I have a favorite T-shirt that says, "I'm not angry, I'm from Philly." I bought it because people always seem to think I'm being hostile when I'm just a little more, um, direct than most people. (If I ever do go ballistic, you'll know.) My neighbors across the bridge in New Jersey are just as good at going after someone who needs a good smackdown, and here's a fine example from yesterday's hearing on the tech problems with the Obamacare website, when Rep. Bill Pascrell gets pissed off at all the Republicans playing their tiny violins. Via Mediaite:
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) rose from his seat on Tuesday during a congressional hearing into the Affordable Care Act’s problematic roll-out. He accused his Republican colleagues in the House of dishonestly seeking to identify the problems with the ACA because they would prefer to see it repealed entirely.
Pascrell began by insisting that, even though Democrats opposed Medicare Part D in the Bush Era, they worked to make sure that the program was a success.
He became animated as he said that Democrats put aside their opposition to Bush in order to make a policy objective work for the good of the American public. “And how many of you stood up to do that?” Pascrell said, exploding out of his chair. “None. Zero.”
“What are you going to do about the approximately 17 million children with preexisting conditions who can no longer be denied health insurance coverage?” Pascrell asked his Republican colleagues. “We want to go back and want to say you are no longer covered any longer. Are you going to tell the parents of those kids?”
Pascrell blew up at Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AR)* who insisted that the GOP has put forward a number of proposals to ensure that low-income people in need of care receive it.
“Are you really serious?” Pascrell shot back. “After what we’ve gone through and what we’ve gone through in the last three and a half years?”
“We’ve gone through 44 votes, 48 votes now of you trying to dismantle the legislation,” he concluded. “You call that cooperation?”
He really wanted to say, "Are you f*cking kidding me?" but he knew he was on C-SPAN.
I would be happy if a Democratic congress member did this every single day. Maybe the NJ Democratic delegation can teach them.
*A wingnut who's leaving Congress after just two terms, allegedly to spend more time "with my family."
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