Via Connie Hair of Human Events comes a report that the Democratic party has yet again decided that their Congressional majority allows them to interfere with Republican constituent communications. To summarize the situation: there is a bipartisan committee called the Franking Commission that effectively regulates what can and can’t go out officially. This oversight is not supposed to be partisan – Jazz Shaw, who is not a conservative, remembers that it wasn’t during the Iraqi liberation – but apparently the Democrats are sufficiently worried about their health care rationing program to ignore that little detail.
They have decided to not only block that existing chart – yes, this one – on the health care rationing bill; they’re now dictating to Rep John Carter of Mars Texas what language he may or may not use in his electronic town meetings. Apparently the mere utterance of of the phrase ‘government-run health care’ is enough to frighten Democrats; would that they were as alarmed at the reality.
The Republican members of the Commission, by the way, are angry about this:
“Does the Majority here believe that controlling the Rules committee which sets the rules, controlling the debate, controlling the rules that come on the floor is not enough? Now they are telling us that they are going to interfere with our ability to communicate with our constituents because they happen to disagree with our interpretation of the facts.
“I thought politics was about the contest of ideas. This is something I’ve never seen before. We now are being told that our words are going to be censored by the Majority because they disagree with us. It goes against what we are supposed to be doing here – debating important issues and communicating with the American people the serious matters facing their Congress.”
So contra AoSHQ I suggest that you only politely contact the Democratic side of things. They’re the ones having difficulty distinguishing between their responsibilities as legislators and their particular social club, after all.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to Moe Lane.
Moe Lane
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Hmmm...don't seem to remember hearing anything about
eburke (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 5:09PM EST (link)this in the MSM.
Wonder if they would have found this sufficiently newsworth if the GOP had done this?
Nah!
“All that need be done for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
Unified Patriots
They're too busy with Crowley and Gates
E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 5:16PM EST (link)And whatever Britney is wearing (or not wearing) this week.
Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO
She's wearing clothes this week? nt
eburke (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 5:23PM EST (link)“All that need be done for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
Unified Patriots
She wears clothes? /snark nt
Xasteius (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 6:13PM EST (link)Don’t leave the party, hijack it back!
The only poll that counts is the one at the ballot box.
I don’t want to be Reagan. I want to be a Chance/Soros hybrid.
That's a rule just made to be broken
paint_it_red (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 5:12PM EST (link)Let’s see them try to enforce that and then see if the MSM ignores the resulting First Amendment free speech backlash against their petty rule.
“It is not good to cultivate a respect so much for the law as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right.” Henry David Thoreau
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Yeah, I don't get it
Ben White (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 5:47PM EST (link)I don’t really understand what recourse the Democrats have. They make a rule, Republicans ignore it, then … what?
Anyone know?
Franking Committee controls mailings
Just_Saying Friday, July 24th at 6:37PM EST (link)If I understand your question, benwhite72, the Democrats (through the Franking Committee) can refuse to allow any representative to send mailings to their constituents at federal expense. That is, the newsletter you usually get from your representative(s) or sentators is sent not using postage but using a frank, which serves as postage to pay to get the communication to you.
So, in answer to your question, unless the Republicans can afford to mail the communications to their constituents using regular postage, the Republicans cannot ignore the Democrats/Franking Committee’s decision.
Of course, on the other hand, the RNC or any conservative organization with enough money for mailings could saturate the entire nation with a well-designed anti-public-health-care message, and include the “chart.”
.
The materials don't go out.
Moe Lane (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 6:51PM EST (link)The Franking Commission handles one of the most delicate topics in Washington DC: how to provide information to constituents without turning it into free campaign advertising. With the best will in the world it’s a minefield, and the Democrats decided to go tap-dancing.
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May they step on a mine
Lloyd Davis (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 7:04PM EST (link)if only the people would actually notice how the Democrats try to cover up the truth.
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When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
Ronald Reagan
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It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.
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The chart?
mnut Friday, July 24th at 5:15PM EST (link)That chart is so blatantly wrong it’s almost criminal. First, why is the department of defense on the chart? Nothing is going to change in the way the VA operates.
Next, would the IRS and the Treasury department be on display in a Republican chart on the wastes of the defense department? That’s still where the money comes from. It would be on a chart for EVERYTHING the government does.
Lastly, 90% of the chart exists today so the whole thing really is a blatant lie about “the bureaucracy. There is no less of a complicated chart in your average private insurer.
inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale
E Pluribus Unum (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 5:19PM EST (link)You’re hyperventilating.
Even in the event that the chart was wrong or even misleading, it’s not the place of the Democrats to censor it.
Period.
Kill the Terrorists
Protect the Borders
Punch the Hippies h/t IMAO
G'bye
Neil Stevens (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 5:19PM EST (link)Criminal huh? At least you’re admitting your fascist desire to make all those who disagree with the President (dissenters?) into political prisoners.
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Dissent is
mbecker908 (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 10:57PM EST (link)1. the highest form of patriotism.
2. the highest form of treason.
The definition changes from time to time. Guess what time it is now.
Yay, government-approved "truth"
seandparnell (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 6:02PM EST (link)This is one of the more blatant efforts I’ve seen to control political speech those in power consider “false.” Remember when dissent was patriotic? I guess only if it’s “true” according to those that set themselves up to decide such things.
If you want to see a bit more about government-approved truth and the resulting carnage to the First Amendment, check out this story in WI from last year: http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/detail/turning-wisconsin-into-a-first-amendment-free-zone
Or this, from MN last year: http://www.campaignfreedom.org/blog/detail/senator-al-franken-friend-or-foe-of-broadcast-freedom
Sean Parnell
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With the Democrats dissent is only patriotic
Lloyd Davis (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 7:17PM EST (link)when you are bad-mouthing America to our enemies or trying to slander a Republican administration. With a Democrat administration, we supposed to
sit in the corner and keep our mouth shut.
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When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.
Ronald Reagan
……………………………………………
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.
Samuel Adams
I hope "Franking" isn't a verb form related to
Tbone (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 6:58PM EST (link)Barney Franks, is it?
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
Re: Franking
briann (Diary) Friday, July 24th at 7:07PM EST (link)At first I thought it was an attempt to get around the site decency rules.
Most everything in congress goes through a Franking committee. Heh.
-Bri
Since the Franking Committee is 3 R and 3 D ...
Martin Knight (Diary) Saturday, July 25th at 6:37AM EST (link)Why not have the Rs block any and everything?
Rules are there for a reason. The Democrats are violating them – Republicans should follow suit.
rules are for chumps...
jah666 (Diary) Saturday, July 25th at 2:13PM EST (link)That’s the way Dems/Leftists look at rules and laws. THEY expect US to live by them and point to any infraction as another example of how bad Reps/Conservatives are. THEY, on the other hand, expect any rule to be a “living document” for them, to be shaped, bent or broken, without scrutiny or consequence.
Oh, well…