TPM Horse’s Mouth:
There's been a bunch of talk in the blogosphere and elsewhere of late about the weird tendency on the part of the Dem Congressional leadership to run for cover whenever Republicans throw a fit about something -- the latest example being the controversy over Dem Rep. Pete Stark's now-notorious comment on the House floor that Bush is sending soldiers to Iraq "to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement."
In response to Stark's comment, GOP elected officials from every corner of our fair country cued up the outrage machine -- and Dem House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ended up denouncing the remarks. This prompted some folks to point out that perhaps Dems shouldn't cheerfully place a stamp of legitimacy on every story the GOP cooks up.
Well, it needs to be said that the Dem leadership finally got one right. Just moments ago, GOP House leader John Boehner introduced a resolution calling for censure of Stark for his comments. And the Dems shut it down, voting largely along party lines to not let it come to a vote. Only five Dems crossed over and joined the Repubs.
About time.
I'm told by House Dem sources that Dems were instructed to vote to nix the resolution by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. A source forwarded me the email that went out from Hoyer to his troops.
It's true that Stark did just apologize on the floor, and it's true that Pelosi has already condemned the remark. Nonetheless, this can be seen as progress of a sort. Remember, this is the same set of House Dems who largely voted to pass the reso condemning MoveOn. But this time, when the GOP said, "boo, you're anti-troops," the Dems didn't jump. And you know what?
The roof of the Capitol won't fall in as a result.
So maybe the next time the GOP pulls this same you-hate-the-troops trick from their magic hat, Dems will look up at the Capitol ceiling and say, "You know, last time we didn't play along with this nonsense, and the roof is still there. So let's not bite this time, either." Maybe.
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