Raw Story: Repugs rewrite Dem's Amendments.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

Democrats in the House are furious over what they see as a deliberate attempt by Republicans to rewrite Democratic amendments to make the Democrats amendments look preposterous, RAW STORY has learned.

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The Republican-written rewrites, along with the Democratic description of the amendments, follows. RAW STORY has also learned that Republicans have not rewritten similar amendments in the past. A copy from the Congressional record in 2002 is included below, showing the "neutral" language used in a previous Congress.

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DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT
AMENDMENT DESCRIPTION IN HOUSE REPORT 109-51


DEMS: a Nadler amendment allows an adult who could be prosecuted under the bill to go to a Federal district court and seek a waiver to the state’s parental notice laws if this remedy is not available in the state court. (no 11-16)
GOP REWRITE:. Mr. Nadler offered an amendment that would have created an additional layer of Federal court review that could be used by sexual predators to escape conviction under the bill. By a roll call vote of 11 yeas to 16 nays, the amendment was defeated.

More: http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/gop_rewrites_dem_amendments_427.htm

When will it end? Will it ever end? What will it take to make it end? This all has moved beyond surreal.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

1. This can't be legal, can it?

Are they talking about the official record for the House of Representatives?:crazy:

[mitchtv]

2. I saw Louise Slaughter on CSPAN

discussing this, boy was she pissed -it's Sensenbrenner's doing- scumbag

[rodeodance]

32. Sensenbrenner has been a reall slimeball lately--sorry to say he

represents the great state of Wisconsin=--sad.

[FreedomAngel82]

34. I'd be pissed too

What can the democrats do about this? Assholes.

[UCLA Dem]

3. Thats just madness. We really need to get back the congress.

[pscot]

4. How petty can they get?

This is high-school shit, but the Democrats are as pissed as can be. It's hard to see what the repukes expect to gain by this kind of juvenile crap, except the undying hostility of the opposition.

[Paul Dlugokencky]

25. Cowards can't be honest

They can't be honest about their own arguments and positions, and apparently they can't be honest about the opposition's either. That, to me, is the embodiment of cowardice. They are nothing but cheating, lying, cowards.



http://www.cafepress.com/kickindemocrats

[chomskysright]

26. UNDYING Hostility, baby: you ain't kidding there

[FreedomAngel82]

35. They really

are acting like schoolyard bullies. I wish I could remember the democrat who said that.

[grytpype]

5. They want one-party rule.

They think it's illegitimate for dems to offer amendments.

Assholes, I can't wait until Duhbya and his Social Security screw-up loses the Congress for them, then it's payback time.

[xchrom]

6. that's the aim.

the united corporate dominion.

[rocktivity]

7. More on the subject

I think they've been watching too many episodes of Desparate Housewives. Or should I say Desparate House Republicans? I think there's a Tom Tomorrow cartoon in there someplace!

:headbang:
rocknation

[emulatorloo]

Your wish is Tom Tomorrow's command

http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=18951

[Hissyspit]

11. I love the face he uses to represent the 'Over-Zealous Staffer.' n/t

[AlmightyTallest]

39. Oh Tom Tomorrow

I love you. Marry me. :loveya:

I love how well he captures the likeness of the people he's lampooning. Most political cartoonists just do caricatures.

[JHB]

43. There already is a Tom Tomorrow cartoon on this...

From the RAW story:

I asked the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee about this deception yesterday afternoon at the Rules Committee hearing.

"And instead of decrying what I certainly expected would be revealed as a mistake by an overzealous staffer...The Chairman stood by those altered amendment descriptions.

See the TMW toon posted by emulatorloo above...

[FreedomAngel82]

36. Exactly

It's been Rove's plans all along. They've wanted a one party rule since Nixon's days.

[Roland99]

8. WTF?? There's dirty politics and then there's just being fvcking bastards!

[PleadTheFirst]

9. They are trying to completely demonize the Democrats

I'm convinced that they will settle for nothing less than the complete and utter eradication of the Democratic party.

NO opposition will be allowed.

You WILL be a Republican, or you are NOT an American.

This is their goal.

[emulatorloo]

12. The Limbaughfication of the Congressional Record EOM

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

15. Yes. We have seen this before.

In the Soviet Union. You had to be a party member to get anywhere.

[Hissyspit]

10. Good God... Email Olbermann! Everyone else you can think of...

Get this into the 'mainstream.'

[Terre]

13. For a few more outrageous comments:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1748078

[Roland99]

14. Rewritten versions here!!

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/T?&report=hr051&dbname=cp109&

1. Mr. Nadler offered an amendment that would have created an additional layer of Federal court review that could be used by sexual predators to escape conviction under the bill. By a rollcall vote of 11 yeas to 16 nays, the amendment was defeated.


