THE WORST CONGRESS EVER-Thieves & Perverts-ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE

[kpete]

The Worst Congress Ever
How our national legislature has become a stable of thieves and perverts -- in five easy steps
MATT TAIBBI
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

“These past six years were more than just the most shameful, corrupt and incompetent period in the history of the American legislative branch. These were the years when the U.S. parliament became a historical punch line, a political obscenity on par with the court of Nero or Caligula — a stable of thieves and perverts who committed crimes rolling out of bed in the morning and did their very best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater, a Burkina Faso with cable.” Speaker Dennis Hastert tops their list of the ten worst congressmen.




There is very little that sums up the record of the U.S. Congress in the Bush years better than a half-mad boy-addict put in charge of a federal commission on child exploitation. After all, if a hairy-necked, raincoat-clad freak like Rep. Mark Foley can get himself named co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, one can only wonder: What the hell else is going on in the corridors of Capitol Hill these days?

These past six years were more than just the most shameful, corrupt and incompetent period in the history of the American legislative branch. These were the years when the U.S. parliament became a historical punch line, a political obscenity on par with the court of Nero or Caligula -- a stable of thieves and perverts who committed crimes rolling out of bed in the morning and did their very best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater, a Burkina Faso with cable.

To be sure, Congress has always been a kind of muddy ideological cemetery, a place where good ideas go to die in a maelstrom of bureaucratic hedging and rank favor-trading. Its whole history is one long love letter to sleaze, idiocy and pigheaded, glacial conservatism. That Congress exists mainly to misspend our money and snore its way through even the direst political crises is something we Americans understand instinctively. "There is no native criminal class except Congress," Mark Twain said -- a joke that still provokes a laugh of recognition a hundred years later.

much more ahttp://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12055360/cover_story_time_to_go_inside_the_worst_congress_evert:

[Chemical Bill]

1. Ya gotta love Matt Taibbi...

>a hairy-necked, raincoat-clad freak like Rep. Mark Foley

>did their very best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater, a Burkina Faso with cable.


He has a way with words.

Bill

[LuckyLib]

2. Put Congre$$ together with that bumbling house of idiots on

Pennsylvania Ave, and you have a recipe for disaster. Anyone see Frontline last night on the first year of the Iraq war? Oh,jeezus, are we in trouble.

[pscot]

5. Frontline was pretty compelling.

What really struck me was the demeanor of Bremer and Senor, particularly. They came across as badly shaken by their experience. Senor had a sort of stunned look, and Bremer kept shifting his eyes away from the camera. I suspect they aren't the only ones. I can't wait till Democrats get subpoena power.

[keepCAblue]

3. RS website must be getting lots of hits...

Either that or our shadow government has hacked it. I can't get into their website.

[rkc3]

4. So Mike Brown is Bush's horse?

This is too beautiful.

[keepCAblue]

6. Rolling Stone: The 10 Worst Congressmen...

No big surprises here, but loved the "watch them morph" feature

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12054520/the_10_worst_congressmen

[RobertSeattle]

7. And don't miss the Top 10 List as well 9 R's 1 D

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2423064

:evilgrin:

[Shakespeare]

8. Ha--love that cover art, too.

Mine should arrive in the mail in a day or so; I LOVE Taibbi's pieces.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. Matt Taibbi is...

The logical heir to The Good Doctor.

Perhaps without the massive amounts of cheesy comestibles.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

13. my exact impression too.

very similar styles.

[mark414]

10. i almost couldn't make it through that entire article

i don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times i nearly threw my monitor out a window...

vote the bastards out!

[RedEarth]

11. 10 Worst Congressman........... thanks for posting... bookmarking

[malaise]

12. I'm loving it

Great read.:popcorn: :popcorn: :rofl:

[earth mom]

14. K & R!

Can you say FUBAR? :grr:

p.s. how did this thread end up on page 3?! :wtf:

[cally]

15. Here's the 10 worst

(I got frustrating clicking through the pages and I thought others might just want a list also.)

1. Hastert
2. Sensenbrenner
3. Don Young (Alaska)
4. William Jefferson (only Dem)
5. Jerry Lewis (Ca.)
6. Tancredo (Co.)
7. Pombo (Ca.) I think he'll soon be gone
8. Weldon (Pa.)
9. Rogers (NY)
10.Musgrave (Co.)

Could fellow DUers post if any of these folks are likely to be defeated. I know Weldon is likely to go down. The Pombo/McNerney race is very close and I'm optimistic that McNerney will win :bounce:. What about the others?

[OnionPatch]

16. I'm in Lewis' district

Hate to say it, but I don't think he's going anywhere. Republicans could eat babies on television and they would still vote for them around here. :puke:

[cally]

17. I'm sorry for you

Too bad we can't get rid of him. I'm hoping we can oust Pombo but we'll see.

[OnionPatch]

20. Are you in Pombo's district?

That race is looking better, isn't it? I'd really almost rather see Pombo go down than Lewis. Lewis stinks but Pombo has got to be the worst congressman in California.

[upi402]

18. Just came today!

Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton was a historian, so he could see into the future it seems.

[Strelnikov_]

19. Barney Frank On Musgrave

But Frank notes one thing he admires about Musgrave: "If you're going to have someone who's a hater, it's best that she's not very bright. I appeared with her in a couple of forums to debate her bill, but she's totally incapable of even explaining what it says."