Revenge of the Democrats

Yesterday, I watched some of the stimulus bill conference between House and Senate leaders. In that small portion of the stimulus bill proceedings I saw some of the reasons why this Democrat regime will fail and what the next two or four years will be like.

I am particularly referring to the point in the conference when Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa (yes, a Republican providing input to the stimulus proceedings. Good news, right? Keep reading) admonished the Democratic leaders in the future to be more inclusive in forming major legislation. He was firm, but not antagonistic; conciliatory, by referencing how his own party had shut out Democrats in the past, citing certain incidents in the past involving Rep. Charles Rangel; traditional, by appealing to the history of major legislative work done in the Senate and its bipartisan character; and he was aspirational, not offering condemnation but supplication for a more cooperative future. He said, "I could talk about the substance of the bill, but the point is: we could have a better substance with more votes and got the job done better." It was fair and only about how the legislators work together, not any policy issues.

How did Harry Reid respond to his colleague of more than twenty years and his senior in terms of years served in the Senate? He murmured, "I appreciate you my Republican colleagues complaining about conferences. But you did all yours in secret. We haven't done that. This is an open conference." Reid also stated, "No one needs to lecture me on deficits, because you invented them. Republicans invented deficits." He answered with recriminations about how Republicans shut them out of conferences in the past and handled past legislation. He injected policy differences into the discussion. Not once did he acknowledge the goodwill and wisdom behind Sen. Grassley's comments or actually respond to this offer to work together better in the future. He tried to balance the vengefulness of this statement with empty platitudes and flattery for his colleagues ("One of my friends is Thad Cochran."), but it was clear what his point was. "WE won and you guys were jerks, so I don't really care what you think."

I don't know if there is a more clear indicator that the purpose of the Democrats is revenge. They are still reveling in the victory over the barbarian Republicans and taking every opportunity to reassert that victory. The mask of goodwill has already fallen off. This just reaffirms my last post that said that hubris would be the downfall of the Democrat Party. The lights have come up and the confetti has been swept off the floor, but the Democrats are still dancing.

People are beginning to realize this, too. Check out the open from the last Saturday Night Live:


Let's just hope the Democrats realize that it's time to move forward before it does serious damage to our country. Or is it too late now?