It seems the voters have purchased a Congressional lemon in House Democrat leadership. When Democrats took back the House in 2006, their 10 year long PR battle against their version of "corruption" finally started to stick. As the first order of business, Democrats announced an overhaul in the House ethics process and, after years of losing legislative battles, they also decided to change the rules on how bills came to the floor, when they could be up for a vote, etc. Well now that they're losing their battles under the very rules they designed, Pelosi has deemed it time to alter the way Congress approves of trade policies. That seems to be their new credo: if you can’t beat them on politics or policy, just change the rules….or file a lawsuit.
Even the liberal San Francisco Chronicle lambasted Pelosi, calling her out for “playing politics by pandering to free-trade foes.” I don’t know how else to put it - they lie, they cheat, they steal, but not for nothing. It’s all to pay back the protectionist unions that own them
Minority Leader John Boehner has done an excellent job of compiling this information, and it’s our job to keep it on hand as yet another reason to distrust the Democrats.
“Pelosi’s Bad Faith,” Wall Street Journal <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120778566399303309.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks> editorial, April 10, 2008:
“Trade Talks,” Las Vegas Review-Journal <http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/17456019.html> editorial, April 10, 2008
“Drop Dead, Colombia,” Washington Post <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/09/AR2008040903638.html> editorial, April 10, 2008
“Running Scared From Free Trade,” Investor’s Business Daily <http://ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=292632935793780> editorial, April 9, 2008
UPDATE: And if anyone wants to make the comparison to the Medicare vote, where Democrats cried foul simply because they lost, I am more than happy to argue that point.