Watching a food fight in a fraternity house would have been more dignified than witnessing what happened in the United States Senate on Christmas Eve. Monty Hall would have blushed at the deal making — no, calling it “deal making” would be a euphemism for bribery, corruption, and kickbacks on a scale never seen in American politics before.
The unscrupulous Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — with the obvious blessing of Barack Hussein Obama — recklessly violated the system, had his way with the minority party, and worst of all, abused the overwhelming majority of citizens and taxpayers in America. With contemptible smugness, Reid pulled on his rubber gloves and slipped America a huge suppository and called it “healthcare reform.”
To badly paraphrase Robert Browning, “How did Harry Reid screw us? Let me count the ways.”
- Exempting Nebraska from any further costs of Medicaid which are obviously going to mushroom under the Obama healthcare reform; being mocked in the media — even the mainstream media, believe it or not — the “Cornhusker Kickback.”
- Next the Louisiana Purchase where Senator Mary Landrieu extorted $300 million for her vote. (If a county commissioner in Oakland County government sold their vote for $300, I guarantee you the Prosecutor’s Office would be all over it.)
- While Reid and his colleagues bragged about the fairness, necessity, and benefits of the new Obama healthcare, it didn’t take them but a nanosecond to exempt themselves from this very program. If it’s so good for goose, why isn’t it good for the gander? No, no, no, the selfishness and arrogance of Congress will allow them to remain safely ensconced within their own warm and fuzzy Cadillac healthcare system.
- Remember ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)? That’s the organization that was caught on video giving advice to a teenage couple on how to set up a brothel and scam the IRS at the same time. Well, in this well thought out, well planned Obamacare legislation, Senator Roland Burris (D-IL) is bragging that he has arranged to funnel money back to ACORN through the healthcare bill. ACORN has previously lost its government funding by a thoroughly embarrassed Congress. I guess outrage only lasts a few convenient days in Washington, D.C.
- Probably the biggest insult that occurred during this frenzy of payoffs, kickbacks, and sweetheart deals that have been documented in the Christmas Eve Obamacare debacle was the response of Jim Manley who is a spokesman for the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He had the audacity to say, “This is just part of the normal legislative process.” What a sleazy observation of politics as usual in Washington, D.C.
For most of my adult life I’ve been in political office and very proud of my profession. Not that I’ve done everything right, but by comparison to what just happened in Washington, I’m up for canonization sometime this year. There’s one word to identify what happened Christmas Eve in the United States Senate chamber: SMARMY. Mark Twain used to make a joke about watching legislation being made and compared it to watching sausage being made. That wasn’t sausage being made on Christmas Eve in the Senate Chamber, it was a huge dung-dipped-donut and for the next two generations our children and grandchildren will be forced to take a bite every day.
Let me sum up my current assessment of the political leadership in Washington:
- Obama… dangerous.
- Reid… smarmy.
- Freshman Congressmen Peters and Schaurer… Pelosi puppets.
- Pelosi… arrogance personified.
- Sixty vote Senate majority… perfect example of how power corrupts and how absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The only redeeming thing I can say on the eve of this legislative disaster (which by the way the majority has tried to enshrine forever by denying any future Congress the right to amend and/or repeal this legislation) is thank God for November 2010.
