Upon the news that House Republicans managed to pass yet another temporary funding measure on Wednesday, Republicans are very impressed with themselves. This, of course, is sort of a joke since not only should they not keep temporarily funding the government (they should sit down for reconciliation with the Senate), but they are also clearly just doing this to get through the midterm elections.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is not impressed with Republicans who are “patting themselves on the back for doing the bare minimum and avoiding yet another one of their government shutdowns….”
So disgusted are the Democrats that they made a short little video entitled “Slow clap”. It’s meant to help the Republicans understand that while they might be impressed with themselves for doing the bare minimum, the public might see things a little differently.
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Let the mocking begin:
In a press release, the Democrats got right down to business, accusing House Republicans of “patting themselves on the back for doing the bare minimum and avoiding yet another one of their government shutdowns, but the American people have a very different reaction to Republicans’ self-congratulation. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is helping the Republican party understand the American people’s reaction in a new video: ‘Slow Clap.'”
Josh Schwerin of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pointed out in a statement that middle class families don’t give themselves a standing ovation for going to work every day, “Big round of applause for House Republicans on doing the absolute bare minimum: keeping the government open. Hardworking, middle class families don’t give themselves a standing ovation for waking up every morning and getting their jobs done – so why do House Republicans deserve an encore performance when they only completed the bare minimum? In any other business, House Republicans would have been fired or benched a long time ago for not doing their job – and come November they won’t be patting themselves on the back so hard.”
Lucky for House Republicans, they are protected from having to compete by their own special privileges afforded by gerrymandering.
Democrats don’t have to try hard to make the case that Republicans are do-nothings who should not be congratulating selves over doing their job. After all, Republicans are making it as easy as possible for the Democrats by refusing to raise the minimum wage or extend long term unemployment. Just days ago Republicans again rejected paycheck fairness for women, and then Republican party officials spent the day desperately trying to blame President Obama for the current economic state of affairs of American women. Seriously. As if the minimum wage and paycheck fairness have nothing to do with women’s economic status.
The slow clap might just be the only appropriate response to the children running the Republican Party. Every time they manage to do anything but throw temper tantrums, we should all applaud them. They say they believe in merit based accolades, but the modern day Republican must be graded on a steep curve with low expectations and protected by gerrymandering and deceptive Koch funded ads. If they aren’t asking for the President’s birth certificate while explaining how great slavery and legitimate rape are, they’re doing a great job. Commence the slow clap.
Democrats really ought to be kinder, as given the “knuckleheads” in the Republican Party, any achievement that even passes for a semblance of doing their job is a huge moment. We don’t mock the crazy and the stupid, because we know they can’t help themselves. We must take pity on the GOP while quietly ushering them to the nearest exit and calling for back up.
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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.
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