Hypocritical Nature on Capitol Hill

During yesterday's conference on H.R. 1, I was forced to sit and listen to conferees from both parties spew out more hypocritical rhetoric than I could handle. Rep. Camp (R-MI), Rep. Lewis (R-CA) and Sen. Grassley (R-IA) all complained about not having the opportunity to participate in the "real" negotiations on the stimulus conference report. Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) responded by claiming to be much more open to bipartisan participation that the Republican majority.

I know that I chose to enter into a field dealing with Congressional politics, but sometimes all the double-talk and finger-pointing gets to me. The fact is, the Republicans never cared about giving the minority a voice in negotiations on important pieces of legislation. And the Democrats are currently carrying on that proud tradition of excluding the lesser party. Of the more than 200 Republicans in Congress, only three have been involved in negotiations, because Democratic leaders know those three will vote with them. This "bipartisan" culture is nothing but a sham. The majority always controls the conversation (As it should be). But neither side will admit it publicly, because it is more important to them to simply bash the other side. It can be very aggravating at times.