GOP pulled no punches in struggle for Medicare bill

[BuckeFushe]

<snip>

During 14 years in the Michigan Legislature and 11 years in Congress, Rep. Nick Smith had never experienced anything like it. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, in the wee hours last Saturday morning, pressed him to vote for the Medicare bill. But Smith refused. Then things got personal.

Smith, self term-limited, is leaving Congress. His lawyer son Brad is one of five Republicans seeking to replace him from a GOP district in Michigan's southern tier. On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat.

<snip>

If this is what it takes for the Rethugs to pass the Medicare bill, you know it stunk from day one. I think this will reverberate for a long time to come. Bookmark this page. It's great for shoving down the collective throats of the party of ethical behavior.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak27.html

[ibegurpard]

1. That sure as hell sounds like attempted bribery to me.

That can't be legal. Oh yeah, I forgot that we're talking about the Greedy Old Pigs.

[BuckeFushe]

2. Goes to show how weak the Party has become

And with Daschle leading the pack in the Senate, we look like fools. As E.J. Dione said, when will we realize that the days of give and take are over. It's all take now by the Thugs, and it's time the party woke up. The Thugs have no ethics, only a mission to change the face of America before America wakes up.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. I read that article from E.J. Dione and it was so on the money.

DU should try to post it on its front page.

[ibegurpard]

8. I do have to say, however

that I admire that Republican rep's willingness to stand up to them. An honorable and ethical Republican...they are a dying breed.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Why isn't this kind of thing actionable?

If this were out in the streets and if the faces of the players were black, you know it would be handled swiftly and with impunity. This is the good ole boy system at its worst! This is why many minorities have no respect for the American political system.

[monarch]

5. Duke Cunningham-- good site

http://www.dukecunningham.org/education.html

[BuckeFushe]

7. Cunningham is one sick bastard

He is what the Rethug party is all about.

[snippy]

6. The republican party is a criminal enterprise.

[Jose Diablo]

9. Is this the same Novak

that 'outed' Valerie Plame?

This article is not something the neocons would want the public to know.

What's going on with Novak? Has he had a 'moment of clarity'?

[BuckeFushe]

10. could be payback

maybe he's going to take a fall for the Plame fiasco.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

11. Something tells me...

That nothing will be done about this :eyes:

And I think Bob Novak is drifting from his own party. He has become a big critic of some of they stuff the Republicans have been doing- you can even see it when he's on Crossfire, he's become a little more moderate than he used to be.

[Snellius]

12. Novak heralds the split of fiscal conservatives from Bush

Novak still mouths loyalty to the Republicans - probably just to protect his access -- but it is obvious he has joined in a general conservative revolt against the Bush power machine. This is an interesting quote he uses from Steve Moore:

The conservative Club for Growth's Steve Moore, writing to the organization's directors and founders, said defeat of the Medicare bill ''would have been a shot across the bow at the Republican establishment that conservatives are sick of the spending splurge that is going on inside Washington these last few years.''

Hammering the conservatives to prevent that may have been only a short-term triumph.

And it's not only Novak and the Club for Growth. The Wall Street Journal, Norman Ornstein of AEI, even the diehards at the Hertiage Foundation have been aghast at both the profligate spending but also the ruthless goon tactics of win at any cost. They're sounding like all those reactionary elites who helped Hitler get to power, then stood back in impotent horror as the Frankenstein they had created crushed them one by one.