Democracy in Action

Republicans are big on talking about democracy, especially when it involves invading and occupying another country in order to "spread democracy." You'd think they'd be able to practice it in the U. S. House.

Friday, however, the GOP chairman of the House Judiciary Committee demonstrated that Republicans aren't interested in democracy unless they can control it. The committee was holding a hearing on the Patriot Act. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the panel, decided that he didn't like what he was hearing and declared the hearing completed, over the protests of Democratic members of the committee.

DemBloggers.com has a couple video clips, but their server is a bit slow due to extensive traffic.

The Associated Press has the story:

"We are not besmirching the honor of the United States, we are trying to uphold it," he said.

Democrats asked for the hearing, the 11th the committee has held on the act since April, saying past hearings had been too slanted toward witnesses who supported the law. The four witnesses were from groups, including Amnesty International USA and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, that have questioned the constitutionality of some aspects of the act, which allows law enforcement greater authority to investigate suspected terrorists.

Nadler said Sensenbrenner, one of the authors of the Patriot Act, was "rather rude, cutting everybody off in mid-sentence with an attitude of total hostility."

Tempers flared when Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., accused Amnesty International of endangering the lives of Americans in uniform by referring to the prison at Guantanamo Bay as a "gulag." Sensenbrenner didn't allow the Amnesty representative, Chip Pitts, to respond until Nadler raised a "point of decency."

Sensenbrenner's spokesman, Jeff Lungren, said the hearing had lasted two hours and "the chairman was very accommodating, giving members extra time."

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, speaking immediately after Sensenbrenner left, voiced dismay over the proceedings. "I'm troubled about what kind of lesson this gives" to the rest of the world, he told the Democrats remaining in the room.

Yes, what kind of lesson does this give to the rest of the world?

AmericaBlog has an interesting idea for House Dems...where gags for the next House session.