Letter: GOP off to scary start since Nov. 2

Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

Well it's been a month now since the Nov. 2 elections, which installed a Republican president and a Republican Congress. And what a month it's been! To recap some of the highlights:

His Republican Senate colleagues humiliated Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Spector, who campaigned as a "moderate." They forced him to retract his commitment to preserve Roe v. Wade.

The Republican House Caucus changed their rules to allow Tom Delay to continue serving as majority whip even if he is indicted.

Congress added restrictive anti-choice language to the omnibus appropriations bill without even a vote.

That same appropriations bill also included a provision allowing staff members of certain congressional committees to read the tax returns of any American. When Democrats discovered the language, Republicans denied any of them were responsible (including Rep. Ernest Istook, (R-Okla., whose name was attached to it) and finally blamed it on anonymous staff members.

The Republican congressional leadership tried to erase this embarrassment without voting to remove it, but Democrats pointed out the solution was to give members of Congress time to read bills, so this kind of problem would not arise again.

So here we are just one month after the election: humiliated moderates, overturned ethics laws, restrictions on choice, and intrusions into everyone's privacy.

Stop and think: Are American citizens better off under the Republican Congress? Or were they better under the Democratic Congress we once had?

JOHN MARCHESE