One of my favorite sports clichés is "act like you've been there before." I like it because it's true. When you make a big play, don't showboat, perform a back flip or stare down your opponent. Have some class and respect. That's what I do whenever I dunk on Josh Pettit at the Downtown YMCA.
Apparently our State GOP doesn't share my conservative values of sportsmanship. Check out this press release they sent out earlier this week. It labels House Democrats as the "Obstructionist Party of Oklahoma." It's basically the equivalent of going no huddle in the 4th quarter with a 50 point lead.
Here it is:
House Democrats – the Obstructionist Party of Oklahoma
In their latest display of legislative hypocrisy, House Democrats today pulled a political stunt designed to derail adoption of the Republican-backed House rules.
Targeting the conference committee process, the ever-shrinking group of Democrat lawmakers argued openness and transparency in their failed bid to convince the House to vote down the newly formed rules.
"Openness and transparency; if only they had cared about such things when they were in power, they might have more than their shrinking minority today," said Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Matt Pinnell.
"The truth is, the legislature is far more open and transparent today, under Republican leadership, than it ever was under Democratic control. Republicans in the House and Senate have put in place several reforms over the past few years to achieve this, because they value honesty and transparency."
Chairman Pinnell pointed out that under Democratic control, there was an "anything goes" attitude when it came to the conference committee process.
"The Democratic leadership completely abused the conference committee process when they ran the show," said Pinnell. "There was no real limit to what they put in the conference committee reports, and they didn't give the members any time to even read what was in them. But the Republican leaders in the House have done away with those practices, and today the conference committee process is changed for the better."
Chairman Pinnell said the real point of today's Democratic gamesmanship was obstruction, not openness.
"Make no mistake about it: the real purpose of today's political stunt was obstruction, not some newfound devotion to the Republican ideals of open, transparent government. The less relevant they become, the more I think we will see House Democrats move to obstruct the conservative policies of the Republican leadership."
Come on. You're really going to accuse them of trying to block rules.
Come on, Grand Old Party. You all can do better than that. You're basically pulling an old Bob Stoops or new Mike Gundy and just running up the score. You're seriously going to complain that Democrats are trying to block house rules? Who cares about that?! Republicans overwhelmingly control both the State House and Senate. You all can make up whatever silly rules you want. If anything you should be giving the Democrats a grand old attaboy for trying. The headline should have read "Down but not out, State Democrats continue their futile fight to stay relevant." If you're not going to take the high road, at least go the satire route.
Also, what's up with the Republicans calling the Democratic lawmakers hypocrites? The only people who should be saying that are registered Oklahoma Democrats. Other than a few outliers, Oklahoma Democratic lawmakers cave easily under pressure (see "tort reform"), vote for draconian abortion legislation and think kids should have guns in their lunch boxes. They're Democrats in name only. When they hear the word "progressive," they think of auto-insurance. Have some class and leave them alone, GOP. You've won and are still winning. Act like you've been there before.
