Nations.
Democrats credit House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) with promoting solidarity through pep talks, lectures on loyalty and constant reassurances that Republicans are overplaying their hand. But the GOP has inadvertently helped, they say, by unwisely diving into the Terri Schiavo case and by starting the year with a drive to rewrite Social Security, considered sacrosanct to the Democratic Party.
"Rather than break Democrats apart, it brought them together," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), a former Clinton White House strategist.
From there, he said, emboldened Democrats hung together when House Republicans tried to change ethics rules to their advantage, and when Senate Republicans threatened to change filibuster rules to confirm judges who Democrats oppose. And when GOP leaders tried to insert Congress into the case of Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman -- a move polls found deeply unpopular with many Americans -- Democrats had greater confidence than ever in their leaders' strategies, Emanuel said.
Republicans "were over-reaching," he said. "There was no mandate for what they were doing."
The 109th Congress is still young, and Republicans have plenty of time to recover from their early setbacks.
In the House, several Republicans privately worry they are losing the public relations battle over ethics, which centers on Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). The GOP opened the year by changing ethics committee rules, making it harder to investigate complaints lodged against lawmakers. But Republicans have shown hints of retreat in recent days -- first by offering to waive the new standard in order to investigate DeLay, and later by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) saying he would consider restoring the original rule altogether.
(4-25-05, The Washington Post.)
posted by Sid Cottingham | 5:35 AM
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