Video: Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) offering motions to recommit

[paineinthearse]

June 22, 2005

The House passed a constitutional amendment to outlaw flag burning today. The proposed amendment to the Constitution reads, "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."

It is a shame that Republicans have devoted Congress' time to a constitutional amendment on flag burning rather than focusing on the critical needs of Americans. It is in this spirit that Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) wrecked procedural havoc on the House Floor this afternoon by offering motions to recommit to add several constitutional amendments to the underlying constitutional amendment on flag desecration, including one on preserving social security. Each motion to recommit was ruled out of order, however Rep. Taylor appealed the ruling of the Chair and forced votes on each motion to table the appeal.

Watch For Yourself: http://democraticleader.ctsg.com/ctt.asp?u=3676799&l=98095

Rep. Sensnebrenner (R-WI) and Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) on an amendment "to prevent the wholesale theft and desecration of social security."

[crizzo5137]

1. Wowzers...

That was actually entertaining...lol



kudos to Taylor for having some balls...

[markus]

2. First the Killen verdict, now this.

There is a New South down there somewhere, struggling to get out.

Keep it up, fellahs. Y'all listen to BOSSHOG, and he'll set the rest of you straight.

[Fridays Child]

3. I'm keeping my eye on Gene Taylor. He's leadership material.

[paineinthearse]

4. Definately

I've seen him in action on the House floor once previously. Can any Mississippi DU'ers fill us in?

[Hippo_Tron]

5. Alright, here's my view of Gene Taylor in prespective

Let's begin with the fact that Gene Taylor is a Democrat representing the congressional district that was formerly represented by Trent Lott. It's a GOP district and it's pretty amazing that a Dem is there in the first place. If you look at Gene Taylor by voting record alone, he's a DINO. He does vote with the GOP on many issues, his YES vote on the flag burning ammendment was one of many times that he votes with the right. The vote that really gets me is the fact that he voted for Clinton's impeachment. However, if you look a little deeper, you will find that Gene Taylor is, in most cases, an economic populist. I'd go so far as to say that he's better than Kerry on trade agreements. He's pretty good on labor issues and as we saw today, he's against social security privatization. Also, he nailed Bush on Abu Ghreib and our troops not getting body armor. I believe that he endorsed Clark in the primaries and kinda sorta reluctantly endorsed Kerry in the general election.

This video footage was quite interesting. I really enjoyed seeing him argue with that fat fuck Sensenbrenner and calling the GOP majority out on the fact that they promised to balance the budget in the Contract with America. What something like this shows me is that although he votes to the right a lot, he is a loyal Democrat and his conservative votes are much out of political necessity.

Is he leadership material? Realistically, he's too conservative and he has too much of a red constituency to be a leader. Remember what happened to Tom Daschle? Gene Taylor's constituency is probably more red than Daschle's is and having to juggle leadership and a red constituency is simply too hard. Now, is he US Senate material? Absolutely. If Trent Lott retires, he and Mike Moore are both in good position to win that Senate seat. Mike Moore has a better shot, but there's a good chance that Moore will wait and run for Governor in 2007, leaving the Dem field open for Taylor. Taylor against Chip Pickering will be a serious race and one that I could see Taylor winning in a midterm election.

[KingFlorez]

16. 4th district

Just to clear this up, his district isn't really Republican, but Conservative and a lot of times in the south people feel more comfortable voting for a Conservative Democrat than a Republican. Most of the districts in the south are like this, but we don't look at them that way.

[Hippo_Tron]

18. I read about the district's history, I thought it was pretty Republican

What I read was that until Taylor won the district there, the district was one ONLY district in Mississippi that was Republican and that Republicans had been winning there for quite some time until Trent Lott left to become a US Senator. Then Taylor won the race and they have been re-electing him ever since. Of course, Mississippi was sort of a three party state for a while until the Dixiecrats merged with the Republicans. Also, I'm sure that the district has been re-drawn over the years.

[merh]

6. It's about time he grew some.

He is DLC through and through, go look at his record, he votes with repukes every chance he gets.

To his credit, he is a champion of the troops.

This performance is a first for him. Maybe he is realizing that he has a responsibility to the citizens and not the repukes.

I am glad to see he may finally becoming a viable statesman.

[QC]

8. He is a conservative Democrat.

He is from a conservative district in a conservative state. What other sort of Democrat do you think could get elected there?

Would you prefer that we run Angela Davis for his seat? Barney Frank? Maybe Noam Chomsky?

I don't care much for conservatives either, but I would much rather have him in that seat than someone who votes for Delay and Hastert in the leadership elections.

