[Elle Bee]

Click Logo to go to:

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[tkathy]

Term limits are needed for all these idiots. They start out fine, and then are corrupted by the system.

[thegreatbeast]

...Bob Livingston, the former Appropriations Committee chairman who now operates one of Washington's most popular lobbying shops, says such rules are impractical and would prevent qualified people from seeking seats in Congress "because they won't be able to provide financial security for their families after leaving office." What happy horsesh*t!

[ambrose]

Both Livingston and Tauzin come from Louisiana, one of the most corrupt states in the union. John Breaux is also retiring this term, and is widely believed to be angling for a high paying lobbyist gig.

[prognostigaator]

bttt , always.

[Drango]

If Republicans consolidate their control over Washington while failing to reduce the size of government, they will inevitably be caught up in the care and feeding of the state.

Word.

[joesbucks]

We need to ban John Fund and send him to LP.

[independentmind]

bump

[hotpotato]

No wonder Zell Miller couldn't stomach Washington any longer.

[Common Tator]

It was Abraham Lincoln who said it in simple terms. We have a governemnt that is of the people, by the people and for the people., We are a nation that only has public servants. We have gone to great lengths to see that we never tolerate government rulers.

There are just two majorities that elect politicians. The Democrats majority, when they can win it, extends from the left to just right of center. The Republican majority, when they can win it, extends from the right to just left of center.

The right and left are always screaming that their party's elected officials don't serve their base. NO one ever got elected by their base. They get elected by winning more than half of the voters. Than means getting the votes of more than half the center. Unless you are in a three man race. The Arnold Governator did something new when he took his half out of the center.

People in the center and they are 30 percent of all voters, vote for the candidate they like, and for the candidate who will do the most for them.

The problem for the right is that most of the people on the right haven't a clue about what it takes to win their agenda. The right think what motivates them, will motivate the center. If the center believed what the right believes they would all be on the right.

Go to any town that is the benificary of a pork project. If the local congressman gets federal funds to build the National Mumbly Peg hall of fame in the town, the radio stations, newspapers, service clubs and churches will praise that congressman for bringing jobs and busisness to that community. When he speaks at the local Rotary Club he will be introduced as the man who through great effort and selfless sacrefice got the Mumbly Peg Hall of Fame located in our fine town. It matters not if the congressman is Democrat or Repubublican when the people who have the power to make him unemployed want the Mumbly Peg Hall of Fame he will do all he can to get it for them... Plus the funds to repave the street it is located on and more funds for a parking lot to hold 55,000 cars. It is the way our government was designed to work.

So candidates are going to do what it takes to win the center and get every Mumbly Peg Hall of Fame they can get.

What part of public servants don't decide policy.. their masters do... confuses the right most?

If you want to control government spending first convince a solid marjority (that includes the center) that limited spending is good. Secondly sit back and watch government spending shrink.

If you want something done you have to get the approval of those running the joint....be it General motors or the United States of America. IT is real simple. If the customers want it.. GM will do it to sell cars. THE USA is run by its voters and if voters want it politicians will do it to get votes.

Until those on the right understand who is boss,and who really calls the shots, the right will only suffer massive defeat of its agenda.

[MissAmericanPie]

"...Bob Livingston, the former Appropriations Committee chairman who now operates one of Washington's most popular lobbying shops, says such rules are impractical and would prevent qualified people from seeking seats in Congress "because they won't be able to provide financial security for their families after leaving office"

The Founding Fathers never intended political service to be a career job. Men wishing to serve their country sacrificed their time and careers to do so, then went back to what they normally did for a living. That we have career politicians is 90% of the problem in D.C.

[KantianBurke]

Last week, the House Ethics Committee revealed that for the past two months it has been investigating an allegation by Rep. Nick Smith, a Michigan Republican, that party leaders offered him a bribe in exchange for his vote on the Medicare bill. Mr. Smith voted against the bill and later said unnamed members of his party had said they'd contribute $100,000 to his son's congressional campaign if he had voted in favor. If not, Mr. Smith said, they told him they'd see that the younger Mr. Smith lost his race. Mr. Smith later recanted, saying his claim of bribery was "technically inaccurate" and has since refused to discuss the matter further. (Either a good lawyer has advised him to keep his mouth shut or the GOP thugs offered to overlook his opposition to a bill that's already passed and help his son out PROVIDED he dismiss his charges)

But other GOP members stood by their stories of strong-arm tactics. South Carolina's Rep. Jim DeMint said contributors threatened to withhold donations for his upcoming Senate race unless he voted for the Medicare bill, while Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri said a state legislator threatened to run against him. Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida was told his path towards a party leadership position would be blocked if he voted against the bill.

Republicans should view such tactics and the bidding war for Mr. Tauzin on K Street as warning signs of ideological dry rot.(FR demonstrates this clearly. There are many posters who consider conservative values as hampering.)

[nonliberal]

Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisiana has announced that next Monday he will step down as chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. Observers expect he will soon leave Congress to become the chief lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry at an annual salary that's rumored to approach $2.5 million, a record for a trade association head.

How did Billy boy vote on the prescription drug bill?

[Dumb_Ox]

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