22 December 2010 Congress should be sent to bed with no dessert.

“The rise of the Petulant Party”

By Dana Milbank

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

“The lame-duck session of Congress has introduced Americans to the three-party system of government: the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and the Petulant Party.

Eight founding fathers of the Petulants took the stage Tuesday morning in the Senate TV studio to provide an update on their latest cause: The defeat of the nuclear arms treaty with Russia

Petulants do not care about Republican wise men. They do not care about the wishes of the uniformed military. What they care about is preserving the sanctity of . . . Christmas vacation?

"The fact that we're doing this under the cover of Christmas," complained Sen. Jim DeMint (P-S.C.), "is something to be outraged about."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (P-S.C.) was outraged. "Here we are, the week of Christmas, about to pass potentially a treaty," he protested.

And the leader of the group, Sen. Jon Kyl (P-Ariz.), is already on record saying the Democrats' legislative agenda amounts to "disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians."

So it has come to this: Members of the Petulant Party want to stop the START treaty (and block a bill that would help Ground Zero first responders pay medical bills) because they wish to get home to their figgy pudding. This might be called playing the Christmas card.

Of course, the Petulants' objections have little to do with yule. You don't defy the national security judgment of the U.S. military and reject the wisdom of generations of GOP elder statesmen simply because you have concerns related to the Advent calendar.

Petulant leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) spelled out the real reason on the Senate floor Monday. McConnell, who said Republicans' "single most important" goal was Obama's defeat, said that in this case he didn't want to facilitate "some politician's desire to declare a political victory and host a press conference before the first of the year."

On Tuesday, enough Republicans said "yes" to send the treaty to likely ratification on Wednesday. But the Petulant Party is only getting organized. As McConnell told Politico this week: "If they think it's bad now, wait 'til next year." “

Cassi Creek: This is what it comes down to. Appeals by ailing fire-fighters and police officers for medical care due to 9-11 related illnesses are “emotional; not worthy of consideration. The START treaty needs to be “studied more.” The eight months that it has been in consideration were just not enough. Christmas holidays for people who work less than ½ the year are more important than nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear warhead reduction, and any other bill that Obama might want passed before next year.

McConnell has also promised that the GOP\teavangelists will spend the next two years dealing in lies, obfuscation, and all manner of perfidy in order to prevent Obama’s election to a second term.

I don’t understand how the people who claim to “love the Constitution” while failing to understand or agree with that same document, want to do everything in their power to destroy it and the governmental system it describes. I don’t understand how they find voters who will support elected leaders who repeatedly plant a knife in the back of the voters. I don’t understand how anyone can vote for an elected official who is so deeply in thrall to the rich that he will even forsake the cornerstone of conservatism – the “balance budget with no deficit – to keep licking his master’s boots.

I don’t understand any of that. However, I do understand that this nation can’t survive while exporting jobs and importing debt. Marx said we’d sell the rope to our hangmen. He was right.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/21/AR2010122104616.html?hpid=opinionsbox1