[merh]

9. Hey, it's my district

And yes, if there was a more progressive candidate that would run, they would have a chance, folks are tired of the status quo and the repukes don't own MS, they are just louder and pretend that they do. He has been in office long enough to be a real leader and not a repuke lackey, if he had the courage of his conviction and if he really cared about the nation. The only reason repukes win is they foot the bill for viable candidates. The party needs to pay more attention to this State.

Go look at the bankruptcy bill, see how he voted or the bill to pull out of Iraq or hundreds of others. He is DLC and a repuke lite, he is a fake member of the democratic party and I have told him that is how I see him.

You have any more lectures you want to give me? :shrug:

[QC]

10. Do you have any more "repug lite" clichés to give me?

Sorry, but I just get tired of seeing every Democrat who's not Cynthia McKinney denounced as a DINO. Some of us around here are too pure for this world.

On the other hand, I know your frustration, because I live in Alan Boyd's district. He burns my ass to no end, but in a district that Bush carried 2:1, I don't think a Democrat more to my liking could get elected, and even as reactionary as Boyd is, he seems downright enlightened compared to the local Republicans.

I lived in Roger Wicker's district for several years, and he really did seem to have a lock on it. I would love nothing more than to see a Democrat knock him out, but even in Oxford, probably the most liberal place in Mississippi, the Republicans dominate. And I think you're quite right about support from the national party being a big reason for that. A lot of us Democrats have gotten so fixated on the White House that we have forgotten the need to have members of Congress from so-called "red states."

[merh]

12. Sorry, I get tired of my democratic representative

not acting like a member of the democratic party and voting with the repukes all of the time.

Is he your congressman? If not, you have no right to comment on his lousy record or judge me for finding his DLC ways to be disgusting and an insult to every member of the democratic party. I've put up with his repuke votes for years and I am sick of it. The bankruptcy bill sent me over the edge. With casinos in South MS, the bankruptcy filings have increased tremendously. The bankruptcy bill will hurt the citizens of this state.

I find nothing more distasteful than to have a fake dem in office, wolf in sheep clothing. Never forget, he wins even though he is a democratic candidate, that means folks don't care about the party. They want a balance between the Lotts and the Cochrans. He needs to stand up for the values of our party. He has been in office long enough and if you are familiar with MS politics you know that incumbents with a tenure as long as his usually don't lose, no matter what they do in office. Mississippians would rather keep the creeps we know than elect some unknown creep.

[meow2u3]

17. Better a right-wing Dem than a right-wing Repunk

At least most conservative Dems play by the rules, instead of making them up as they go along.

[Hippo_Tron]

13. A few things I disagree with you on about Taylor

Here's the DLC House directory...
http://www.ndol.org/new_dem_dir_action.cfm

I don't see his name on there.

Secondly, as I said above, his voting record on economic issues and his actions in questioning Bush on Halliburton, Abu Ghreib, Body armor, etc. are actually pretty good. But as far as social issues go, he's pretty bad.

Here's my point... when I think of what a DINO or a Republican in Dem clothing, I think of somebody like Zell Miller. I don't see Gene Taylor as a Zell Miller, meaning somebody that is actively working to help the Republican party. Is he a very loyal Democrat? No, not really. Is he a progressive? Hell no. But he is clearly not trying to help the GOP, either, which Zell Miller was. The reason that I would vote for him, is not his caucus vote (which he didn't even give to Pelosi), it is that he is NOT loyal to the Bush administration and any Republican that might take his spot would be.

[merh]

14. As I said, he is a staunch supporter of the troops and the military.

He does a great job for them, but that is not the only concern of our nation and they don't belong over there in the first place but he won't take a stand against the war.

He is DLC, has been DLC before it was cool to be DLC. Just because his name doesn't come up on their list doesn't mean he doesn't vote as if he were on the list.

And go back and check the votes again, he votes with the rethugs more than he votes with members of the democratic party.

Like I said, he is my representative and I am well aware of what his week, repuke like stanch has been like over the years.

[Hippo_Tron]

15. Being a right wing dem doesn't necessarilly = being DLC

The DLC is a specific organization with specific members that associate themselves with the organization. Frankly Gene Taylor probably votes to the right of the average DLCer, but my point is that voting record doesn't make you DLC. Being associated with the DLC makes you DLC.

And yes I have looked at his voting record and as I said above, he votes with the GOP A LOT. On social issues, civil liberties issues, etc. etc. he almost always votes with the GOP. BUT, on economic issues, I think it is fair to say that there is a clear distinction between him and a Republican.

[ClassWarrior]

7. That's not Sensenbrenner... But support his opponent...

http://www.bk2006.org

Sensenbrenner is more corpulent than the guy in the photo.

NGU.

[paineinthearse]

11. Sensenbrenner is in the video. That caption is straight off the dems site