There have, of course been famous exceptions. Dick Cheney, who as vice president was also president of the Senate, told Patrick Leahy to (#&! himself, which qualifies as a breach of comity, to say nothing of biology.
Slate columnist John Dickerson • Regarding the state of decorum, which Sen. Al Franken famously broke last night when it came to Sen. Joe Lieberman. But it’s by no means the only time it’s happened, nor the harshest. Now if Al Franken said this, it’d be the greatest thing in the history of ever. source
I’m going to use the full power of the black church to kill this bill. I feel pity for those who voted for this because they have defied the will of God. We have warned them.
Rev. Anthony Evans of Mount Zion Baptist Church • On the bill in favor of gay marriage that passed today in the District. The bill passed the council today 11-2 (but needs a signature from Mayor Adrian Fenty that it’s bound to get). For those who don’t live in D.C., we’d like to point out a couple of things: D.C. has one of the largest (and strongest) gay communities in the country, and Congress has the right to block the law’s passage. A couple of loudmouths could bully Congress and convince them to take away a huge victory for the District’s gay community. To us, this says one thing: The District’s rights shouldn’t be controlled by Congress like this. It’s unfair, and it wouldn’t be an issue in Virgina or Maryland despite the fact that they’re less than 10 miles away. This disparity needs to be fixed so folks like Evans can’t take advantage of it. source
The Senate doesn’t have a comparable one ready yet. Today, the House took the initiative to more strictly regulate the failings of the financial industry – big bonuses, “too big to fail” corporations – at a 223-202 clip. Republicans largely didn’t go for the bill because they feared it would limit credit, force job losses and lead to future bailouts. They also argued that “too big to fail” companies didn’t need hand-holding and could handle bankruptcies, which sounds less like something they believe and more like something they can use against the Democrats. source
Their behavior has caused grave damage to the public trust in climate science in general, and to the IPCC, in particular. They should not be allowed to do so in the future.
Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner • On “Climategate,” the hacked e-mail controversy which has convinced him to go to Copenhagen to give a Republican response to Obama’s stance on the issue. Great. Just what the world needed – some guy to bring our crazy to the rest of the world. source
House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer says probably. On the likely eve of the health care vote, Hoyer says they might be able to pull off the votes needed, although it will be very close and might be the result of a sleepless night or two, along with some convincing of on-the-fence members. Steny, just have Barney Frank talk to them. He’ll get them to change their minds. Either that, or he’ll call them a kitchen table. source