ROLLCALL NO. 1

2. Mr. Nadler offered an amendment that would have exempted sexual predators from prosecution under the bill if they were grandparents or adult siblings of a minor. By a rollcall vote of 12 yeas to 19 nays, the amendment was defeated.


ROLLCALL NO. 2


3. Mr. Scott offered an amendment that would have exempted sexual predators from prosecution if they are taxicab drivers, bus drivers, or others in the business of professional transport. By a rollcall vote of 13 yeas to 17 nays, the amendment was defeated.


ROLLCALL NO. 3


4. Mr. Scott offered an amendment that would have exempted from prosecution under the bill those who aid and abet criminals who could be prosecuted under the bill. By a rollcall vote of 12 yeas to 18 nays, the amendment was defeated.


ROLLCALL NO. 4

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

16. Hello! Mods?!

Please take this off the front page and give the slot to Lala? It's their story. They deserve the slot.

Thanks.

[Megahurtz]

17. We are living in a nightmare.

:wow:

[StuckinBFE]

18. What the Deuce? This madness. I can't wait until everything

blows up in their face and we get to write the history from 2000-2006.

[ClintonTyree]

19. They think they're above the law, or rather, they ARE the law..

and that they're unstoppable. With BBV on their side, they're probably right. They're convinced that they've reduced America to a one party system and they can do anything they want unimpeded.

If the political landscape doesn't change in '06, the final death knell for American Democracy will be heard. If they truly do have elections in the bag already because of BBV, the entire issue is out of our hands already. The only recourse left will be armed insurrection.

[snowbird42]

20. When abortions are illeagal again

They will stop at no less.

[confludemocrat]

21. Anyone here who thinks being a moderate w/these people

is the way to go, reasoned discourse and all that is sadly mistaken. They need to be attacked incessantly by those in the right role: Pelosi, Reid, their whips, the DNC, any of the invited liberal commentators on the shout shows and CSPAN and liberal talk radio, think tank people. These people are political "terminators".

[0rganism]

22. The shit will really hit the fan during the re-election races

I can imagine the ads already:
*Deep ominous voice, accompanied by subsonic rumbling noises*
"Representative Nadler wanted to exempt sexual predators from prosecution under federal law! Perhaps Representative Nadler likes sexual predators. Is Representative Nadler a rapist?"
*switch to cheerful female voice, backed by soft piano music & chirping birds*
"Joey Corporado will do everything possible to protect women and children by keeping sexual predators off the streets. Vote Joey Corporado for U.S. Representative, and keep our nation safe from sexual predators."
*very fasttalking dry voice*
"paid for by the Elect Corporado Campaign and the RNCC"

[chomskysright]

27. I sent it to the Village Voice

[Straight Shooter]

23. Wow. Unbelievable. Beyond the pale. Borderline criminal.

:wtf:

[V Lee]

24. What scumbags ...

Yes indeed, where will it stop? Or perhaps more appropriately, what will it take to make it stop?

I'm beginning to wonder if a group that's good and honest and upright can ever triumph over a group that's so sleazy, manipulative, self-centered, dishonest, and under-handed?

I fear that the only way it will end is for things to get so terribly bad that the great majority of Americans (those capable of rational thought, anyway) can no longer ignore it.

The sad part is that by then millions will have suffered needlessly and the Repugs will have done so much damage to the country that it will take many years to get America back on track.



>> What's on Bill's mind? Political commentary with attitude and more at http://www.BillsBrain.com

[Spinzonner]

28. Well, you need to remember they think 1984 is an instruction manual

[intheflow]

29. This is unconscionable!

When will these people grow souls? Why can't they get over themselves? This is all one big payback for impeaching Nixon! Petty fascism, it's disgusting.

:banghead:

[FreedomAngel82]

37. Only problem with that

is Nixon was NEVER IMPEACHED. He resigned before they got the chance. So that argument is fucked up.

[illini]

30. Nazi tested! Nazi approved!

nt

[AlmightyTallest]

41. Sigh

Yup. As someone else said they want One Party Rule. Hmm where have I heard that before? Oh yeah the Nazis. Well to be fair there were people in Germany who weren't in the Nazi party, they were just sent to concentration camps. :grr:

[Ruffhowse]

31. Further in the article it quotes a democratic committee member-

"I asked the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee about this deception yesterday afternoon at the Rules Committee hearing.

"And instead of decrying what I certainly expected would be revealed as a mistake by an overzealous staffer...The Chairman stood by those altered
amendment descriptions.

