Jay Lake (jaylake) wrote,
Jay Lake
jaylake

[politics] A little trip down memory lane for bipartisanship

There's a lot of whining from the GOP lately about bipartisanship around HCR and other issues, including the (often used by the GOP in the past) reconciliation process to pass a bill through the Senate without invoking cloture. The liberal media dutifully covers this without much analysis, and millions of conservatives dutifully get angry at these unprecedented uses of majority power.

Unlike the entire conservative movement of 2010, I vividly recall the Bush years. There was this little thing called "the Permanent Majority". Anyone else remember it? Or Trent Lott and "the Nuclear Option" in the Senate. Remember that? How about "Unilateral Bipartisanship", admittedly a 1998 phenomenon, as Democrat Barney Frank referred to Republican Henry Hyde's characterization of a a strict party line vote on Clinton's impeachment as "bipartisan". But the spirit was certainly present during the Bush years.

Hey, Republicans. You'd better be damned glad the Democrats are too consensus oriented to treat you the way your majorities treated them. It might be nice if you could remember back past the last election cycle, too, when bitching about Obama's deficits, foreign wars and Wall Street bailouts. Because those cardinal sins? Committed by Republicans, first and bigger. Just like majoritarian rule was all the rage when you were in the majority. I know, it's hard, but really, you used to run the world. Permanent Majority? Remember?

Tags: healthcare, politics
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