I really like Chris Dodd and want him to start pushing his bill through to fix the FPL, but news like this really makes me angry with him too:
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Wednesday ripped the Senate’s “newest members” for the lack of comity in the upper chamber.
In a floor speech Wednesday night, Dodd said there is “nothing wrong” with partisanship, but added he has “been deeply disturbed by some of the [healthcare] debate I have heard, usually from newer members, usually those who have been here one, two, three years, who do not have an appreciation of what this chamber means and how we work together.”
The general feel is that he was talking about people like Al Franken, who wouldn’t let Joe Lieberman extend his floor time this week.
Dodd is one of the long time Senators who don’t seem to realize that the Senate today is not the same as the Senate in 1981, when Dodd first went in. Partisanship is very much the order of business in the Senate today, and that is with a big thanks to the Republicans. Did he really think giving this speech would make the Republicans stop lying and obstructing and embrace the Democrats in some big Kumbaya moment? Was he even awake during the summer when Republicans were out filling the people’s heads with bald faced lies like “death panels”?
We have seen key issues that the majority of this country wants and voted for head to extinction because of the minority. We have also seen some Democratic senators paid off just to get their support (ie: Ben Nelson). This represents a key failure of the Senate and the whole “work together” meme is nothing more than a pipe dream.
Chastising those that want to see a progressive agenda moved forward that the American people overwhelmingly voted for is the same as denying that this country wants these changes. Chris Dodd did no favors to the progressive movement with this speech, and helped keep the dysfunctional Senate we all have grown to hate, very much a live.
I can only imagine the fallout if Al Franken took to the floor and started blasting the “good ole boys club, that is worried more about their personal interests and friendships than governing and improving America”. Chris Dodd would probably be leading the call for Franken to be censured, despite such a statement being totally true.
We have too many “lifers” in the Senate and we really need to work hard to change that. It’s a really hard job to do given how screwed up our electorate system is today and given the fact we only change 1/3rd of the Senate every 2 years.