Remember that golden age of five months?

Boy am I sick of this crap.

I have heard, time after time, even from my own family, the conservative excuse for not doing something that obviously needs doing. It's a magic phrase that somehow absolves the Republicans in Congress from doing a goddamn thing. John Boehner used it as an excuse just today for not passing meaningful gun control measures.

If the Democrats really care about [important issue] then why didn't they do something when they controlled both houses of Congress in 2009-2010?

First of all, it's a pathetic excuse. The fact that someone in the past didn't take action doesn't release you from having to take action. What are you, seven years old?

But deeper than that, it's bullshit because of, well, reality.

The 111th Congress was sworn in on January 3, 2009. To accomplish anything against a united, filibustering, obstructionist Republican minority in the Senate, the Democrats had to have 60 votes for everything. But when Congress was seated, the Democrats only had 59 votes. Remember Norm Coleman?

Norm Coleman was the incumbent Republican asshat from Minnesota who contested Al Franken's victory, causing a delay in seating Franken. The Democrats didn't gain their sixtieth seat until June 30. So there's at least six months when the Democrats literally couldn't pass anything they wanted.

Then, two months later, in August, 2009, Senator Teddy Kennedy died and was replaced temporarily, another month later, by Paul Kirk who did not run in the special election for the seat. Inexplicably and to their eternal shame, Massachusetts voters selected Scott Brown (R) to replace Kennedy in early 2010, ending the Democrats super-majority of sixty votes.

So at best, the Democrats had five months of a 60 seat majority. And legislation takes TIME. Much of that time was used to try and compromise with the uncompromising Republicans to pass healthcare reform, the President's second priority after the stimulus was passed. So it's completely understandable that the Democrats didn't have time to solve every single f'ing problem plaguing America. Still, the stimulus did lift us out of the recession and healthcare reform, though it passed after Scott Brown took office, has worked out really well for tens of millions of Americans.

And I'm not even going into the conservative Blue Dog Democrats who made getting 60 votes even more difficult during that entire two year period.

So conservatives, stop trotting out this ridiculous, inaccurate excuse. It's stupid, childish and doesn't reflect what actually happened.

If you really want to see what Democrats can do for the country, throw these idiot Republicans out next year and elect super-majorities of Democrats. We'll all be much better off.