Does The GOP Deserve to be in the Majority in Congress?

Maybe not. Despite having significant advantages in both houses of Congress, the GOP continues to govern like a minority party. Yesterday, and despite the overwhelmingly obvious need for more sources of domestic oil, the spineless GOP house members folded on drilling in ANWR. Some of them were quite proud of themselves:

House Republicans, after long hours of scrounging for the votes to pass their five-year budget, decided Wednesday night to drop a provision that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

The news emerged late Wednesday night as the House Rules Committee prepared the far-reaching bill for a vote on the House floor today.

"There will be no drilling in ANWR," said New Hampshire Rep. Charles Bass, one of the Republican moderates who led the effort to strip ANWR from the bill.

Bass is not a Republican moderate, he's a Republican moron, and he and his brethren are gleefully driving our economy down the tubes by placing us at increasing risk of shortage and boycotts by our political enemies.

Maybe we should just cut off gasoline shipments to New Hampshire and just see if Bass' constituents agree that we don't need more oil drilling in the U.S.

Perhaps Scott Ott has it right:

November 11, 2005
GOP Elects House Majority Minority Leader
by Scott Ott

(2005-11-11) — Moments after failing to muster enough votes to pass a $51 billion deficit reduction bill in the House, even after dropping a controversial oil exploration provision, Republicans moved to elect a New Hampshire lawmaker to the newly-created post of House Majority Minority Leader.

Rep. Charles Bass, R-NH, one of the progressive Republicans who blocked the belt-tightening measure and opposes drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, will receive the new title along with the responsibility of leading opposition to his party’s legislative agenda.

“It’s an honor to represent the members who call themselves Republicans, yet oppose much of the Republican platform,” said Rep. Bass. “The appointment of a House Majority Minority leader is an acknowledgement of the rich diversity under this big GOP tent.”

GOP: Get your act together or you will not be returned to the majority in 2006...and you'll deserve the demotion.