The American Spectator

p> BUMP THE RUMP CONGRESS BR>Re: Jed Babbin's In the Name of God, Go : p>The statement by Oliver Cromwell when he dismissed the Rump Parliament was also made (more famously, IMHO) by Conservative MP Leo Amery against Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in the House of Commons in May 1940. Leo Amery was a long standing and well respected Conservative MP and a colleague of Winston Churchill — he was one of the pitifully few MPs who supported Churchill in voting in Parliament against the Munich Agreement in 1938 to sell out Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany, standing almost alone against what was probably the lowest, most cowardly and shabbiest deal in parliamentary democracy in the last one hundred years. p>In May 1940 Amery made a highly critical attack on Chamberlain in the House of Commons over his management of the war, finishing his speech with the famous, damning dismissal made by Cromwell to the Rump Parliament. Churchill later credited Amery's speech to the House of Commons and the quote from Cromwell in particular as the event that instigated Chamberlain's downfall and Churchill's own election as Prime Minister. The rest, as they say, is history. Let us all be eternally thankful. p>While Cromwell can certainly claim first use of those particular words, I think their later use by Leo Amery in May 1940 against Neville Chamberlain is probably more dramatic, more relevant to history and to the lesson on the importance of replacing weak, cowardly and incompetent leaders with people who have the guts and the vision to get on with the job, regardless. BR>— Christopher Holland BR>Canberra, Australia p>Mr. Babbin has once again hit a hard line drive towards the right field fence. Telling congress to go home and stop doing whatever it is they're doing is always a good idea. I have long been a proponent of grid lock. It keeps them from doing anything to me, as opposed to for me which is really quite rare. p>The only reason Mr. Babbin's line drive doesn't go out of the park is his saying they should come back next year and start over. p>Umm…NO!