Saturday, June 11, 2005
Time To Tame The Rhetoric
This article reflects conduct unbecoming on both sides of the legislative aisle.
I have a theory, libs win because they are willing to be rude, whereas we are not. They put us in positions where it appears we have to be rude. I believe it is possible to be firm without being rude. In this case, Sensenbrenner should have gone through the motions. Gavelled down every irrelevant witness, one by one. It would have actually made a much uglier scene, but at least the other side would have made it.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the panel, abruptly gaveled the meeting to an end and walked out, followed by other Republicans. Sensenbrenner declared that much of the testimony, which veered into debate over the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, was irrelevant.For starters, Sensenbrenner is right in the stance that witnesses have to stick to the issue at hand, and if someone has constitutionality questions about an existing law it is the court's business, not the legislature's. But, it is just a crying shame he could not find a better way to get the idea across, although Cheat Seeking Missles seemed to love it.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., protested, raising his voice as his microphone went off, came back on, and went off again.
"We are not besmirching the honor of the United States, we are trying to uphold it," he said.
Democrats asked for the hearing, the 11th the committee has held on the act since April, saying past hearings had been too slanted toward witnesses who supported the law. The four witnesses were from groups, including Amnesty International USA and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, that have questioned the constitutionality of some aspects of the act, which allows law enforcement greater authority to investigate suspected terrorists.
I have a theory, libs win because they are willing to be rude, whereas we are not. They put us in positions where it appears we have to be rude. I believe it is possible to be firm without being rude. In this case, Sensenbrenner should have gone through the motions. Gavelled down every irrelevant witness, one by one. It would have actually made a much uglier scene, but at least the other side would have made it.
