More ‘gotcha’ from the GOP: Carey stretches truth in effort to abush Walz
December 10th, 2007 4:55 pm by DJ DanielsonI hate writing posts about parliamentary procedure basically because people hate reading it due to the sometimes complicated “inside baseball” nature it possesses (and I guess it’s a pretty boring subject, too). Certainly, reading about the procedure behind passing legislation isn’t as appealing as reading about rhetoric or the issues.
Unfortunately, Republicans have a nasty way of taking advantage of the general ignorance about which formal steps actually occur in the halls of Congress to further their mission of making Democrats look lazy and out of touch.
Yes, American people: how dare you not understand, much less care about, every nuance dealing with Mason’s Manual, Jefferson’s Manual, the Book of Hoyle and the rules of the US House of Representatives?! Well, I guess mandatory C-SPAN viewing wouldn’t be so bad, would it?
Case in point: this press release from Ron Carey, chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota.
“Tim Walz promised to stand up for the middle class during his campaign but it’s clear he didn’t really mean it. With his vote against bringing a clean Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch to floor of the House, Walz once more sides with national liberals and against the interests of the First District.”
I’m enraged! Wow, the nerve of that Waltz guy. He’s a real restaurant-quality SOB to put a dull knife right in the back of the middle class like that. And how he’s putting those evil, prominent national liberals over his constituents! I bet totally forgot where he came from. What’s that I feel? Based on this quote it sseems like he’s physically sticking his hand right in my pocket and taking the contents! Ugh, I don’t want to talk about Washington Waltz anymore!
Without the context of the true procedure on the House floor (I’m sure just conveniently accidentally omitted by Carey, sure) a reaction like the above paragraph could be completely understandable. With the context though, Carey is grasping at straws, at best. He maybe is even fiddling with reality. To call him a liar in this instance wouldn’t be too unreasonable.
As Bluestem Prairie points out, the underlying bill was the energy bill, not one dealing with the Alternative Minimum Tax. Carey seems to think the House should have allowed this amendment to be considered, regardless of the subject’s relevance to the bill.
You see, the subject of the song was “I’m Just a Bill,” not “How a Motion to Recommit Gets Put to a Vote” or “How an Amendment Gets Through the Rules Committee” (though I am sure both would provide for excellent educational fodder for our nation’s children). As far as I am aware, since the Schoolhouse Rock video was produced, the main vehicle for which legislation is passed is still a bill. And yes, amendments to these bills can and do come up for discussion.
Almost always though the amendment offered is germane to the bill at hand. Not so in this case: the Republicans wanted to make an amendment to the energy bill essentially wiping it out and replacing it with Alternative Minimum Tax language. Walz and the majority then voted for the rule prohibiting such an amendment.
Yes, how dare that elitist liberal majority use its power in such as way as stopping non-germane amendments. Personally, I am not a very big fan of closed rules such as the one used for the energy bill, but the obstructionist tactics (such as this proposed amendment) the GOP has employed time and time again make their use necessary.
This isn’t the first time the GOP has used press releases about a “gotcha” vote to try and make Walz appear in poor light: Randy Demmer used loaded rhetoric, eerily similar to that used by Carey, in October to describe a Walz vote on a motion to recommit.
Remember when the GOP grandstanded on SCHIP during debate on the agriculture appropriations bill? Same thing all over again. This is classic “gotcha” from the GOP, but lucky for you, we’re here with the truth about what happened.
The Senate has passed AMT-patch legislation. If the House brings up similar legislation and Walz or any other member votes against it, then we would hope if Carey or another GOP member authors a press release that it be based on the merits of the vote on such legislation. Until then, we hope Carey stops trying to recreate reality.