Worst Congress Ever?

I would take much to much time to go back and rehash everything that made the 111th the Worst Congress ever, but the result was a 25% approval rating (which reached a low of 17%) and the enactment of what is possibly the worst legislation in modern history; Healthcare reform. I will explain this in a little more detail later, but I present to you one of the best political cartoons I can remember and certainly the most succinct about Nancy Pelosi.


If you had to identify a single cause of Nancy Pelosi's failure, it would no doubt be her partisanship. When handed a House so lopsided with Democrats that there was no mathematical need to be bi-partisan, she simply excluded the Republicans on all matters, which eventually horrified the electorate resulting in a 60 member Republican turnover based almost totality on stopping the Democrats and undoing what they had done, without really any other plan of their own. When the above cartoon was published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, it resulted in two complaint letters. The second I resonded to on the Sentinel opinion blog that resulted in the usual Liberal personal attacks and the accusation that those that voted the Democrats out and the republicans in were the moral equivalent of the Germans voting in the Nazi party; I'm not kidding. Here is the letter, my response and the hysterical responses to my opinions.

Pelosi's not Saddam

Based on the Jan. 5 issue of the Sentinel, I have to wonder how low you are willing to stoop with the political cartoons you publish. Lisa Benson's depiction of Nanci Pelosi as Saddam Hussein was offensive in the extreme. Can the Sentinel at least set some kind of standard wherein some reasonable political statement is being made in the cartoons and opinion articles it presents? I feel insulted that I actually subscribe to a publication that has no standards when it comes to the crucially important task of communicating intelligent political discourse in America. Please Sentinel, do not contribute to what is wrong with our country as it suffers through unconstructive divisiveness.

Mark Varner, Boulder Creek

My Reply: While I don't believe that Nancy Pelosi actually killed anyone (but she did approve torture which she later lied about), a comparison to Saddam Hussien is not "offensive in the extreme". Ms Pelosi lied every time she opened her mouth. She simply ignored the suffering caused by high unemployment, to this day blaming George Bush, but never taking any steps to relieve it. Instead she ignored the will of the people and rammed through what has been deemed by both Democrats and Republicans as the worst legislation ever enacted in modern times. The result was worst congressional rating in history and the a literal revolution to remove as many Democrat representatives as possible (the most in history) to stop the Pelosi juggernaut. The only thing missing was the American people lining up to beat her effigy with their shoes.

#1 Response: I view Mrs Pelosi as a hero, all the more so if she upsets a caveman like yourself. You republicans love to attack personality because if you talked about the issues you care about (lets have more war, screw the poor and the elderly!) you would net get as much traction.

My reply to #1: Perhaps you can point out were I personally attacked Nancy Pelosi. I did not say she was evil. I made no disparaging remarks about her age, the way she dresses, her intelligence or her leadership abilities. On the other hand you are the one that called me a cavemen, which is usually used to judge one lacking in intelligence. I simply stated I believed Nancy Pelosi to be a liar and I explained my reasoning. I also said I believed she was deaf to the wants of the American people evidenced by the health care bill she enacted. Finally I am a Constitutional Liberal, meaning a believer in the unalienable rights of man (only in the US does liberal mean left leaning). While I think it was morally justified for the US military to step in and stop genocide in some corners of the world, I believe that this is were being the worlds policeman should end; the Kuwaiti war was justifiable due to American interests in oil, but Afghanistan and Iraq were a waste of precious American blood. Finally we'll just have to disagree on how government, such as the 60's welfare act doomed many, especially blacks to generations of poverty and how Nancy Pelosi's healthcare reform will soon result in the untimely death of the elderly (if you think I am exaggerating take a look at the British NICE, an institute that bases the cost of treatment on whether you will live long enough to justify the cost). When will the left learn that socialism like the ring or Mordor is evil and can never be used for good.

#2 Response: Wow! If we are going to use past historical figures and situations to interpret this last election season two months ago, it would be to compare to 1933 Germany. The political energization of a politically naive class during a period of high unemployment and a really down economy, wherein this class is duped into supporting a legislative agenda that will only worsen that class' situation (they want change, but choose the absolute wrong kind).
A literal revolution?? How about a corporate (and billionaire's) revolution to demonize any law or lawmaker in support of consumer protection, environmental protection, and worker protection?
The worst legislation ever enacted in modern times? Worse than Jim Crow laws in the US forty years ago? Worse than the legislation in Germany sending people to death camps based on their religion seventy years ago? Might want to reconsider your terminology!

My Reply to #2: If you want an historic pre WWll analogy, you may want to look at the US, where communists and fascists, tried as they might, could not make any in roads with the American people. They used much of the same class warfare rhetoric you are using now, but despite the depression and massive unemployment, the American people preferred to hold onto liberty as described by our founders, not liberty based on the doing away with the burden of choice. The result was Europe destroyed by socialism and America having the highest standard of living in the world. You may complain about the corporate welfare, but keep in mind, it is always the result of big government; there has never been a monopoly or cartel that did not involve government corruption. You also need to brush up on you history. Hitler never achieved more than 37% of the vote. In the last election before he was sworn in as Chancellor, (November 6, 1932) the Nazi party actually lost 34 seats, holding only 32% of the Reichstag. The decision to make Hitler Chancellor was a political decision by a weak leader, not the "energization of a politically naive class".

BTW, the NAZI final solution came long after Hitler dissolved the German parliament; it was not legislation but the horror of a lunatic fringe. Regardless I obviously was referencing legislation enacted in the United States. As bad as segregation was, it pails in comparison to the eugenics that is the basis of socialized medicine; President Obama said it best; it's too expensive to give grandma a pacemaker, better to give he a pain pill instead. Add to that the fascists agreements made with Big Pharm (no longer allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices), Big Health Ins, which will determine the future control of every drug you take, what you eat, what treatments you are allowed to have and how long you have to wait until you get it (all at the determination of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, currently Kathleen Sebelius); forcing you to buy the Insurance from a private insurer at whatever rate they determine (Big Health actually wrote the healthcare bill and there are no previsions to control premiums). Yes, the health reform bill is the worst legislation ever enacted in the United States. It pained me to no end every time I heard Nancy Pelosi state that "every American would be guaranteed affordable and quality healthcare," when I knew she cares nothing for the individual citizen, but simply viewed herself as the elite trying to collectivize the citizenry through healthcare.

Certainly these responses were expected, but I still have to shake my head when I am personally attacked by the left for supposedly personally attacking someone on the left. Further any attack from the left would not be complete without being compared to a Nazi. Of course the second responder as seems to be the case with most Liberals, had a poor understanding of history, something that is no doubt a result of their revisionists views.