While most of the attention from last week’s debacle in the House has focused on Pete Stark calling Scott McInnis a “fruitcake,” the real culprit was Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas. It was Thomas, after all, who substituted the pension bill at the last minute, refused to delay the vote to let Dems read it, and then called the police to evict Dems from a congressional library when they wanted to meet to discuss it.
Make no mistake, House Dems are still furious about this. Thomas calling the police was certainly the straw that broke the donkey’s back.
While House Republicans are generally pleased, or at a minimum indifferent, about Democrats’ frustration level, DeLay, Hastert, and company are a little more concerned this time. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, among others, has threatened to pull every parliamentary trick Dems can’t think of to stunt the GOP’s legislative agenda in retaliation for Friday’s stunt.
With this in mind, I give you Bill Thomas’ non-apology apology.
In a somber House press conference yesterday, Thomas said he exercised “poor judgment” last week when he called the Capitol Police to evict Dems from a House library. He noted that one conservative columnist described his actions as “just plain stupid,” and added, “I agree with him.”
“As my mother would have put it, ‘when they were passing out moderation, you were hiding behind the door,'” Thomas told reporters.
While many were pleasantly surprised by Thomas’ contrition, there were two words noticeably absent from his speech: “sorry” and “apologize.”
House Dems applauded when Thomas promised to make changes to his leadership style and said he’s committed to making his committee more civil. Dems were, however, hoping for a more apologetic statement.
“I thought that Mr. Thomas’s emotional apology answered some of the questions that we had, but not all,” Pelosi said afterwards. She said she appreciated Thomas’ remorse, but added, “That’s not the end of it.”