Congressional Power Makes Idiots Of Republicans Too

To The Speaker of the House, The Honorable, Imperial, Etc., J. Dennis Hastert

Dear Speaker,

I used to think, and often say, that it took a village of Democrats to raise a bunch of idiots. Now I find it only takes a position in Congress to get the job done. At one time, the Democrats owned Congress. Since Democrats have no guiding principles, the power went to their unprincipled heads and they did all sorts of foolish and arrogant things. Bill Clinton unleashed Hillary to dazzle America with HillaryCare, which simply depicted how government could take an essential program like health care and turn it into a monument to bureaucratic ineptitude. During all this, Republicans stood by their principles, and in a period when the Democrats made headlines almost daily with their arrogant abuses of power for personal benefit, Newt Gingrich and the Republicans struck with a statement of principles, the Contract With America.

With the desperation of Bill Clinton for a new intern, Americans were all over the Contract With America. At the same time Americans rallied to the Contract, they showed they were tired of the Democrats who made "two major missteps -- the failure in 1994 to offer any theme or message around which to rally and the failure over a 25-year period to fashion an approach uniting the middle and underclass wings of the party. They seem no closer to such a message now."

Speaker Hastert, when you make a big stink about the FBI seizure of subpoenaed documents from the congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson, a subpoena that Congressman Jefferson had ignored for eight months, you are saying that you and your colleagues are above the law. In essence, you are saying that you are all Democrats now.

We saw all this happening soon after Newt led the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994. Very quickly he became personally and professionally out of touch with the American voter, and almost single-handedly sunk the Republican Revolution just as it was being launched. Fortunately, Bill Clinton and Monica reminded Americans again, just in time, how feckless and reckless the Democrats are when they are in a position of responsibilty.

To paraphrase Coach Vince Lombardi, who said "fatigue makes cowards of us all," apparently Congressional power makes idiots of Republicans too.