Herding cats in the Democrat caucus

According to the Washington Post’s Jonathan Weisman, the Democrats are having trouble wrangling enough votes in their own majority to get their pork-laden Iraq war spending bill;

One of the Democrats’ chief designated vote counters, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), is actively working against the Iraq war spending bill. The leadership’s senior chief deputy whip, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), spoke passionately against it on the House floor. And one of the whip organization’s regional representatives, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), is implacably opposed.

The disarray in the House whipping operation ahead of tomorrow’s expected vote on the bill is putting a harsh spotlight on House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), who has the task of rounding up the 218 votes needed to pass the $124 billion measure, but who has not even kept his organization in line.

The article goes on to explain away Clyburn’s shortcoming as being “too nice” for the job. Or maybe it could be that the Democrats have come to the realization that many Americans don’t support their “slow bleed” tactics and their useless spending habits.

Christina Bellatoni of the Washington Times chronicles the House’s inability to get their agenda to the president’s desk;

None of the elements of the newly minted Democrats’ congressional agenda have made it to President Bush’s desk, and the prospects of signature bills such as federal funding for stem-cell research or homeland-security improvements becoming law any time soon are doubtful.
    Much of the Democratic agenda — dubbed “Six for ’06” — sailed out of the House with bipartisan support, but all of it has stalled in the Senate as leaders scramble to deal with the Iraq war.
    “I don’t think they’ve gotten anything done,” House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio said of the Democrats. “How many bills have they sent to the president? None? Somewhere around there.”

So I can guess what’ll happen next; the Democrats will blame the voters for not sending more Democrats to Congress. Just like their excuses for everyting they can’t accomplish, it’s Americans’ fault Democrats are bumbling boobs with a vacant intellect and a dying political philosophy.

They didn’t tell voters what their plan was before the election and they’ve let themselves be sidetracked by meaningless investigations in their haste to make points with the Bush Derangement Syndrome crowd. Democrats enjoy press conferences more than they enjoy doing their job (not that the Republicans were too much different after the “Republican Revolution” got their Contract with America completed).

They’re more interested in pandering to the diverse pack of malcontents that put them in office than doing what’s best for the nation. A constituency reminiscent of the bar scene from “Star Wars”.

But, in truth, I’m damn awful glad they’re ineffective and useless. That means I get to keep more of my own money for now.

Category: Politics, Terror War