However, it is true that Pelosi's House is an Animal House.
Posted on 12/27/2007 7:28:47 PM PST by neverdem
Half a dozen freshman Democrats took to the House floor one late-October morning to cast their lot with Republicans.
Their actions went unpunished by the Democratic leadership that day, as they have on many other occasions in recent weeks. The symbolic gesture -- casting nay votes on approving the House Journal, essentially the minutes of the previous day -- would have no bearing on the leadership's agenda.
While they overwhelmingly support that agenda, the bloc of freshmen has begun casting votes against such minor procedural motions in an effort, Democratic sources and Republican critics say, to demonstrate their independence from their leadership. The number of votes that the potentially vulnerable newcomers to Capitol Hill cast against House leaders is tallied and watched closely by interest groups and political foes.
Such is the political life of many of the 42 freshman House Democrats, a sizable number of them moderates and conservatives who must straddle the fence between supporting their party's interests and distancing themselves from a mostly liberal leadership as they gear up for their first reelection battle next fall.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other members of the party's leadership are happy to tolerate the independence on procedural matters. Less than three hours after opposing the late-October journal vote, the same six freshmen sided with Pelosi as Democrats tried, and failed, to override President Bush's veto of a bill to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years, legislation that Pelosi has called her "crown jewel."
--snip--
As a result, Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), for example, has one of the lowest party-unity voting scores -- less than 84 percent -- of any House Democrat, according to washingtonpost.com's congressional database. The average House Democrat has voted with the majority on 92.5 percent of all votes...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Shuler is not acting too confidently, IMHO.
Our local paper gave Joe Donnelly and the Democrats credit for “saving millions of taxpayers from the AMT”
But the local AM radio is Glen Beck, Rush, and a local who holds Donnelly’s feet to the fire. Except he won’t come on the show anymore.
Why is it not shocking that there is a conspiracy to lie to the american people by voting nay on things they agree with, so they can later vote yea on things they know are wrong and still have a good “independent” record?
Why do the media count procedural votes in their totals?
They have seemed to help Ron Paul with his supporters. They think he is against pork projects because he votes against the spending bill every year, despite getting his pet earmarks in the bill.
Shuler rode the wave of discontent with Bush and the GOP congress but the views in his district have little in common with Pelosi and Company.
He will start feeling splinters soon.
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However, it is true that Pelosi's House is an Animal House.
I will run ads of a picture of Shuler morphing into an 84% picture of Nancy Pelosi. I will hang the harridan of San Francisco around the neck of Shuler to defeat him in the general election.
But, I need all the help I can get. Now.
Congressman Billybob
John / Billybob
Thanks for the ping!
Thanks neverdem.
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