Representatives don't want to be seen "working"

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
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Apparently Nancy Pelosi doesn't think that her employers (us) should be able to see what our employees (them) are up to while they're working.

http://cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=326384&Category=23

The public service network has provided gavel-to-gavel television coverage of House proceedings since 1979. But the House leader has kept control of the cameras, with coverage generally limited to tight shots of the speaker or the podium.

...

Pelosi said in her response Friday, ?I believe the dignity and decorum of the United States House of Representatives are best preserved by maintaining the current system of televised proceedings.?


Democrats. :roll: Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss. "Dignity and decorum" my ass. They're worried about the fact that if cameras were constantly focused on the empty seats and napping during work hours, their bosses would start firing the worthless, lazy bums.
 

ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
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Best part of all this is her quote.

Nothing against her or the Democrats, but since when has our government had any sense of dignity and decorum? Perhaps in how they behaive inside the capital, but otherwise congress is a mess.
 

Rainsford

Lifer
Apr 25, 2001
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Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Best part of all this is her quote.

Nothing against her or the Democrats, but since when has our government had any sense of dignity and decorum? Perhaps in how they behaive inside the capital, but otherwise congress is a mess.

Uh, yeah, seriously. If there are two words I don't attach to our government, it's those two. Virtually every time one of our elected reps, of either party, opens their mouths I'm amazed they convinced the voters to elect them.
 

senseamp

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
35,785
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I don't see anything wrong with this. Why is it an issue if it's the way it's been done for a long time?
It's not a reality show where you get to see your congressman's every hour at work on a camera. The USSC won't even allow cameras in the courtroom at all.
Seems to me it's just republicans being bitter that they lost the election and are set to lose even bigger in 2008. So they are just slinging mud, see what sticks.
 

Rainsford

Lifer
Apr 25, 2001
17,515
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Originally posted by: senseamp
I don't see anything wrong with this. Why is it an issue if it's the way it's been done for a long time?
It's not a reality show where you get to see your congressman's every hour at work on a camera. The USSC won't even allow cameras in the courtroom at all.
Seems to me it's just republicans being bitter that they lost the election and are set to lose even bigger in 2008. So they are just slinging mud, see what sticks.

I'd agree with that too. I certainly am not convinced anybody has restored integrity to the government, but I'm not sure cameras are really the way to go. Although I am somewhat worried, the Republicans aren't even out of power yet and they are whining way more than the Democrats ever did these past 6 years. This is shaping up to be a long couple of years...
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
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You have to chuckle when the best attack the republicans come up with is, "democrats are doing the same thing we did, and it's not one of those evil corrupt things but something just subject to hyperbole".

I'm flexible on the exact placement of the line for this sort of thing.

I'm actually in favor of mandatory cameras on police cars around the nation, if not also recording devices on officers personally, so that the travesty of the inaccuracies of trying to determine what happened in the courtroom can be greatly improved (usually in the officer's favor).

I guess you could make a wild suggestion to make Congressional people, given their level of responsibility, wear monitoring devices 24x7, with the content subject to review by a special group of retired judges who hunt for any corruption, to serve as a deterrent.

You have to find the balance somewhere. I have no problem with deferring this issue while the democrats deal with bigger things as they assume power.
 

glutenberg

Golden Member
Sep 2, 2004
1,942
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You should watch Taiwan's Congressional hearings. Fully televised screaming, name calling, and chair throwing. Great entertainment.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
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Originally posted by: Rainsford
Originally posted by: senseamp
I don't see anything wrong with this. Why is it an issue if it's the way it's been done for a long time?
It's not a reality show where you get to see your congressman's every hour at work on a camera. The USSC won't even allow cameras in the courtroom at all.
Seems to me it's just republicans being bitter that they lost the election and are set to lose even bigger in 2008. So they are just slinging mud, see what sticks.

I'd agree with that too. I certainly am not convinced anybody has restored integrity to the government, but I'm not sure cameras are really the way to go. Although I am somewhat worried, the Republicans aren't even out of power yet and they are whining way more than the Democrats ever did these past 6 years. This is shaping up to be a long couple of years...
Are you kidding? The intense whining from the left started on election day in 2000 and hasn't stopped since.

