GOP preps stage for Bush agenda

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- With expanded majorities in both houses of Congress, Republican leaders are tightening the circle of power and sending warning signals to moderates and Democrats who might threaten the ambitious legislative agenda of the White House.
.............
''There is this kind of effort to convert the key policy-making institutions of government into one assembly line for the president's agenda," said Paul Light, a professor at New York University who specializes in government transitions. ''That's very unusual -- it's almost like running a large conglomerate when you have the CEO and the House and Senate as almost the manufacturing division."
...............
Republicans defended their rules changes, saying that the election this month validated their agenda and that Democrats need to be less obstructionist.

''They ought to try to put good government" first, said Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. Brushing aside Democrats' complaints about poor treatment, Lott recalled his days as a member of the House minority: ''They treated us like the worst beaten dogs you ever saw. They wouldn't even throw us a bone."

Representative Henry Bonilla, a Republican of Texas who initiated the House rules change that could help DeLay maintain power, said the old rule rewarded ''partisan" prosecutions and violated the tenet of presumed innocence. Asked what voice Democrats could have in a House tightly controlled by GOP leaders, he said, ''We weren't elected by the people in our districts to serve the minority."

Dissenting voices in the administration, meanwhile, have been muted, with the scheduled departure of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and the personnel housecleaning at the CIA by the agency's new director, former Republican congressman Porter Goss. Bush has appointed to his new Cabinet a series of officials with close personal ties and demonstrated loyalty to the president.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2004/11/20/gop_preps_stage_for_bush_agenda?pg=2

I put this in LBN because the repub quotes offer a stark counterbalance to all the reports of conciliatory sounding dems.

But this is a valuable article for another reason: Within 2 pages, the reporter has included a broad variety of current repub aggression, from Specter's recent castration to plans to end filibusters; from the "Isn't Tom DeLay Special Rule" to stripping federal courts of jurisdiction in House selected areas. This would be a good piece to share with curious yet apolitical people- it touches on so many changes that we all know a little about and would be a great jumping off point for discussion.

[mpanno]

1. What "agenda"?

He hasn't really got an "agenda". Only laws that his rich corporate backers tell him to pass.

[Rose Siding]

4. He has a sweeping agenda

His tax policy will lead to a decrease in employer provided health care, the Intelligence Bill wipes out the requirement for officials to report their investments, and the spending bill digs deeply into reproductive rights.

And that's just the last two days! His agenda is to solidify power in the executive branch, protected by the Republican States of America.

[shrike]

2. No one can while like a Republican (there's a pun in there somewhere)

Trent Lott: ''They treated us like the worst beaten dogs you ever saw. They wouldn't even throw us a bone." (Oh, whine, whine; bitch, moan and complain.) LOL

Nothing in this article surprises me. Anyone who thinks the Pubs are going to "reach out" to anybody has to be smokin' something. I'm at the point where I believe 51 percent of the American people are getting what they deserve. The rest of us will have to look out for one another.

[Don Claybrook]

3. We aren't elected...to serve the minority

Why does it not surprise me that this bonehead discounts 49% of the population, just like that? It's all 1's and 0's, on or off, black or white. If you didn't vote with the majority, you mean absolutely nothing.

Well, Mr. Bonilla, I hope that you will one day have to face the full consequences of your actions and beliefs.

[natrat]

5. check out cspan-democracy in action this morning

[The Zanti Regent]

6. My agenda--Take California out of Jesusland.

The time has come for California to secede and take its rightful place amoung the economic powerhouses of the world.

As for the Nazis running Jesusland, I say F 'em.

Who will work with me to free California from the oppression of Jesus?