Pryor’s Partisanship Math
It has been pointed out to me that I just don’t give enough press to Sen. Mark Pryor. Perhaps this is because he is not up for election until 2014 or perhaps because he does better job lying low than Sen. Lincoln does. But anyway here goes.
Today, Sen. Pryor was on KARN complaining about the partisanship in Washington that was preventing things from getting done. “A good idea may get slapped down just because it did not come from the other party,” said Pryor regarding the Republicans. He said he dreamed of one day when Congress can put partisanship aside and work together to address the country’s problems.
I find this statement curious as last I checked the Democratic Party had the votes to control the agenda. Up until the election of Republican Sen. Scott Brown, the Democrats had a filibuster proof majority in the Senate with 60 votes and even now they still have 59 votes. The House Democrats also have 77 more seats than the House Republicans so they have even greater control of their chamber.
“Partisanship” is not stopping anything from passing Congress unless it is the partisanship from Sen. Pryor’s own party leaders that are attempting to move hard to the left much to the chagrin of Democrats who try to position themselves as centrists.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
When you stand by principle to defeat something the majority supports is partisanship, when the ruling party sticks together to pass it, it is teamwork.