As for the cameras, why should the American people not be allowed to check in on their employees now and then to be sure they're actually doing their job? They could be installed in such a way as to be completely unobtrusive and not disturb the proceedings. The federal government seems to have no qualms about consistently increasing their surveillance of the people, why shouldn't it go both ways? If they aren't doing anything wrong, what have they got to hide?

Where's Harvey with his little song when you need him?
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
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Look at the all the faithful showing up to defend their team. Senseamp, Craig. It's to be epxected. Bob and weave. Dodge and deflect. As long as your team wins, eh?
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
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BoberFett, you appear just clueless to me. What's next - Democrats insist on maintaining salaries at current levels, rather than reducing them, republicans attack?

Our mocking of the pathetic attack has nothing to do with partisanship, and everything to do with its being pathetic.

The intense whining from the left started on election day in 2000 and hasn't stopped since.

Right, criticism of the worst set of policies for our nation in history, asking for the guy who wins the election to get the office and such, are whining, and C-SPAN cameras aren't.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
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The ability to check in on our elected officials is akin to reducing their pay? Being called clueless by a political shill such as yourself is a badge of honor.
 

Balt

Lifer
Mar 12, 2000
12,674
482
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Who cares? They will be working more days in the next year than they have in a long time. I don't care if the status quo is maintained on TV coverage.

How much time do you spend watching C-SPAN?
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
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Originally posted by: BoberFett
The ability to check in on our elected officials is akin to reducing their pay? Being called clueless by a political shill such as yourself is a badge of honor.

No, the ability to watch them from a distance on cameras to try to catch them in some trivial embarrassment without any substance is even more useless than the pay raise issue.

And I say that having said there may be two sides to the issue, they can consider it later, but that the idea of you attacking them for taking the same position as republicans is a joke.

And you completely missed the analogy, which was about how you republicans made a joke of an attack against the same policy you had.

Finally, the feeling is mutual - yourname-calling is a compliment when I consider the source.
 

UberNeuman

Lifer
Nov 4, 1999
16,937
3,087
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Originally posted by: Craig234
Originally posted by: BoberFett
The ability to check in on our elected officials is akin to reducing their pay? Being called clueless by a political shill such as yourself is a badge of honor.

No, the ability to watch them from a distance on cameras to try to catch them in some trivial embarrassment without any substance is even more useless than the pay raise issue.

And I say that having said there may be two sides to the issue, they can consider it later, but that the idea of you attacking them for taking the same position as republicans is a joke.

And you completely missed the analogy, which was about how you republicans made a joke of an attack against the same policy you had.

Finally, the feeling is mutual - yourname-calling is a compliment when I consider the source.

Maybe, BuberFett would like to have cameras in the john as well...

 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,681
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Heh. I'm really enjoying the rightwing spin-whine, particularly this one...

Pelosi is going to do it just the way the Repubs did it all along, but it must be wrong, because she's doing it...

Which shows just how desperately they're foundering in the wake of their recent electoral ass-whupping. And truly quaint, coming from those who were not long ago thumping their chests as they strutted around talking about some sort of dynasty... and who had the gall to tie an increase in the minimum wage to abolishing the inheritance tax, among other acts of infamy.

Can't figure out how you got whupped? Dazed and confused? Hate to break it to you, but it only gets worse from here...
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
94,670
14,929
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I don't see the point to cameras but what about rss feed of the transcript? That would be a lot more useful to me than watching. A lot easier to cross reference too.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
Originally posted by: UberNeuman
Maybe, BuberFett would like to have cameras in the john as well...
Why are they passing legislation in the bathroom? Shouldn't that be done on the house floor?
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
It's pretty sad how many of you Democrat shills think this is just about "whining". Perhaps if your attention span was longer than that of a 3 year old you'd have made it to the end of article
Lamb said in an interview he was ?very disappointed? by Pelosi?s decision. He said he tried unsuccessfully to change the policy when Republicans gained control of the House in 1995 and thought this would be another good opportunity because Pelosi has stressed that this will be the most open and ethical Congress in history.
C-SPAN has tried to get more coverage of House proceedings before, and the Republicans stopped them. C-SPAN then figured that the Democrats, who if we were to believe what you the shills around here say are superior to Republicans, would be open to greater transparency in government. But already we're seeing that Democrats are no different.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,681
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Last I checked, Pelosi wanted to keep lobbyists off the floor, out of the gym, and (Horrors!) out of the cloakrooms, too...