"He made very clear to the Rules Committee that the alterations to these members' amendments were deliberate.When pressed as to why his committee staff took such an unprecedented action, the Chairman immediately offered up his own anger over the manner in which Democrats had chosen to debate and oppose this unfortunate piece of legislation we have before us today.

"In fact...He said, and I quote..."You don't like what we wrote about your amendments, and we don't like what you said about our bill."
______________________________________

How in the world do the Repugs get away with this infantile behavior? It's like we've all been transported to the Bizarro Universe.

[rodeodance]

33. whow--what a complete jerk--

[ngGale]

42. They have complete control and are...

dangerous. Our Democracy is over I'm afraid, not sure if we will ever get to vote again. I see Jeb just sailing into office, * changing the rules - or worse.:scared:

[FreedomAngel82]

38. They're immature

assholes. Pure and simple. Is there something the democrats can do about this?

[CrispyQ]

44. 'Infantile behavior" -- my thoughts exactly.

They are like junior high schoolers going tit-for-tat.

And they told us the adults were in charge now. Yeah, right! I've never seen such abysmal behavior!

[AlmightyTallest]

40. If a Democracy

is destroyed in Congress and no one is around to witness it because they were all watching American Idol, does it make a sound?

[DirtyDawg]

45. As much as I hate....

...to admit it, the repigs handled this pretty cleverly. I read the 'rawstory' piece the other day and wondered myself what in blazes some of these demo amendments were intended to accomplish...The ones about taxi drivers, relatives, etc., I certainly didn't understand why they should have been exempt and if there were good reasons that language should have been incorporated into the original versions. They labor long and hard over how they word such stuff in referendums, so why not these? Face it, the dems were out-flanked by the repigs on this one.

[ieoeja]

46. What?!?

You don't see why a grandparent should be given extra license with regards to his/her grandchild? A pregnant teen hops a Greyhound Bus from somewhere in Indiana to a clinic in Chicago for an abortion, and you believe the bus driver should be tossed into jail?

I keep reading your post for signs of sarcasm, but I can't see it.

[DirtyDawg]

47. Let me see now...

...are you really saying that a grandparent should be treated 'less harshly' than someone else if they, in fact, sexually molest one of their own grandchildren?...And if the intent of the 'taxi driver' amendment was to exempt people involved in the transportation of victims and/or molesters, or even the pregnant, if they were not aware of and/or directly, or indirectly, involved in the actual act, then that should have been specifically noted...which was my point. If by merely changing the language to describe a possible end result that was not the intent, then the dems were, in fact, outsmarted. Since none of the amendments passed - and it looks as if dems voted against them as well - somebody else must have thought so too.

Sorry, I don't think any slime ball, regardless of who they are, should be exempted from the fullest prosecution of the law in the case of molestation of children...and there was no sarcasm intended in that either.

[libertypirate]

48. Your not understanding what you are reading...

The dems had 0 intention of helping sexual predators and if you would have actually thought about what you read you might have been able to figure that out. The "sexual predator" that belongs to the GOP which I am sure they will attempt now to use the wording against the dems.

These actions don't happen unless your trying to hurt someone, this is not a fucking game and I am tired of idiots like yourself treating it as such. Someone intended to use these statements in the future against the Democrats. Someone should be fired for this.

[DirtyDawg]

51. I assume you're talking to me...

...and I did read them, and thought about them, and read them again and I assure you that if the language wasn't clear to me it wouldn't have been clear to many others - the country is full of us idiots, I suppose. Once again, and I really would like for this to end here, I'm not questioning the 'intent' of the dems in proposing these amendments, I'm questioning their language. And as for it not being a 'fucking' game, you're 'fucking' wrong, it is absolutely a game - a life and death contest that the repigs play to win every time out of the chute. And we - and I include myself in the dem column - had better wise up to that and to get smarter, and meaner, in how we 'play' it. This is precisely why Kerry lost last year, he assumed that people understood the 'nuance' of what he meant - bullshit - say what the hell you mean, make sure it matters to people, make sure they can understand it and hammer it home.

Fired hell, somebody ought to be shot...you think I'm playing now?

[ms liberty]

52. It was clear to me...

I understood it immediately. They were written as exemptions from prosecution for transportation workers who unwittingly facilitate an underage abortion in their capacity as transportation employees; grandparents or siblings who assist a minor in getting an abortion, etc. The transportation workers and grandparents or siblings are not the sexual predators. That's part of the scandal of their rewrites. You ARE reading them wrong - or not reading the originals and only the rewrites

[AuntiBush]

49. Caught more.. They're re-writing other's too.

Vile criminals.

They're not lawmakers, Republicans are lawbreakers. Wake-up America!

[yorkiemommie1]

50. beyond immature, beyond bullying it is pure EVIL incarnate.

plain and simple.