Whorehouse of Representatives

Whorehouse of Representatives (1999)

Grover Norquist, quoted in "They Beat the Hell Out of Each Other Up There":

Republicans and conservatives can best advance the cause of civility by working hard to finish off the hopes of the Democrats for any return to power. It is like neutering barnyard animals: they are much calmer, less likely to cause damage, and easier to control. As the vet says, "They will be happier; this is good for them."

From E. J. Dionne Jr. in the Washington Post:

DeLay himself drew the line sharply the day after the 2004 elections. "The Republican Party is a permanent majority for the future of this country," DeLay declared. "We're going to be able to lead this country in the direction we've been dreaming of for years."

Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and a leading figure in both the DeLay and Bush political operations, chose more colorful post-election language to describe the future. "Once the minority of House and Senate are comfortable in their minority status, they will have no problem socializing with the Republicans," he told Richard Leiby of The Post. "Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant. But when they've been 'fixed,' then they are happy and sedate. They are contented and cheerful."

And from News Hounds:

Last night, anti-abortion extremist Neal Horsley was a guest on The Alan Colmes Show, a FOX News radio program. The topic was an interesting one -- whether or not an internet service provider should allow Horsley to post the names of abortion doctors on his website. Horsley does that as a way of targeting them and one doctor has been killed. In the course of the interview, however, Colmes asked Horsley about his background, including a statement that he had admitted to engaging in homosexual and bestiality sex.

At first, Horsley laughed and said, "Just because it's printed in the media, people jump to believe it."

"Is it true?" Colmes asked.

"Hey, Alan, if you want to accuse me of having sex when I was a fool, I did everything that crossed my mind that looked like I..."

AC: "You had sex with animals?"

NH: "Absolutely. I was a fool. When you grow up on a farm in Georgia, your first girlfriend is a mule."

AC: "I'm not so sure that that is so."

NH: "You didn't grow up on a farm in Georgia, did you?"

AC: "Are you suggesting that everybody who grows up on a farm in Georgia has a mule as a girlfriend?"

NH: "It has historically been the case. You people are so far removed from the reality... Welcome to domestic life on the farm..."

Colmes said he thought there were a lot of people in the audience who grew up on farms, are living on farms now, raising kids on farms and "and I don't think they are dating Elsie right now. You know what I'm saying?"

Horsley said, "You experiment with anything that moves when you are growing up sexually. You're naive. You know better than that... If it's warm and it's damp and it vibrates you might in fact have sex with it."

Today, the showdown begins on whether to utilize the "nuclear option" to kill filibusters -- a long-standing Congressional procedure designed to safeguard minority rights and views from being steamrolled flat by an "absolutely corrupted by absolute power" majority. The eunuching of filibusters will be the final snip from Karl Rove and Dr. Frist -- the Republican's crack emergency response team to quell the open propagation of democracy. Given Horsley's account, it's clear what happens to barnyard animals when conservatives control the farm. I wonder how the soon-to-be-fixed 49% of us who did not vote for George W. Bush's "mandate" will feel when we are on the receiving end. Metaphorically speaking, I'd say we're about to be fucked.

I just wonder if half of us will be "contented and cheerful" down on the farm in the United Sedate of America.

Or, instead, will we, as Dylan Thomas suggested, "rage against the dying of the light"?