Congressman Anthony Weiner … hoisted on his own party’s petard

US Representative Anthony Weiner (NY, D) yesterday launched into a tirade on the House floor against the GOP when legislation that he crafted to provide financial aid to emergency personnel responding to the 911 disaster failed to pass the House of Representatives.

Foaming at the mouth Weiner repeatedly claimed that since his party mustered 94 % of Democrat votes in favor, that failure was solely the responsibility of the Republican opposition. He ignored the observation that it was his own party’s political maneuvering that torpedoed the measure.

Interestingly, the Democrats who control the House and can pass whatever they want without any Republican support, required that the bill would need a 2/3rds majority. Democrats wanted to prevent Republicans from tacking on any controversial illegal alien immigration amendments. As a consequence of the Democrats’ manipulation, their House Whip failed to produce 100 % of that party for the “yea” vote. Despite the support of 12 Republicans who crossed party lines and voted in favor, the bill still failed for want of the missing Democrat votes and seemingly backfiring on the Democrat House leadership and Weiner himself.

Or, did it?

Weiner claims to have worked on the bill for 9 years for his constituents. But, the reality is something entirely different, making the purpose of his umbrage suspect.

Instead of the political theater, Anthony here are some things you perhaps should consider before shooting off your mouth again.

Nine years to produce a bill? – come on, nobody believes that crap. Which is it, your impotence or your insincerity? Either, you couldn’t find any previous support for a multi-billion dollar bill or you didn’t really make much of a sincere effort to win unanimous support for it in all that time.

How many in your own party dislike you enough to want to thwart both you and the Republicans at the same time? – a two fer’ in the making – they require a 2/3 rds majority to block the Republicans and raise the hurdle for passage for a bill that would have sailed through with a simple majority. Really, was that a smart move? If the Dems got enough Republican support they win passage but if not, well after all, how bad can it be, especially if Pelosi has an opportunity to embarrass the GOP? And anyway, the Republicans didn’t get an illegal immigration amendment, either.

Pelosi can put the Republicans on the defensive and in your case, could it possibly be some political payback? Maybe you ought to re-assess the Democrats who voted against the bill as well as the Democratic Party and House leadership, since it was Pelosi who required the 2/3rds vote when there were enough votes to pass it with a simple majority. It was Nancy Pelosi, Weiner, who killed your bill, not the Republicans.

Without even breaking a sweat your enemies in your own party, whether by design or consequence, have embarrassed you in front of your colleagues and more importantly in front of your constituency. Based upon your past performances they know too, you predictably can be counted upon to also produce self-inflicted wounds with your own mouth.

But then, given what they were working with, perhaps the outcome was always a foregone conclusion.