Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) doesn’t suffer from the same leadership failure as House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). Boehner can’t get his caucus to respect him let alone respect the process, but Harry Reid has no problem telling the Senate to sit down and shut up.
Watch Harry Reid’s stern reprimand here:
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) tried to call the unruly chamber to order on Thursday, declaring, “The Senate is not in order. The Senate will be in order.”
Harry Reid boomed, “Madame President, Madame President, have them sit down and shut up. Okay. It’s not fair. Senator Murray has something to say, Senator Collins has something to say, it’s just not polite.”
Sit down and shut up, little ones. And that is how it’s done. The members are children and leaders must treat them thusly.
Speaker Boehner would be well served to find something vaguely resembling personal authority over his upcoming August recess. He also needs to learn how to educate his tea novices about the actual job of legislating — that is, if he wishes to save his legacy from the stench of impotence.
But that’s looking less likely as Jonathan Weisman, Congressional reporter at the New York Times, tweeted today, “Asked if GOP leaders have lost control of conference, Steny Hoyer says ‘it’s a self-evident fact, not an opinion.'”
Quite right. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) knows of what he speaks. Without the Dems leading a stumbling Boehner to the legislative finish line, nothing gets passed in the House Representatives — unless, of course, it takes away rights from people who don’t vote Republican.
Mitch McConnell has lost control of his caucus as well. Meanwhile, Harry Reid knows how to whip the Senate into order and get things done.
The Democrats consistently demonstrate more discipline on the Hill these days. You’d think they were the party of big daddies and authoritarian complexes, unless you understood the reality that only those who feel their personal lives are out of control are drawn to the phony indicators of external control that appeal to authoritarian right wingers.
In other words, it is not a surprise that the people who are so concerned about what everyone else is doing in their bedrooms and their wombs is also the party of no self-control and no discipline. Projection is a terrible thing to be legislated by. Control freaks are never satisfied that they have you in line because they know they are not in line. (For more on this fascinating paradox, read Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do.)
Republicans are the party of indulgent, narcissistic self-interest, and the behavior of their elected officials reflect that party priority. They have long been the party of drunken frat boys, charging on daddy’s credit card — but now they’re also skipping all of their classes and publicly rooting for America to fail while they steal from the poor kids on scholarship.
Sit down and shut up, children. Time to get some work done.
Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
