Henry Waxman Questions the GOP's Patriotism; Will the Media Question Him?

July 1st, 2009 4:09 PM

The Democrats spent years complaining that Republicans were questioning their patriotism, so now that they are in power, they certainly won’t question the Republicans’ patriotism just because their views differ on political issue?

Yes, that was a rhetorical question.

After cap-and-trade passed with just eight Republican votes, Henry Waxman, author of the bill, accused Republicans of “rooting against the country … even rooting against the world.”

Considering how much attention the media gave to Rush Limbaugh’s out-of-context quotes about how he wanted Obama’s policies to fail and how Obama was hurting America, I wonder how much attention the media will give to Waxman, an actual politician, for making such antagonistic comments?

Again, a rhetorical question. When Limbaugh said that Obama was “demolish[ing] the America we know and love,” MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall asked Republican strategist Alex Conant what he thought about it, and Conant responded, “Two weeks ago, Rush Limbaugh challenged this network, MSNBC, to go a whole month without repeating his name, and this is like the fifth segment you guys have had this afternoon talking about Rush Limbaugh.”

Conant continued:

"Rush Limbaugh has not been elected to anything. He doesn’t have the power to tax people. He doesn’t have the power to send people to war. I don’t understand how you guys find him so relevant you spend this much of the afternoon covering him.”

Henry Waxman is a politician who does have the power to vote for war and to raise our taxes, and he just used that power in getting the cap-and-trade bill passed. Waxman, in fact, is one of the most powerful members of the House of Representatives, as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. His comments are many times more relevant to what Democratic leadership is thinking than Limbaugh’s are to the GOP.

Is anyone going to ask the Democrats to denounce Waxman? Ask Pelosi to denounce Waxman?

No, it’s pretty clear that Pelosi agrees with Waxman. Last September, Pelosi called Republicans “unpatriotic”. John Dingell said it was unpatriotic for Republicans to vote against the auto bailout.

Since when is saving the American taxpayer’s money unpatriotic?

If the media really wants to be patriotic, they should ask Waxman if his attack on the political process is helpful to the country.