Lord Vader brooked no failure and punishment was swift and final. New Hampshire Democrat Terie Norelli, as either Majority or Minority leader, has never been one to tolerate dissent either. And while she’s not (to our knowledge) ever strangled anyone with the force, she has strangled their careers, used inter-caucus bullying and intimidation to bring them around or shut them down, ignored their ideas, refused to teach them, and even driven them from office…and that’s just the Democrats.
So anyone who ever thought Democrat leadership–all the way up to Maggie Hassan–was serious about this “can’t we all get along” here’s a smile and a coke crap the minute the microphones are turned off, has another thing coming.
Inside sources report that Norelli has already begun punishing Democrats who voted against her for speaker, removing them from committees and replacing them with people who don’t even want to serve in those seats.
I’ve got stories about Democrat reps who voted their conscience, and not that of Darth Norelli, and found themselves the object of caucus ridicule and intimidation; they were threatened with or lost seat assignments, parking spaces, the latter while Norelli was minority leader.
When Lady Sith was speaker in previous sessions, Democrat reps have complained about being ignored by leadership, treated like outcasts if they tried to represent their own distict and not just the lefty leadership agenda, and even run out of office.
Sound familair?
Herding 400 House cats is not easy but it is part of what keeps New Hampshire more free. So yeah, there is going to be some aggressive movement from leadership to try and get things done. There are always going to be disagreements, hurt feelings, and conflict. But it takes a Democrat to pretend they didn’t do as much or worse, or that they’ll change their stripes if they coo and cuddle and spin some magic phrases.
The next two years will be not much different than any other under Norelli’s heel. But the irony of it all is this. The only safe place to be under Darth Norelli’s leadership…is probably in the Republican Caucus.
