Goodness gracious. The Republicans' greedy attempt to decimate SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps — sank yesterday's farm bill, and the story appears to have significant legs. Its moral? If you're gonna be in charge of the House of Representatives, you have to know how to count. Nancy Pelosi is right: The House GOP is truly "amateur hour."
But this is more than just the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of The GOP Screws Up. We cats have not been able to get Lyndon Johnson out of our heads all day. Yes, we know he was Master of the Senate, not the House. But in LBJ's time, the shenanigans we're seeing in on Capitol Hill today were not only not tolerated — they were unheard of. And you know what? Back then, stuff got done.
Think about it: Five — five — House committee chairs voted against Speaker Bonehead and his "leadership" team yesterday. Heck, even under Newt Gingrich, those five guys would be ex-House committee chairs. And if Johnson and his fellow Texan Sam Rayburn were still running things, they'd be dead committee chairs.
Once again, we're left wondering when America will realize that people who hate government cannot govern. In refusing to compromise on their hard-right ideological purity — in refusing to work with a President they hate — in refusing to even allow earmarks (which, sure, could be smarmy but which also can bring a lot of members along on needed legislation) — they have neutered themselves, not just politically but legislatively.
We don't yet know what will make the dam in Washington break. But we think the punditheads' conviction that the Republicans have a lock on the House until the next reapportionment will be proven way, way wrong. Which would make us cats PURR.
(IMAGE: LBJ expresses affection for Sam Rayburn. Perhaps if Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy kissed each other more often, they'd deliver more results for the American people? Our phones are open!)
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