If Dems regain power: What GOP precedents can we use then?

[PretzelWarrior]

You know...the GOP has been pushing for all kinds of increased leverage and power for congressional majority, Presidential powers, etc.

What is your favorite "GOP Bad Deed" would you like to see used against them when Dems get the power?

Mine would be freezing the GOP out of their meeting rooms and not making copies of bills available to them until the last minute.

CLose second would be arbitrarily extending debate so they can arm-twist a few more votes.

[ps1074]

1. no pork for districts represented by republicans

eom

[shaolinmonkey]

2. Didn't Orrin Hatch re-interpret a rule on the Ways and Means Committee...

that had said that you needed agreement from at least one member in the minority (Dem) to force a vote? This rule had been used by Republicans to block votes during the Clinton years. I'd use that liberally (wow, I'm a funny punster).

[bluestateguy]

3. Questioning their patriotism

Any disagreement with the nation's leadership should be noted as a sign of disloyalty and an insult to God and Country.

[PretzelWarrior]

6. THAT one I love. Just mention Pres Kerry is fighting war on terra

and if you aren't with him, you're a low-down sack of sh!t red-stater who deserves to go join the folks at Abu Gharaib

[Arbustosux]

4. Recess Appointments

let them have a taste

[hadrons]

5. none ...

the Dems will probably be "nice" to their Repuke colleagues :eyes:

[PretzelWarrior]

16. that's what I'm afraid of

they will get further choked off because they won't take the land back that was grabbed through overt abuse

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. In appropriations

Pull out all earmarks for members of Congress who vote against the bill (which is typically all members of the opposite party, thanks to the many riders placed on approps.)

[MallRat]

8. Yeah, I like the 3-hour long "15-minute vote," too.

That's the only way the Medicare bill got passed (along with some bribery attempts).

-MR

[kaitykaity]

9. My favorite will be

when a Pug criticizes Kerry for some perceived wrong act,
we'll be able to say, "Did you criticize Bush when he did
such and such?" "No." "Well, then, shut the fuck up, you
hypocrite."

[Cyrano]

10. Tax cuts for Democrats only. Tax increases for Repugs.

[NewJeffCT]

11. Senate Judiciary Rules & more

1) The Reps keep changing the Senate rules on judiciary nominees. To block a lot of Clinton appointees, they changed the Senate rules to be that a judicial candidate had to be approved by BOTH senators from his home state - allowing a single Republican senator to block otherwise legitimate candidates. When * came into office, they changed it back to the old way of only needing approval of 1 senator.

2) Executive orders to get rid of the Fundie stuff Bush has done - i.e., Grand Canyon is God's Work

3) Close military bases only in solid Republican territory - Cheney tried to do this under Bush 1

4) Free submarine rides to big donors

5) Gravy train / pork legislation for Dem friendly corporations.

6) Single out high profile Republicans for thorough IRS audits, in addition to Rep. friendly corporations like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Newscorp, etc.

[PretzelWarrior]

12. I didn't know that about judiciary rules.

I think a great thing would be to be super transparent at Press briefings and every so often say, "See? Press conferences can actually be easy to get through. You just need to have functional literacy and a willingness to level with the American public." Stick the knife in and twist.

[NewJeffCT]

15. I think the 1 senator rule had been in effect for years...

If not since the beginning of the federal judiciary...

[leftofthedial]

13. use the patriot act

to send all neocons to the camps.

[PretzelWarrior]

14. or at least to mass scan all their email/phone records

and then prosecute them based on the info they find.

They could also send Homeland Security resources to drag them back to Washington DC for a quorum on bills they don't want to support.

[Jeebo]

17. Dems shouldn't resort to vindictiveness, pettiness, and revenge...

...that's the sort of ignoble behavior the Republicans resort to. I like to think that we Democrats are better than that. What I would like to see is legislation and internal rule changes in the Senate and House to make it impossible or very difficult for EITHER party to twist the rules in marginally legal ways to subvert the rules to suit their ends. In other words, "Now if you kids are not going to play fair, we're going to make more rules to MAKE you play fair!"

For example, one thing I would love to see is a constitutional amendment that makes gerrymandering impossible. That amendment could read something like this: "Each state's congressional districts shall be drawn only once per decade, within no more than 365 days after the official results of the most recent federal census figures for that state are announced. The congressional districts shall be drawn according to the following formula: Beginning at the most northwesterly geographical point within the state, and proceeding in equal distances to the south and east of that point, until such time as an area equal to 1/X of that state's total area has been covered, with X equal to the number of that state's representatives, at which time that state's first congressional district shall have been drawn; and then proceeding from the most northeasterly geographical corner of the first congressional district, the second congressional district shall be drawn using the same method; and then all subsequent congressional districts for each state shall be drawn using this same method, proceeding north-to-south and west-to-east." This language would require some fine-tuning, but it would serve as a good starting point for the constitutional amendment I am proposing, and this language even by itself would make gerrymandering almost impossible.

Another thing I would like to see is a new rule in the House and Senate mandating that EVERY vote on a bill or issue is concluded and FINAL IMMEDIATELY after the roll call is completed and the votes are counted. In other words, NEITHER party can just arbitrarily hold the voting open while they twist the arms of the fence-sitting members of their own party. WE ordinary citizens don't vote that way when we go to the polls. Everybody votes just once, then the votes are counted, and that settles it.

There need to be new internal House and Senate rules establishing a minimum amount of time for each party's senators and representatives to study the text of proposed legislation.

I think there should be a rule providing for ALL judicial appointees stalled in committee beyond a certain time limit to be released from the committee for floor debate. This would force the majority party to consider the opposition party's president's appointees and not stall them, and filibustering still could stall appointees who are extremely objectionable to either party.

I could go on and on, but y'all get the picture. There need to be new rules and laws and amendments making it impossible for ANYBODY to bend the rules in the despicable and disgusting ways Republicans have been getting away with doing for the past three and a half years.

Ron

[PretzelWarrior]

18. you make a very good point. I think you're right about new rules

the senate in fact hides behind the fact that there's an ambiguous set of traditional rules but nothing hard and fast. That's what I'd like to see--after they score a few points against the Republicans first. Then the GOP would feel the burn and have motivation to go along with such new rules.

I like it.