Some Nerve
by matt at 7:00 am on September 30th, 2005 in Congressional Man Date
Not your average Democrat.
One of the defining traits of the modern Republican party is their willingness to break with precedent, tradition, and the normal rules of politics in a heartbeat if it at all increases the odds of victory. And since Democrats have become a party living in the past on the say-so of washed-up consultants, each new Republican transgression brings shock and outrage rather than strength and action. There is nothing to indicate that a change is in the offing, but former Clinton aide and current Congressman Rahm Emanuel breaks the pattern regularly, which naturally makes him an 1115.org favorite. In his capacity as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he has been on the attack against his counterpart Congressman Thomas Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee with results ranging from comical to combative. The Post, in what must have been a bid to fill column inches, ran a bit on the ongoing feud. They managed to not even peg the source:
The origin of the ill will is contested. Emanuel traces it to a series of news releases sent out by Reynolds’s NRCC questioning the Democrat’s close ties to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, among other accusations. The NRCC retorts that the ugliness began in May when Emanuel called a Buffalo News reporter — unsolicited — to criticize Reynolds — a breach of House etiquette, the Republicans contend.
Emanuel’s going straight to hell now, he breached etiquette! Unheard of! Unprecedented! Maybe not…
At 5:53 a.m. on November 22, House Republicans passed their Medicare bill by a vote of 220-215. By all accounts, it was a historic night in the Capitol. Under House rules, time allowed for voting is 17 minutes, at which point voting is cut off and cannot be changed. On this occasion, voting was left open for an unprecedented three hours while Republican leaders, including Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, cajoled and arm-twisted to get the votes the White House demanded.
-and-
The final vote to approve the pact was 217 to 215. House leaders held the vote open for an hour — well past the normal 15-minute voting time — as they rounded up enough votes to win.
The Senate historian’s office cannot recall another time, at least in the last half century, when one Senate leader went to the home state of another to campaign against him.
[…]
Frist, in a break with longstanding tradition, is going to South Dakota next month to campaign for the Republican who is trying to unseat Daschle.
Chambliss even ran a TV ad picturing Cleland with Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden.
Historically, K Street hires top ex-politicians from both major parties since party in power can vary between elections and among the legislative and executive branches in government.
During most of the George W. Bush administration, the Republican party had majority control of both houses of Congress, in addition to control of the White House. Thomas D. DeLay of the House, Rick Santorum of the Senate, and Grover Norquist took this opportunity to expand the K Street Project by pressuring major lobbying firms to hire only Republicans in any new or open positions.
But Emanuel called a newspaper. Unsolicited! Impeachment is in order.
Previously: Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-NY): STFU! Now we’re gonna get impeached.
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