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U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R – Saks) drops in at Auburn University in Montgomery and says that Congressional Democrats are paying Republicans back for how Dems were treated when the Republicans were in charge.
“They don’t talk to us,” he said. “They’ve got the vote, and they can do what they want.”
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“Republican leaders didn’t talk to the Democrats [when Republicans were in charge],” he said. “The attitude was ‘We have the votes on our side, let the Democrats whine.’”
Rogers said that’s a culture that needs to change if Congress wants to get more done in between election cycles.
In the process, he called Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi “crazy,” “mean as a snake” and “Tom DeLay in a skirt.” Which led a friend to comment to me, “I guess Rogers has gotten all he wants out of the House.”
In the beginning, at least, Obama and Congressional Democrats tried to play ball with Republicans.
And there might be a lesson here for the Democratic majority in the state legislature: make sure you have the votes. As one state GOP legislator put it to me, the state Dems can try to be heavy-handed, but they don’t have the votes to back it up (for example, to pass a BIR vote or break a filibuster).
Glad to have South Union Street (from the Montgomery Advertiser) join Alabama’s political blogosphere.
Updated: State Democratic Party Chair responds Tuesday afternoon.
Responding to disparaging public remarks Republican Congressman Mike Rogers of Alabama’s 3rd District made about Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rogers’ remorse of a lack of bi-partisan cooperation in Congress, Alabama Democratic Party Chair Joe Turnham is making an offer to Congressman Rogers to be of assistance.
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Chairman Joe Turnham announces today [Tuesday] that he is offering to assist Congressman Rogers in his quest to work together with Democrats by personally asking the Democratic Speaker to meet with him and to attend the meeting if he so desires.
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no mention, Danny, of the dem response?
Jpo, got a pointer to it?
What was it they said on the playground? What goes around comes around?
http://southunionstreet.blogspot.com/2009/04/chairman-makes-offer-to-bring-pelosi.html#comments
Now that was easy wasn’t it?
Also a prime example of the current art of compromise in this state, make a sweet and reasonable offer contingent on terms the other fellow finds totally unacceptable. Makes for good talking points and another stripe on the coup stick.
one would think the party’s response is part of the “story” and therefore belongs in the post
and not everyone reads the comments
Good for Mike. Glad someone is speaking the truth.
Not seeing the news here. Comments like this are common all the time in both parties.
jpo, I am glad to include the Democratic response. I have done that first I have seen it, which is now, which is faster than a lot of things get posted here. Would be fun if I could sit at the keyboard 24/7 to blog, but that’s not the way my life works. :)
Von Buskirk, 1) Can you provide other examples of comments that are common like this from members of the Alabama delegation? And 2) if comments like this are common all the time in both parties, is this a good thing? Thanks!
Mike Rogers speaks the truth about Pelosi. She IS crazy and mean as a snake. But then, Alabama’s Democrats have never been a fan of the truth!
Danny – it was not a personal slight that you printed this since Mike is from Alabama, but he is far from the only politician who says stuff like this, it’s become routine. Is it right? No. Is it going to change? No.
Polar politicizing is the flavor of the deacade. It’s the main entertainment on most news channels, and, interestingly, Comedy Central.
It’s a lot of fun to create sound bytes and be in the news for saying something wacky. Maybe ignoring it will make it go away? Like little kids who whine for candy? Don’t know, just throwing it out there.
A simple Google search of “name your famous politician” and quotes will unearth lots of ugly comments about other politicians. George Bush was called all kinds of horrible things, and in a way, that’s worse, since he was the president and the most visible symbol of our leadership. Of course other politicians can think he was a “total failure” who “had no ideas” but should they vocalize that while the man is still in office? It didn’t bother me, just as this doesn’t either. To get upset about one but not the other is disingenuous.
Any time that an representative from Alabama is recorded as disliking Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi it is a plus for that representative in my book. Gold star for Mike.
It is about time that someone said what Mike Rogers said about Pelosi. It is the truth,she is mean as a snake and a socialist. Also, she it the witch that Segall wants to vote for to keep as Speaker of the House of Representatives. He must be a socialist too.
[...] sometime Congressman Mike Rogers makes Little look comparatively sober. Rogers just went on the record calling House Speaker Nancy [...]