Bush was not innocent...

[kentuck]

In fact, he was instrumental in twisting the arms of Congressman that had voted against the Medicare bill, and he should be criticized for his part in this fascist maneuver. We cannot let the media pretend that Bush is a "uniter" after this blatant disregard for rules and Congressional respect. Without his role, the Senate would never have gotten the Medicare bill in the first place. Let's place the blame directly where it belongs.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14896-2003Nov25.html

<snip>
In the House, where the majority has the parliamentary power, the ability to offer amendments is constricted, and often curtailed entirely, with Democrats stopped from even offering their alternative for a vote. Debate is abridged to the point of parody. On prescription drugs, each side had an hour to present its views on one of the biggest changes in Medicare since its enactment. But when the time came to vote and Republicans lacked a majority, the haste evaporated. The customary 15-minute limit for voting was stretched to close to three hours, as GOP leaders confronting a loss bludgeoned members to switch their votes. While this was the longest such stretch, it wasn't an aberration: The majority has kept the vote open about a dozen times in recent years. Adding time to a vote may not seem like a big deal, but when it's done in contravention of the usual practice and solely for the purpose of achieving the desired outcome, it leaves lasting bitterness.

In 1987, when then-House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) employed a pale version of this practice -- keeping the vote open an extra 15 minutes -- Republicans denounced this as an outrageous departure from regular order. Then-Rep. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) railed against "Jim Wright and his goons." And a Republican congressman named Dick Cheney denounced the move as "the most arrogant, heavy-handed abuse of power I've ever seen in the 10 years that I've been here." Funny, but Vice President Cheney doesn't seem nearly so outraged now.