Votes in the 110th Congress

It's a little early to be reading tea leaves on the nature of the 110th Congress, but I found something interesting: of the four pieces of legislation the House has voted on, every one has been bipartisan, and three of the four substantially so.

Bill*____Margin_____Aisle-Crossers
HR 1____299-128______68 (all GOP)
HR 2____315-116______82 (all GOP)
HR 3____253-174______53 (mixed)
HR 35___239-188____ __8 (all GOP)

This is exactly the way to get things done: go for the low-hanging fruit and use your thin mandate to pass things that, while not controversial, have been blocked by a radical, right-wing Congress for six years.

Keep it up, and we may win the Presidency.

____________
*HR 1 was a terrorism-provision bill, HR 2 increased the minimum wage, HR 3 authorized stem cell research, and HR 35 enhanced intelligence oversight authority.

Pelosi in Power; Righties Squeal in Impotent Outrage

How are the newly-ousted righties handling their banishment from the halls of power? With their usual class and grace:

As the sun rises on the United States, the Democrats take over both houses of Congress -- aided in the Senate by an unrepentant socialist, Bernie Sanders, and numerous ideological socialists in the House who run on the Democrat banner....

But at RedState, we intend to fight. We will fight against government largesse, we will fight against Democrats intent on doing to Iraq what they did to Vietnam, and we will fight our own if our own choose to ignore the obvious lessons of 2006.

To the Democrats, we bid you welcome to the majority. And here at RedState, we fight on against you and your socialist cohorts. Oh, and now that you've got one branch of government, we dare you to try to use it without consulting the GOP.

Yes, no doubt consultation with the people who slander them is the first order of Democratic business.

What Goes Around ...

This is probably going to be bad in the long run, but it sure is satisfying to read today:

House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans.

But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.

House Republicans have begun to complain that Democrats are backing away from their promise to work cooperatively.

Those rules, of course, were passed by Republicans to disenfranchize Democrats, streamline the flow of graft in from K Street, and establish a permanent majority. Oh the irony, the delicious irony!

You'll take my boot on your neck, Republican dogs, and you'll like it!