Thursday, April 10, 2008

New Member of Congress Booed At Swearing In

Rep. Jackie Speier of California was sworn in today. In the swearing in, the California delegation comes down into the space between the podium and the speaker's chair. The senior members of both parties from California, Pete Stark (D) and David Dreier (R) gave short welcomes and then the Speaker recognized the new member of Congress and she gave a short speech. In it, she said that "The process to bring the troops home must begin immediately". Then she says, "The president wants to stay the course and a man who wants to replace him suggests we could be in Iraq for 100 years." This, apparently a grievous insult to the Commander in Chief despite the fact that it is a correct description of clearly stated Republican policy, resulted in boos. Apparently the boos came from the floor, not the gallery, and the House had to be gaveled back to order. A bit later, the Speaker had to request to someone on the floor, "Will the gentlemen please take their conversations outside the chamber". The boos can be found in the YouTube video of the incident at about 08:46.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, Darrell Issa (R), a fellow member of the California delegation, actually stormed off the floor in the incident. I wonder if he's going to get lectured by David Dreier about the importance of maintaining decorum at such events?

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