A few quotes from the most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives (and by extension, most powerful man in the whole House). One of the top 3 or 4 most powerful Republicans in the country:
(any emphasis is added)
Mr. Hurt: Have you ever crossed the line of ethical behavior in terms of dealing with lobbyists, your use of government authority or with fundraising?
Mr. DeLay: Ever is a very strong word.
Wow. I can’t believe he said that (he goes on to justify what he’s done as “aggressive but what he believes in.” Yes, like taking trips and gifts funded by lobbyists is what you believe in.
Mr. Delay: …I know I have been watched and investigated probably more than even Bill Clinton.
Ummm Mr. Delay, our government has not spent $42 million of our taxpayer dollars investigating you and running investigative witch hunts into your personal life. Just saying… you know… not quite as much.
Mr. DeLay: Not zealous. I blame Congress over the last 50 to 100 years for not standing up and taking its responsibility given to it by the Constitution. The reason the judiciary has been able to impose a separation of church and state that’s nowhere in the Constitution is that Congress didn’t stop them. The reason we had judicial review is because Congress didn’t stop them. The reason we had a right to privacy is because Congress didn’t stop them.
That whole right to privacy thing? That’s all a fabrication of activist judges.
Mr. Dinan: Are you going to pursue impeaching judges?
Mr. DeLay: I’m not going to answer that. I have asked the Judiciary Committee to look at this. They’re going to start holding hearings on different issues. They are more capable than me to look at this issue and take responsibility, given the, whatever, the Constitution.
What’s that thing? the… constitution thingy? yeah that. I don’t know much about that but hey, whatever it is it must be important. Keep hearin’ all them libruls screamin’ about how important it is.
Mr. DeLay: …We’re very strong on throwing out this tax code and replacing it with a 21st century tax code that will probably allow us to double the economy in less than 10 years.
Yes, just like all the promises made about the economy after two rounds of Bush’s tax cuts. A flat tax or national sales tax will fix it all! (Umm, except if you’re poor, middle class, undereducated, underemployed, underinsured…then you know, you’ll kinda be ..fucked.)
Mr. DeLay: No, no, no. Shrinking government and limiting government are actually two different things. Limiting the government in your life, regulatory, social issues and all that and shrinking the size of government or re-prioritizing – or as I like to say it, ‘redesigning’ – government to reflect our values are very important.
limiting government in life and social issues? yeah, kinda like telling us who we can and can’t sleep with. Or how we can choose to end our lives if we are in a position where it’s no longer a real life. Or telling women what they can and can’t do with a pregnancy. Or pushing your personal religious agenda into everyone else’s lives. You mean limiting government like that?
Mr. DeLay: And the most important thing that will change health care in this country is health savings accounts. That was the biggest victory in the Medicare system. So if Medicare gets out of whack and is not going like we think it will go, and the cost curve will be bent because of what we’ve instituted, then we’ve got those institutions and we can dial them in and out and make them happen.
This is where DeLay practically admits the idea of health savings accounts is to eliminate Medicare. Here’s how: 1) implement savings accounts 2)ban Medicare from getting competitive bids or bids from Canada for drug prices 3)drug prices rise higher than inflation (this has happened was in the paper the other day) 4)”new” Medicare fixes end up being more expensive. 5)scrap what’s left of Medicare and say “health savings accounts are what will fix it” 6)don’t mention that health savings accounts are only good for those that can afford to put a significant amount into them or any other of a number of issues.
It’s the same thing they’re trying to do with Social Security. 1)implement partial private accounts 2)find out that it made things worse 3)get rid of the last of true Social Security 4)stick everyone with privatized accounts 5) wonder what went wrong when the market tanks and retirees lose everything.
Mr. DeLay: ..I mean, that’s activist journalism…
Yes Tom, because everything you disagree with is “activist” but all the crazy shit you propose has the will of the people. Like that Shiavo stunt you pulled. Will of the people behind you? No? Oh. All those people who disagreed with you must have been activist citizens. All those people (citizens and elected officials) who are looking into your ethical wrongdoings? Just damn activists. It’d be so much easier if everyone from citizens to news organizations to judges were just glassy-eyed Stepford Citizens, eh?
This guy has GOT to go. Talk about divorced from reality…
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