DEMOCRATS’ ‘ACCOMPLISHMENTS’
Mychal Massie

WorldNetDaily, OR
Nov 13 2007

I remember the hand wringing of Republican voters after Democrats took
control of Congress in 2006. Many may remember my saying at the time
that their takeover didn’t concern me in the least because Democrats
have unequivocally proven their inability to govern. I was right then
as I am right now.

John Hill of the Sacramento Bee reported that Democrat voters are
becoming dissatisfied with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ("Voters’ views
of Pelosi, Congress have dimmed," SacBee.com, Oct. 27). Democrat
voters’ angst is caused by a perception amongst their ranks that
nothing is being accomplished. But that is a relative construct,
and they would be well-warned to consider how they employ same,
because Pelosi et al. have been very busy indeed.

Democrats have raised taxes. When they took majority leadership
just months ago, they had campaigned, and were "elected in part by
promising fiscal responsibility. [They] specifically pledged to limit
spending increases and [to] employ pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budgeting
to keep the budget deficit in check.

"[Now] as their first year approaches an end, it has become clear that
members of the majority have failed to live up to their promises. In
just 10 months, Congress has passed legislation that would increase
federal spending by a combined $454 billion over 10 years and raise
taxes and fees by $98 billion over 10 years – and has passed a
budget resolution that would bring the tax increase to a projected
$2.7 trillion.

Despite the Democrats’ PAYGO pledge of no new deficit spending,
legislation enacted thus far has increased spending faster than taxes,
resulting in an additional $356 billion in deficit spending.

Only their budget blueprint, which assumes repeal of nearly all of
the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, would pay for all of their new spending."

("The Democratic Congress 2008 Budget: A tax and spending spree,"
Brian M. Reidl, Backgrounder #2081, Oct. 30.)

The House, with Pelosi at the lead, has held nearly 1,000 roll call
votes, eclipsing their old record of 942 set in 1978. In what could
be viewed as an attempt to have activity confused with achievement,
they are ahead of the curve – yet still have nothing tangible to show
for it. But then again, they didn’t promise to get anything done as
such – they promised more votes.

To illustrate this point, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, seized his
opportunity to have a roll call vote and attempted to impeach Vice
President Cheney. It is worth noting that he would rather impeach
Cheney than impeach Cheney’s boss. But I digress.

Democrat voters might be advised to look at things another way.

During the 2006 campaign, Democrats pledged they would work harder,
remain in session more days and hold more votes. Having met their
objective of having more votes, it would appear they have also met
their objective of having worked harder. Why else would they now vote
themselves a four-day work week? Would they break a campaign pledge
unless they had already met said objective?

Then again, they might be breaking their promise to work harder in an
effort to help Pelosi – who, having failed, less than a month after
taking over as speaker of the House, in her bullying tactics to secure
military aircraft for domestic flights for herself, her staff, her
relatives and members of the California delegation, must now suffer
the indignities of the proletariat and take commercial carriers.

At a time when the U.S. is best served with Turkey as a quasi-ally,
Pelosi, in an attempt to curry favor, money and votes, supports a
resolution that would have the U.S. proclaim Turkey guilty of Armenian
genocide some 90 years ago – eerily similar to Carter’s betrayal of
the late Shah Pahlavi of Iran.

Pelosi stumbled and fumbled her way through her ill-advised Middle
East trip, thinking she was the answer to that region’s problems.

There was her attempt to have the disgraced and impeached former
Florida judge-turned-congressman, Alcee Hastings, become chairman of
the House Intelligence Committee – and there was her endorsement of the
disgraced John Murtha, the corrupt representative from Pennsylvania,
to become majority leader. Then there is their relentless undermining
of our military and our troops who are in harm’s way.

No, my Democrat friends, the elected of your party haven’t been idle,
and they have reinforced one resounding truth, i.e., they cannot lead,
and their 22 percent approval rating overall attests it. My suggestion
to those of you who are disgusted with your party is to remember the
phrase "caveat emptor" – because, in essence, you bought them when
you voted them in.

And for the record, a word to my Republican voters who are just
as disgusted with those in their party – what makes you think that
electing more of the same based on the same old promises will bring
about any quantifiable change within our party?

Mychal Massie is chairman of the National Leadership Network of Black
Conservatives-Project 21 – a conservative black think tank located
in Washington, D.C. He is a nationally recognized political activist,
pundit, columnist and the former host of the widely popular talk show
"Straight Talk." He has appeared on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC,
C-SPAN, NBC, Comcast Cable and talk radio programming nationwide. A
former self-employed business owner of more than 30 years, he is also
a member of the conservative public policy institute National Center
for Public Policy Research.

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