Not "Jane You Ignorant Slut" But...

I love jokes. This is not a revelation to those who know me. And sometimes I even like bad jokes.  
But I do not like the US Congress of today which has become one of the worst jokes in our history.
I do not have to single out any individuals because even their own supporters know who I mean, or at least I hope they do.  If not then they are even sadder jokes.
But I must comment on one particular 'back and forth' between two Congressmen that epitomizes the putrefied partisan politics that has this country stuck in a stagnant swamp unable to move forward.
I will not stoop to the level of some bloggers, twits, or even Facebook friends and foes who used the representative's names as fodder against them.  All i need is their own words to define who is and who is not a fair representative of this country.
First a quick synopsis of the back story.
When the towers came down on 911 people from all walks of life came to help.  Many of these people suffered greatly for their deeds and many still are suffering.  Some have already died.
Finally recognizing the fact that these heroes of 911 are in need of aid Congress proposed a bill, HR-847 aimed at funding their healthcare at a cost of merely $7.5 billion over ten years.
The bill was co-written by Rep Peter King (R-NY) and co-sponsored by Carolyn Maloney (D-NY.)
When the bill was about to come up for a vote the Democrats decided to keep it a purely 911 aid bill without allowing any annoying, inane, nonsensical, unrelated and pork-filled amendments to be tacked on.
This enraged the Republican stalwarts (Key part of the word, 'stall') and they demanded to be allowed to add at least three such riders.
As usual the Democrats caved in to the request of the minority party.
But now, under the rules of procedure the bill had to have a two-thirds majority vote to pass rather than the usual simple majority.
Not to worry - A bill of this importance would surely garner that many votes, right?
WRONG!
And that brings me to the point-counterpoint that tells the entire story in a nutshell.
As if any sane individual really needed to be told what Republicans stand for or rather what they turn their backs for Peter King's own words tell the story and Anthony Weiner's rebuttal calls him and his colleagues of NO out for it!

First Mr. King's words with my personal inserted comments in parentheses:

KING: The reason HR-847 is not being brought up under regular order is that the majority party is petrified of having its members face a potential vote on illegal immigration, (Excuse me? What does immigration have to do with aid to the Heroes of 911?) but the reality is, you could pass this bill. This bill should be more important than a campaign talking point. (EXACTLY MR. KING AND YOUR PARTY IN THE MINORITY SHOULD REALIZE THAT!) You could have passed it any time during the past three and a half years but you want political cover. Thank God for our country that the first responders of 9/11 didn't look for cover before they did what they had to do and lived up to their oath. (As you and your fellow Republicans are about to do, right?)
After these inflammatory words were spewed by Mr. King Anthony Weiner absolutely lost it. The camel's back was gone and the straw must be shown as the culprit! Here is Mr. Weiner's answer once again with personal comments in parentheses:
Weiner: Great courage to wait until all members have already spoken and then stand up and wrap your arms around procedure. We see it in the United States Senate every single day where members say "We want amendments. We want debate. We want amendments but we're still a no."
Then we stand up and say "Oh, if only we had a different process, we'd vote yes."
You vote yes if you believe yes. You vote in favor of something if you believe it's the right thing. If you believe it's the wrong thing, you vote no.
We are following a procedure [Mr. Weiner yells back as he is interrupted by Republican heckling and requests to yield] -- I will not yield to the gentleman and the gentleman will observe regular order! THE GENTLEMAN WILL OBSERVE REGULAR ORDER!
Gets up and yells to intimidate people into believing he's right. He is wrong! The gentleman is wrong!
The gentleman is providing cover for his colleagues rather than doing the right thing. It's Republicans wrapping their arms around Republicans rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes. It is a shame, a shame!
If you believe this is a bad idea to provided health care, then vote no. But don't give me the cowardly view that "Oh, if it was a different procedure." [Republican hecklers try again to stop the definition of their character.] The gentleman will observe regular order and sit down. I will not. The gentleman will sit. The gentleman is correct in sitting.
I will not. I will not stand here and listen to my colleagues say "If only I had a different procedure that allows us to stall, stall, stall and then vote no."
Instead of standing up and defending your colleagues in voting no on this humane bill, you should urge them to vote yes — something the gentleman HAS. NOT. DONE.

Mr. King actually stated that this bill could have passed if the Democrats had allowed the Republicans to alter it and that they all knew it! But he himself went on to vote in fover of passing it nevertheless so why didn't his colleagues vote in favor as well?
Mr. Weiner said it best when he noted the usual Republican tactic of, "...stall, stall, stall and then vote no."

Some have called this a failure caused by the Democrats, actually labeling it an 'epic fail.'  To these sadly mistaken people I say please look again at the votes for and against this bill and tell me how you can lay the blame for this or any of the other stalled and altered bills anywhere else but at the feet of the Party of NO!??
We have all laughed at the joke our government has become. And we have laughed at the fact that the Republicans have become the Party of No and embrace the title rather than shy away from it. They have even become the GOBP with members apologizing to that disgusting oil giant.
But this is no longer funny. The joke is now fully on us and it is getting really, really bad!