“I am in the dark almost as much as he is, and I am in the leadership”
In an exchange on the Senate floor, Republican Sen. John McCain asked Durbin, “Should we not at least be informed as to what the proposal is that the Senate Majority Leader is going to propose to the entire Senate?” Durbin’s answer: “I would say to the senator from Arizona that I am in the dark almost as much as he is, and I am in the leadership.” Durbin explained that during a Democratic caucus, Reid and the small group of senators involved in crafting the bill turned to their fellow Democrats and “basically stood and said, ‘We are sorry, we can’t tell you in detail what was involved.’”
“Isn’t that a very unusual process?” asked McCain, noting that “we are discussing one-sixth of the gross national product; the bill before us has been a product of almost a year of sausage-making. Yet here we are at a position on December 12, with a proposal that none of us, except, I understand, one person, the Majority Leader, knows what the final parameters are, much less informing the American people. I don’t get it.”
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
I’m sure it has something to do with what a “decent man” Obama is. Someone we “don’t have to be scared of as President”.
LibTired on December 12, 2009 at 5:47 PM
In a more honest world, Durbin would have replied:
“The American people need not be informed, as we’ve undergone a fascist coup and the Constitution is no longer the governing force behind this government, it is now 0bama’s whim.”
Rebar on December 12, 2009 at 5:49 PM
So who is writing the bill? Who is writing the executive summary that pretends to represent what will be in the bill?
Skandia Recluse on December 12, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Good point.
Hog Wild on December 12, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Simmer down little sheep. We know what’s best for you all. Now go watch American Idol or America’s Most Retarded.
Monica on December 12, 2009 at 5:52 PM
SEIU? ACORN? Take your pick. Unfortunately it’s been happening more and more–on both sides–special interests authoring bills.
Axeman on December 12, 2009 at 5:56 PM
I doubt that Reid knows what’s in it.
Hell, I’m not even certain he can read, much less comprehend.
MrScribbler on December 12, 2009 at 5:56 PM
How comforting….
PrincipledPilgrim on December 12, 2009 at 5:56 PM
We’re in the very best of hands…
AUINSC on December 12, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Lobbyists wrote it. Just like Porkulus.
JAM on December 12, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Good people of Nevada, for this alone, please send this incontinent senator of yours home. It’s time for him to go. We’ll even consider forgiving you for voting him in for all those years. What a shame for a frontier state he is.
Schadenfreude on December 12, 2009 at 6:06 PM
WOO! Gotta love government!
deidre on December 12, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Great. Our leaders are basically mushrooms.
Guardian on December 12, 2009 at 6:19 PM
As someone else posted in another thread, the democrats are rank amateurs. How full of yourself do you have to be that you think you can run a country this way and it is acceptable?
Blake on December 12, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Don’t worry… the Politvburo has everything under control… or they will soon… if Reid gets his way.
mankai on December 12, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Two words…
Shadow Government
katy on December 12, 2009 at 6:29 PM
There’s only so much CSPAN I can tolerate.
mizflame98 on December 12, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Criminal. Treasonous.
darwin on December 12, 2009 at 6:31 PM
They told me if I voted for John McCain and the Republicans that we would have special interests writing bills and subverting the legislative process. And they were right!
rbj on December 12, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Oh yeah and if McCain had said the guy is an idiot then no one would have voted for him. Sure….
Terrye on December 12, 2009 at 6:32 PM
McCain doesn’t “get it”? Gee, I get it. It’s called corruption, graft, wealth redistribution, and totalitarianism. It’s what democrats do. McCain ought to know that by now.
Rational Thought on December 12, 2009 at 6:33 PM
McCain is fighting on the wrong field.
mankai on December 12, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Rational Thought:
I think the guy who does not get it is supposed to be Durbin, he apparently is in the dark and he is supposed to be part of the Democratic leadership…if you can call it leadership.
Terrye on December 12, 2009 at 6:53 PM
Thanks, Durbin, for confirming that things have spun out of control. Here I was thinking that I was too imaginative and paranoid.
Cody1991 on December 12, 2009 at 7:08 PM
This story is really disturbing… Especially if you combine it with what Glenn Beck said about the Porkulus bill… he claimed that was also written by unelected people like Van Jones. I think the job of our Senators and Congressmen is more than just ‘voting’ on these bills. They should be responsible for their creation as well.
painfulTruthDisciple on December 12, 2009 at 7:21 PM
Sarah, paging Sarah.
OldEnglish on December 12, 2009 at 8:25 PM
The BLIND are leading the BLIND. They also are DEAF and DUMB. By dumb I don’t mean mute, but just plain old DUMB as in STUPID. They are DEAF because they won’t listen to those of us (more than 50%)who are against this takeover of our lives.
TruthToBeTold on December 12, 2009 at 8:26 PM
“We don’t know what is in the bill, we just know if we don’t vote for it THE ENTIRE ECONOMY WILL COLLAPSE, wooops that was the porkulus. I meant 10,000 PEOPLE WILL DIE EVERY SECOND UNTIL THIS BILL IS PASSED TO SAVE THEM.”
You wanted CHANGE you got it in the dEMOs. The government has changed so much it doesn’t resemble America anymore.
Corsair on December 12, 2009 at 8:31 PM
At first I thought this was Biden talking about Obama.
mizflame98 on December 12, 2009 at 8:35 PM
Something about that passive construct says to me that when it comes to leadership, he doesn’t know his butt from a hot rock.
Whatever happened to take-charge leaders? Now every statement that procedes from the mouths of “leaders” begins with “I think” or “I feel” or “I believe.” Not a single unequivocal statement of fact. Everybody has to have wiggle room. Everybody is “in the leadership” but nobody is a leader.
Steven on December 13, 2009 at 2:14 AM
One has to beleive that a side-effect of the last eight years (i.e., beltway Republicans abandoning conservative principles) plus this steaming load of crap that Pelosi and Reid’s congress is shoveling is that — if there is the massive voter revolt in 2010 and 2012 — congress will never be able to operate so clandestinely again..
..at least for the next decade or so.
VoyskaPVO on December 13, 2009 at 3:11 AM
It wouldn’t matter if Reid made the details available; they still wouldn’t know what’s in it. They never read the bills.
backwoods conservative on December 13, 2009 at 7:51 AM
So why do people like McCain and others just sit around carping about it? Is there nothing that can be done to stop this nonsense?
I guess we’re going to have to do it.
Seriously, I really and truly am starting to believe that the only thing that is going to clean up this putrid mess in Washington is for the people to start showing up and demanding it. And I don’t mean with rifles and pitchforks (yet), but I mean we need some kind of movement where constituents just go park themselves in their senators’ and representatives’ offices until somebody starts showing some contrition. And I want some independent investigation of what kind of shenanigans are going on up there, so people will know what it is they’re voting for.
We need to start demanding some accountability and transparency b/c it’s clear they won’t provide it voluntarily. Whatever it takes to get that done — and if it comes to the revolution, so be it.
I truly look forward to Madame President’s first State of the Union speech in which she informs all members of Congress: “You all are in need of some serious adult supervision.”
NoLeftTurn on December 13, 2009 at 9:41 AM