Republicans haven’t been in control of the US House for even a week and Democrats are already trying to cry foul. And for what? For doing the exact same thing Democrats did when they were in power.
Speaker McCarthy, to his credit, is holding firm to his promise to keep certain Democrats off certain committees, just as Democrats kept certain Republicans off various committees. It was unprecedented for Democrats to do what they did, but McCarthy is just following in their footsteps.
Among the Democrats McCarthy has vowed to keep off the Intelligence Committee, for instance, are Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell. Schiff was one of President Trump’s biggest haters in Congress, and lied through his teeth throughout President Trump’s impeachment process and beyond. Swalwell is famous for his contact with Chinese intelligence agents, and is apparently such a security risk that the FBI briefed McCarthy on everything that was wrong with him.
It’s ironic that McCarthy is being accused of partisanship for keeping Schiff off the Intelligence Committee when Schiff was the posterboy for partisanship in Congress over the past four years. But that’s typical behavior for Democrats.
Remember when Democrats were up in arms about President Bush going to war in Iraq? And yet they were remarkably silent when President Obama intensified the drone campaign in Afghanistan and got involved in Libya.
Yes, many Republicans are guilty of partisanship too, but at least the Republican Party has people like Thomas Massie and others who are principled and don’t flip flop on their views depending on who’s in power. You can’t say that about Democrats in Congress.
There’s an old maxim that states not to give yourself any power that you wouldn’t want your enemies to have. Democrats have ignored that over the past decade, choosing to break precedent and exercise more power, then cry foul when Republicans exercise that power once they regain control.
Most sensible people see through that charade, and understand that Democrats are just trying to make much ado about nothing. Turnabout is fair play, and Republicans are just playing under the new rules that Democrats themselves established. Let’s hope McCarthy continues to hold their feet to the fire so that they get a taste of their own medicine.