The latter apparently being where cameras were really needed for the last 12 years of repub mis-rule...

The way I figure it, Pelosi must be doing something right if the rightwing sycophants are already beginning to snivel...

Whatever happened to that John Wayne "Take it like a Man" advice y'all were so fond of giving out not so long ago? Must've gone the way of fiscal conservatism and a stay at home foreign policy, huh?
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
Are you saying Brian Lamb of C-SPAN is a right wing sycophant? He was criticizing Republicans as well. You need to learn how to read.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
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348
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Originally posted by: BoberFett
It's pretty sad how many of you Democrat shills think this is just about "whining". Perhaps if your attention span was longer than that of a 3 year old you'd have made it to the end of article
Lamb said in an interview he was ?very disappointed? by Pelosi?s decision. He said he tried unsuccessfully to change the policy when Republicans gained control of the House in 1995 and thought this would be another good opportunity because Pelosi has stressed that this will be the most open and ethical Congress in history.
C-SPAN has tried to get more coverage of House proceedings before, and the Republicans stopped them. C-SPAN then figured that the Democrats, who if we were to believe what you the shills around here say are superior to Republicans, would be open to greater transparency in government. But already we're seeing that Democrats are no different.

If you had more knowledge than a 3 year old, you would recognize that the transparency the democrats refer to is the substantive type, not 'gotcha cams' for nose-picking shots.

As I've said each post, maybe it's worth considering, but the democrats have bigger fish to fry and the republicans are a joke for attacking the dems for the same policy they had.

That's what's sad about the republicans, their comments have nothing to do with facts; they'll attack no matter how baseless.

If the dems do something substantively bad, they'll scream, and if the dems do the right thing, they'll still scream.

They have Tom DeLay condemning thousands of poor women to slavery in the Mariannas by blocking legislation and taking donations from the factory owners - but ask them what the scandals are and they'll talk about whether the Clinton White House made any trivial errors in the handling of the travel office staff.

The dems are dealing with the substantive issues of corruption. Not perhaps as much as any of us would like, but far more than the repubs or the C-SPAN camera issue.

The repubs should grow up and criticize when it's deserved and stop playing politics with everything in their neurotic pursuit of power out of fear of democrats having it.

Republicans want power so obsessively that they're like people who demand on giving their own child CPR when they don't know how, out of fear of the stranger paramedic doing it wrong. They kill the child to deal with their irrational fear. Republicans are usually good at getting power, but then they ruin the country they're so desperately trying to protect because they don't know how the hell to run a country, all they know is they're afraid of the dems running it.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,563
9
81
Where is all this babbling about Republicans even come from? This thread has nothing to do with Republicans, other than tangential reference. This is not about Republicans, it's about C-SPAN wanting greater access to a Democrat controlled House. Unless C-SPAN is some Republican stronghold that I was unaware of, it has nothing to do with "Republican attacks".

As for substantive transparency, I'm not going to hold my breath. I fully expect under the table deals and contracts to enrich the friends and families of congressmen to continue to be the norm, just like it was under the Republicans.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
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It's about republicans making the attack over the incident with C-SPAN for partisan and dishonest reasons.

As for sustantive transparency, I fully expect the democrats will make some real progress, and that the republicans will almost only criticize them and ignore the improvement.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,681
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No, Bobber fett, the right wing sycophant isn't Brian Lamb... but rather those who find a way to represent continuity of their own party's policy as something to be ashamed of- Tell us, were you ashamed when your idols did the same thing?

It's kinda like putting a guy down for having a homely girlfriend- the one he stole from you....
 

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
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Originally posted by: glutenberg
You should watch Taiwan's Congressional hearings. Fully televised screaming, name calling, and chair throwing. Great entertainment.

Any of these on youtube?