Lynn Bartels has a great post today that keenly illustrates the difference between Republicans' and Democrats' approach to governance.
Two years ago, then Representative Paul Weissman threw a significant temper tantrum on the Senate floor when the Senate killed one of his bills. He yelled, he made threats, and then he stomped out. He also had a personal confrontation with Senator Scott Renfroe on the matter.
How did Republicans handle this breach of decorum? Simple. After Rep. Weissman apologized, that was the end of it.
Fast forward to yesterday. Eye witness accounts vary, but apparently Rep. David Balmer had an animated conversation with Senator Schwartz on the Senate floor. The conversation became loud, and it sounds like Balmer was doing some serious talking with his hands.
Balmer quickly apologized, but of course that isn't good enough for Senate President Brandon Shaffer. Shaffer has banned Balmer from the Senate floor and is launching a full committee investigation to get to the bottom of the incident.
With all of the pressing issues in front of the Legislature right now, we don't think Shaffer should be spending official time and resources refereeing minor arguments.
Saying “I'm sorry” really should be good enough here.
Weismann gets privileges that Balmer doesn’t because he is a former member of the state senate.
Oh come on. This is just silly. Balmer has an animated personality! No threats were made here and he already apologized. Can we just move on already?
if the Dems can get a few more headlines out of Republicans “abusing their power” like we’ve seen so far. The propaganda machine is up and running hard, now if we could only find Stalin to tell it what to say!
His name is “The Fist.”
STOP wasting our time and resources with petty arguments! Was November not a big enough wake up call? In the famous words of Josh McDummy: “DO YOUR JOB!“
I’ve already blocked him from my memory…
Ok ok. Yes I do. It’s just astounding to me how some women like Schwartz can hold such an amazing double standard not just between parties, but also between genders. Schwartz is all about “girl power” and “gender discrimination,” but then she runs and hides behind Big Bad Brandon when she gets offended. This would be a great way to show just how powerful and graceful an independent woman can be (by standing up for herself and gracefully accepting an apology), but instead she’s just making ALL of us look bad.
I’m glad you were the one to say it. For some reason I don’t think it would fly as well if I did.
Your argument is petty and weak. Gail has been an outstanding leader for the womens movement and I sincerely doubt you will ever fully understand the weight of your unfounded and dumb statement.
Um…Yeah. I’m icequeen because I’m a woman. I think I get it.
Just like Sara Palin “gets it”.
I agree. If Sen. Schwartz was as strong as she thought she was she would be upset at Shaffer being her knight in shining armor.
They always use double standards, answer questions with questions, and apply archane philiosophical arguments to contemporary problems…then get all butthurt when they lose the logical argument. It’s just what they do. So it’s no surprise Gail got her britches in a bintl.
If you have an IQ of 75 like all Repugs.