There Is No More Free Speech In The House Of Representatives
In response to Rep. Joe Wilson calling President Obama a liar the Democrats issued a resolution chiding him for the outburst. But they did more than that. They also created new rules on what sort of things can and cannot be said in the House, including how you can insult the President:
House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has released a helpful, updated primer for members regarding their conduct on the floor and in committees.
Especially useful: The section on how to properly insult the executive branch in the in the chamber.
“Disgrace” and “nitwits” — okay.
“Liar” or “sexual misconduct” — ixnay.
Under section 370 of the House Rules and Manual it has been held that a Member could:
• refer to the government as “something hated, something oppressive.”
• refer to the President as “using legislative or judicial pork.”
• refer to a Presidential message as a “disgrace to the country.”
• refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.”
Likewise, it has been held that a member could not:
• call the President a “liar.”
• call the President a “hypocrite.”
• describe the President’s veto of a bill as “cowardly.”
• charge that the President has been “intellectually dishonest.”
• refer to the President as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
• refer to alleged “sexual misconduct on the President’s part.”
So, you can’t even call someone a hypocrite? Or suggest that they’re being intellectually dishonest?
We can bemoan the “coarseness” of modern politics (here’s a hint: politics has always been coarse), and we can probably all agree that name-calling adds little to the national debate, but it seems to me that if my Representative wants to name-call in the House he (or she as the case may be) should be able to. And if I don’t like it, I’ll vote my Representative out of office.
These rules sound suspiciously like a limit on our freedom of speech. After all, what they’re saying is that our elected Representatives can’t just go on the floor of the House and say whatever they want. And perhaps it has been this way for a while. I’ve never paid attention to House rules about what members say. But as far as I’m concerned, what my Representative says in Washington DC is between him (or her) and we constituents.
