[Cross-posted at My Left Wing.]
Former House Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey, ca. May 2002:
You have to understand the Democrats have no agenda. The majority in the other body is driven by a combination of incompetence and malevolence, and all they stand for is stopping whatever we try to accomplish in this presidency.
Former House Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay, 3/17/05:
I see it for what it is; it is very unfortunate that the Democrats have no agenda and they have to tear down the House to gain power.
Rep. and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, 4/21/05:
It's clear that the Democrats have no agenda and what the pattern is beginning to show is that many rank-and-file Democrats are looking to the Republican agenda.
Tom DeLay, 10/02/05:
Our opponents, the Democrats, have no agenda. They're the party of "no." They just come up here and say, "No, no, no, no, no."
Tom DeLay, 3/22/06:
It is very unfortunate that the Democrats have no agenda. All they can do is try to tear down the House and burn it down in order to gain power.
Tom DeLay, 4/04/2006:
The Democrats have no agenda. They have no ideas. They have no solutions. All they have is the politics of personal destruction.
Rep. and House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner, ca. October 2006:
The Democrats have no agenda and are hoping no one will notice.
Well, guys, you're right. Your dire predictions have come to pass. The Democrats have been in control of Congress for only one week, but it's already clear that the Democrats have no agenda:
WASHINGTON - With the families of Sept. 11 victims looking on, the House overwhelmingly voted Tuesday night to enact the languishing recommendations of the Sept. 11 Commission designed to ensure the safety of the nation from future terrorist attacks.
The legislation was the first for the new, Democratic-controlled Congress to pass. Symbolically, it was labeled HR 1. And to demonstrate just how important Democrats viewed the measure, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., kicked off the debate by presiding over the House.
Lawmakers voted 299-128 to require screening of all cargo on passenger planes within three years, to check cargo ships for nuclear bombs before they leave ports bound for the U.S. and to boost homeland security funding for urban areas most likely to be terrorist targets.
"Here's a chance for Congress to stop dragging its feet and become the do-something Congress," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the new chairman of the Homeland Security panel. "We can stand around pointing fingers or we can do the job we were hired to do."
Implicit in the Democrats' message - a staple of the 2006 campaign trail - was criticism of their Republican counterparts for failing to pass many of the commission's recommendations in the last several years.
Yes, that's right, the Democrats have no agenda:
WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled House voted Wednesday to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, bringing America‘s lowest-paid workers a crucial step closer to their first raise in a decade.
The measure, which now goes to the Senate, would raise the federal wage floor by $2.10 from its current $5.15 an hour in three steps over 26 months.
The last increase was in 1997, when President Clinton successfully prodded the GOP-controlled Congress to enact the increase. Republicans declined to approve another raise for the six years in which they held majorities in the House and Senate and President Bush was in the White House.
And, once more, the Democrats have no agenda:
WASHINGTON: The new Democratic-led US House of Representatives voted on Thursday to lift President Bush's restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research.
But the vote of 253-174, largely along party lines, fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised presidential veto.
The measure passed after an emotional debate in which supporters touted the research as the best hope for potential cures for ailments such as Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries.
Opponents condemned it as unethical and immoral. Bush restricted funding for the research in August 2001.
While Bush distracts us with his sideshow in Iran, it's worth remembering that those durned Democrats still have no agenda. Their inability to pass meaningful legislation in this first week of their rule will ensure that Republicans are returned to control in both chambers in 2008.