One of the cuter Christmas cartoons was that of The Powerpuff Girls. In this Christmas adventure, one of their foes by the name of Princess Morbucks sneaks into Santa’s office at the North Pole only to discover that she is the sole name on the “Naughty” list. She has a complete tantrum and swaps the titles on the “Naughty” and “Nice” lists so that she would be the only recipient of her Christmas wish – to possess all of the superhuman powers of the Powerpuff Girls.

Her plan is caught in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and the Powerpuff Girls end up in a race to the North Pole with Morbucks where they use their powers to stop the momentum of one another. What makes this especially enjoyable for children is when Morbucks is stopped in her progress to be passed up by the Powerpuff Girls and she howls, “NO FAIR!” It brings giggles to kids because even small children have some sense of hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, Republicans started their own calls of unfair treatment – by the rules and precedents they themselves put into place. And what is their example of fairness, without even the slightest hint of irony? Nancy Pelosi’s call for Minority Rights in 2004. Reporters must be thanking their deities for presenting them with such self-writable stories.

“The bill we offer today, the minority bill of rights, is crafted based on the exact text that then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi submitted in 2004 to then-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert,” declared McHenry, with 10 Republican colleagues arrayed around him. “We’re submitting this minority bill of rights, which will ensure that all sides are protected, that fairness and openness is in fact granted by the new majority.”

Omitted from McHenry’s plea for fairness was the fact that the GOP had ignored Pelosi’s 2004 request — while routinely engaging in the procedural maneuvers that her plan would have corrected. Was the gentleman from North Carolina asking Democrats to do as he says, not as he did?

“Look, I’m a junior member,” young McHenry protested. “I’m not beholden to what former congresses did.”

Anne Kornblut of the New York Times asked McHenry if his complaint might come across as whining.

“I’m not whining,” he whined.

It really takes a set of brass ones (for Rep. Kay Grainger, the only female, no small feat) to get up in front of the media and complain about not having rights that your own Party took away from the minority years ago. But that’s exactly what they did. Rep. Patrick McHenry, Rep. Eric Cantor and Rep. Tom Price actually had the audacity to sign a letter that stated, at best, their wishes not to be treated as Dems have been for the past 12 years – at worst, their shameless hypocrisy.

What has been more interesting is that this congressional session had not even started yet when the cries of unfair treatment started sounding from the new Minority Party. Moreover, the right-wing blogs have been absolutely outraged that Dems would dare shut out the GOP from their “Six for ‘06″ legislative measures. In my ongoing discussions with Robert, it seems that at least some of the GOP-faithful were blissfully unaware of any unfair treatment towards Dems since the Gingrich Revolution. I don’t think the majority of conservatives realize that this is the GOP precedent that the Dems are using against them. The fact that they’re sending junior members to speak to the press to give their rank hypocrisy a thin venere of credibility speaks volumes. I just keep hearing Princess Morbucks – “NO FAIR!”

What you won’t read at too many other liberal blogs is that I sympathize, regardless of the burning irony of it all. It is morally questionable for Democrats to use the very tactics that shamed the GOP against the GOP. There are a ton of clichés that one could use to somehow justify this political retribution – “Paybacks are a bitch”, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”, etc. It doesn’t change the fact that I, for one, hold my representatives to a higher standard than that; as should we all.

But then again, we live in a society where behavior that is unacceptable for our children is often the behavior that adults will display. Indeed, even if Democrats only resort to shutting the GOP out for the “100 hours” and use the rest of their time in the Majority as a fair and benevolent governing body, you can bet dollars to donuts that the GOP will use that as an excuse to revert back to the way they ran things from 1995-2006.

In case any of my Republican readers need any fresh examples…

Tom DeLay’s Little Black Book

The rumor was that after the GOP took control of the House that year [1995], DeLay had begun keeping a little black book with the names of Washington lobbyists who wanted to come see him. If the lobbyists were not Republicans and contributors to his power base, they didn’t get into “the people’s House.” DeLay not only confirmed the story, he showed me the book. His time was limited, DeLay explained with a genial smile. Why should he open his door to people who were not on the team?”

Sensenbrenner’s Disregard for House Rules

“No, I will not yield,” replied Sensenbrenner, 61, the heir to a paper fortune who is known for a brusque insistence on decorum. He completed his reproof of the witnesses and left the Rayburn House Office Building hearing room amid a cacophony of protests from Democrats seeking to be recognized.

Stevens Refusal to Swear In Oil Company Executives

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney’s energy task force in 2001 — something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.

*snip*

The executives were not under oath when they testified, so they are not vulnerable to charges of perjury; committee Democrats had protested the decision by Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) not to swear in the executives. But a person can be fined or imprisoned for up to five years for making “any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation” to Congress.

Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier in response to Pelosi’s 2004 call for Minority Rights?

Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) said in an interview that Democrats are crying about the process because they are losing policy debates over job creation and progress in Iraq. His mission as chairman, he said, is “to move our [Republican] agenda, and to do it in the fairest and most responsible way possible. And I do it in that order.”

“NO FAIR!!!” bellow the Republicans, now forced to eat the rules they themselves put in place. While I’m inclined to agree, there’s a certain level of poetic justice to it all.