Dull Dems Outfoxed Again In House

Out of the obscurity that is the House of Representatives rises this morning Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), a hero who may not have been known outside his district yesterday, but deserves a glow of national recognition today.

For it was Shadegg who yesterday gave the Dem leadership their most embarrassing moment since NanPo's screechy rise to Speaker, in a story well told by The Hill:

House Republicans on Tuesday nearly forced Democratic leaders to vote on a resolution to impeach Vice President Cheney.

Anti-war presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced a privileged resolution, used to circumvent the committee process, to get his impeachment measure to the House floor.

The vote to kill Kucinch’s privileged resolution began as a largely party-line affair, but halfway through the vote, Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) persuaded Republican leaders to get rank-and-file GOP lawmakers to change their votes to force the debate.

At one point, the vote to table the motion stood at 246-165. Once Republicans began switching their votes, momentum swung the other way. When the vote stood at 205-206, some Democrats began switching their votes.

The vote to kill Kucinich’s resolution finally failed 162-251, giving Republicans the opportunity to watch Democrats debate whether to impeach Cheney — a debate in which many liberal Democrats were more than willing to engage.

House Republicans clearly enjoyed watching Democratic leaders squirm during the series of votes, which lasted more than one hour.

“The determination was made that if Democrats are going to waste time and resources with a resolution like this, then it should be thoroughly debated,” said Brian Kennedy, the spokesman for Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), adding that the charges against Cheney were “ludicrous.”

NanPo, for her part, accused the GOP of "wasting time," and Steny Hoyer took the same tack, saying the little trick was “a continuation of Republicans’ gotcha games that achieve nothing more than short-term entertainment for themselves, while showing their disdain for the importance of the people’s business.”

If they were talking about the Dem's multiple failed efforts to pass various war-stopping resolutions and bills, their words could not be more spot-on.

hat-tip: memeorandum