{"id":8573,"date":"2006-09-26T13:14:19","date_gmt":"2006-09-26T17:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/8573.html"},"modified":"2006-09-26T13:14:19","modified_gmt":"2006-09-26T17:14:19","slug":"dems-get-under-trent-lotts-skin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/dems-get-under-trent-lotts-skin\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems get under Trent Lott’s skin"},"content":{"rendered":"

To briefly follow up on yesterday’s item<\/a>, the Democratic Policy Committee’s “hearing” on Iraq and Donald Rumsfeld’s stewardship of the Pentagon seemed to go quite well. Attendance was strong, lawmakers from both parties attended, and military experts offered a variety of compelling perspectives about the war and its management. The press largely blew it off<\/a>, of course, but only because the media tends to ignore any event at which Dems have something important to say.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the entire hearing seemed … what’s the word … congressional<\/i>. Lawmakers asking questions, discussing important issues, talking about accountability — if you closed your eyes, you’d think it was 1994 all over again. Indeed, Maj. Gen. John Batiste, the former commander of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, said he’s been anxious to talk to lawmakers about the war, but Republicans refused<\/a> to give him a chance. “I find that outrageous,” the general said. “I have a sense for what I’m talking about.”<\/p>\n

So, how does the Senate GOP respond to yesterday’s gathering? At least one GOP senator is offering menacing threats<\/a>. (thanks to J.B. for the tip)<\/p>\n

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is threatening to punish Democrats for using an Appropriations Committee room for an unofficial hearing on Iraq oversight if it happens again.<\/p>\n

“They better stop this,” the Mississippi Republican said. “This will be the last one or there will be retribution.”<\/p>\n

Lott suggested that Republicans could hold GOP-only hearings or seek other forms of payback.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Poor Trent seems a little confused. Dems have been waiting for Republicans to do their jobs, and then simply got tired of waiting. Yesterday wasn’t a Dems-only hearing; Republicans were invited to participate and some did. The idea that Lott is going to respond to “GOP-only hearings” is foolish, even for him.<\/p>\n

Then the Mississippi senator pushed his concerns to an absurd level.
\n
\nConsider this gem:<\/p>\n

Lott and other Republicans are upset that Democrats have gone outside the committee process to highlight the Iraq war before the November election.<\/p>\n

“They’re abusing the system,” Lott said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This has to be one of my favorite GOP quotes in a long while. If Democratic members of the Senate get together, ask some experts to answer some questions about the war, and host the event in a public room on the Hill, Trent Lott thinks it’s “abusing the system.”<\/p>\n

No wonder the Republican Congress doesn’t do any work — they’re forgotten what real work actually looks like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To briefly follow up on yesterday’s item, the Democratic Policy Committee’s “hearing” on Iraq and Donald Rumsfeld’s stewardship of the Pentagon seemed to go quite well. Attendance was strong, lawmakers from both parties attended, and military experts offered a variety of compelling perspectives about the war and its management. The press largely blew it off, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}