Ah yes, our great American Congress

by phantom818 on Jan 7, 2009 7:21 PM EST

The BCS National Championship. While unfortunately not something us Penn State fans have a major stake in, some government members are perfectly willing to forego their elected duties in order to enjoy themselves:

Thursday's championship football game between No. 2 Florida and No. 1 Oklahoma is obviously a big game, but big enough to shut down Congress?

Rep. Cliff Stearns hopes so. Stearns, a Republican from Ocala, wrote to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday asking her to move votes scheduled for Thursday evening and Friday so House members from Florida and Oklahoma can go to the Bowl Championship Series national title game.

Stearns wrote, "As you may be aware, on Thursday January 8, theUniversity of Florida and the University of Oklahoma will play for the national football championship. Members of the Florida and Oklahoma delegations have expressed interest in attending the game as the congressional schedule allows. However, votes are currently scheduled to continue into Thursday night and Friday afternoon. We ask that you move these votes to either Wednesday and/or Thursday morning to allow Members to attend this historic game."

Sorry, Cliff...you actually have to do your job like the millions of other Americans for whom you help draft legislature. I guess the representative didn't think the certification of an Electoral College vote was that big of a deal.

Pelosi's office said she would not agree to the request. Among the votes to be considered Thursday afternoon is certification of the Electoral College vote that gives Barack Obama the presidency.

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Comments

LOL

“I’ll take my sports without politics thank you.”

Huh? I’m not sure I follow. Your post (on a Penn State blog) has nothing to do with Penn State and everything to do with politics!

by BSM PSU 93 on Jan 8, 2009 8:39 AM EST reply actions

Haha

I love to contradict myself. I just figured I’d buy into the media hype for a day. It didn’t seem to work out well for me haha. There was also that great story about the Utah government official saying he would sue the BCS. What comedy we have. Both glad and sorry you picked up on that final statement haha. Confusing stuff.

by phantom818 on Jan 8, 2009 9:28 AM EST reply actions

Well...

I was moreso commenting on your dubious choice of platforms for political banter. You obviously have a gripe with either Cliff Stearns or the Republican party and, for some reason, you chose a Penn State sports blog as your soapbox for ragging on them. It doesn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.

by BSM PSU 93 on Jan 8, 2009 9:51 AM EST up reply actions

Are you being fecetious?

Because it seems like you’re the one trying to read some kind of partisan politics into quotes out of a news article. This kind of “postpone official business for football” thing happens every year. It could have just as easily been a rank and file Democrat from California or Oklahoma writing to Dennis Hastert in 2005 prior to confirming the president.

I really didn’t read anything political other than general government silliness until I read your comment. I suppose you’ve succeeded in proving that anything involving the federal gov’t will be turned political by someone!

by gcdyersb on Jan 8, 2009 11:38 AM EST up reply actions

I don't hate Stearns and I certainly don't hate Republicans...

I’m an independent (I’m not a fan of parties) from a Republican family [figured I’d clarify that for you]. I just wanted to make a post informing those that didn’t already know about another silly incident involving the government. I apologize if you took it the wrong way. I in no way intended to attack any particular congress member or party with this post. All I intended was to post a new article getting a lot of press by ESPN at the time. Again, I apologize if it came off wrong or I offended you or anyone. I personally hate politics, but if this was clearly wrong I will gladly delete the post after I see you’ve seen my comment and responded. Again, hope you understand what I was trying to do. In no way was I attacking anyone…just posting more ‘government silliness’ if you will. I find it kind of funny.

by phantom818 on Jan 8, 2009 2:04 PM EST up reply actions

Also, the news was related to college football...

and I figured since a lot of us are college football fans, it’d be interesting news. Many of us can relate to not wanting to go to work or have to honor certain obligations due to a big athletic event scheduled for that day or night. Trust me, I’m the last person to engage in a political debate of any kind, nor was I much of a soapbox person. Apologize again for coming off that way and hope you understand and there’s no hard feelings. I just wanted to rehash, link and quote an interesting news story and didn’t mean for it to be read any further into what it is: another silly news story…like the government official from Utah contemplating suing the BCS as well.

by phantom818 on Jan 8, 2009 2:08 PM EST up reply actions