# Dems..don't bother to ask about how the Bush admin is spending tax dollars..
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-dont-bother-to-ask-about-how-the-bush-admin-is-spending-tax-dollars/212028
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [November 8, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-dont-bother-to-ask-about-how-the-bush-admin-is-spending-tax-dollars/212028 "2003-11-08T03:23:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-dont-bother-to-ask-about-how-the-bush-admin-is-spending-tax-dollars/212028/21 "2003-11-08T22:11:57Z")
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> \*Originally posted by Coldfire \*
> **C’mon man. Had Clinton installed a policy allowing his committee chairs to dismiss critical Republican questions as they saw fit, you would have been on the barricades, even IF the intention of installing such a measure was to cut down on frivolous questions.**
First off, they’re not his committee chairs. Bush doesn’t appoint them, they don’t answer to him. They aren’t like parliamentary ministers.
Second, this is highly irregular and unwarranted. Yet legal.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-dont-bother-to-ask-about-how-the-bush-admin-is-spending-tax-dollars/212028/22 "2003-11-08T22:19:29Z")
Off topic, but we have the same situation here in Alaska with our (largely republican) legislators. If they don’t want information requests processed, they just sit on them. Anytime one of them wants to be excused to go to the bathroom, the whole fucking bunch of them goes into caucus so the public won’t know if it was a #1 or a #2. Fuckheads.
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-dont-bother-to-ask-about-how-the-bush-admin-is-spending-tax-dollars/212028/23 "2003-11-08T22:48:32Z")
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> \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \*
> \*\*Then maybe the Democrats shouldn’t ask stupid questions. It’s kinda like the conundrum with bacteria and antibiotics… use too much penicillin and you’ll get resistant bacteria strains. Well, the Dems used too much penicillin, and now they’re being told to shut the hell up.
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> Sounds fair to me. \*\*
It’s not about the stupidity of the questions. As you could read in my previous post, I’m all for effectiveness, and I don’t think a lot of time should be spend on this particular example (the banner, and its funding). It’s pretty useless to spend an afternoon’s debate on that, all right.
The point is, that their effort to bring into place a solution looks highly suspect. **Neurotik** notes that GWB doesn’t appoint the committee chairmen. That may very well be, but the fact remains that they belong to a party, in this case the Republican party. So, you’re effectively giving one party the authority to dismiss tough questions by the other party.
That’s not fair at all. If you want to come up with a process that will reduce duplicate questions and such (as the spokesman claims), you’d do so by a procedure that doesn’t favour one party over the other right off the bat.
C’mon, **SPOOFE** , it’s all right to admit that an idea is fundamentally flawed, even if it originated from within your “own” party.
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### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dems-dont-bother-to-ask-about-how-the-bush-admin-is-spending-tax-dollars/212028/24 "2003-11-08T22:57:54Z")
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> \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \*
> \*\*Then maybe the Democrats shouldn’t ask stupid questions. \*\*
I think you’re missing the point. If the Democrats had simply asked stupid questions, the administration wouldn’t have bothered to implement this policy - why take that kind of political risk? I think it’s much more likely that some of the Democrats’ questions, on the other hand, have been very pointed, legitimate questions, ones that have the potential for causing the administration to admit some of the crap they’ve been pulling. _That’s_ why the adminstration doesn’t want to take any more questions from them. They’re putting their fingers in their ears - “La, la, la, I can’t hear you.”
Now, of course, to justify their actions, the White House will _say_ that it’s because stupid questions have been taking up their valuable time, and will trot out a few examples, but they’re just lying about their motivations. The only plausible explanation for the administration taking this stance is that they don’t want to face embarrassing questions from the opposition.
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