Novak: GOP leaders display arrogance

[quaoar]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak10.html

BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

"We are looking more and more like the Democrats we replaced," a House committee chairman told me Wednesday. That comment came before he learned, to his surprise and sorrow, that the House Republican leadership had removed Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The extraordinary purge buttressed the growing impression of arrogance as Republicans enter their second decade of power in the House.

The party's House leaders purportedly removed Smith, a tireless promoter of spending for veterans, to save money. But two days earlier, the same leaders pulled every string to defeat reforms against pork barrel spending. Those disparate moves are united by a common purpose of making decisions from the top down. Smith was a chairman who did not take orders. The defeated spending reforms came from conservatives outside the leadership.

Obsession with centralizing authority does not precisely fit the pattern set by Democrats during 40 years of ruling the House. But the new majority party resembles the old one in this sense: having long been in power, they act as though they are sure they will keep it forever. That attitude manifested itself in determination to get rid of Smith.

< snip >

The leadership's problem with Smith has been his insatiable desire to make life better for veterans during 24 years on the Veterans Affairs Committee.

[neuvocat]

1. In other news there will be twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours

of darkness expected in the forecast today.

[mcscajun]

2. "...his insatiable desire to make life better for veterans..."

Yup...that's it! He HAS to go!

After all, what is he Thinking? Leading the House's Veterans Affairs Committee and being obsessed with veterans like that.

Sheesh.

Nothing to see here folks, move along.

[Goldeneye]

3. This from Novak?

what is going on here? Maybe there is some hope...Novak just made a dig at the top house republicans.

[Sal Minella]

7. Novak's check from Bu$hCo for this month

must be late in reaching him.....

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Oh, they deserve more credit.

Republicans have far surpassed any conspiracy and/or corruption that the Dems may have been guilty of.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Just love those Support Our Troops Republicans

As long as they have a yellow ribbon on their Lincoln Town Car they think they will be saved.

[NVMojo]

6. they'd prefer to understand our troops as pieces of the machine

that they control and use.

[John_H]

8. Right Bob. Those wackjobs in the house are to blame while our

fearless moderate president is charting the compassionate pro-veteran course. These people really do think Americans are dopes. And sadly, they are often correct.

[Skittles]

9. LOL.....NOVAK talking about ARROGANCE

oh the HUMANITY

[adigal]

10. No, no, no...I heard the check for Bushie bounced n/t

[adigal]

11. And the one FROM Bushie too!!! n/t

[quaoar]

12. And then there was this sentence in Novak's column

Hastert and DeLay were passionate in the closed-door session, opposing any changes intended to make it more difficult to approve pork barrel projects and establish some accountability for them.

These assholes are so full of shit it's oozing out their ears.

[zulchzulu]

13. NoFacts trying to possibly change his legacy?

Nofacts is all about arrogance and twit-headed Repug vapidness. I do appreciate him singing Newt's song of furthur splitting the Repuglicans into a circular firing squad.

That seems to be the trend with both major parties.

[moggie12]

14. I don't care why Novak wrote this, I'm just glad he did

It's about time the right started pointing out some of Bush's hypocrisy. It was disgusting what happened to Chris Smith. Since when is standing up for veteran's "bad"? I've written several e-mails to my elected officials and the media expressing my outrage on is removal as chair of the House Veteran's Committee. If Dems had any brains they would pounce on this issue -- Dems defending a Republican would be one of thse "counter-intuitive" issues that would get media attention. Why are Dems so lame?????

[tngledwebb]

15. Novak is loose cannon on occasion.

Stopped clocks come to mind.