Great Moments in Legislating: Richard v. Schaaf

Last night, Ron Richard's frustration with Rob Schaaf boiled over. Schaaf, as you know, has been under fire recently for his claims that health care for poor children was akin to slavery, and defiantly refused to apologize for the claim.  He finally apologized yesterday, but only after causing much heartburn for the GOP leadership. 

In brilliant parliamentary move, Richard ignored House rules to gavel down Schaaf's request for a roll call vote on a proposed amendment.  Under House rules, when a Representative gets five other Members to stand in support their request, they're entitled to roll call vote.  Schaaf had a few dozen people on his side, but was gaveled down by the Speaker.

Listen to the instant classic (Richard is the first voice you hear, Schaaf is the "Gentleman from Buchanan"):

"There's like a whole bunch of people standing, Mr. Speaker!" Schaaf cried. Hilarity ensues.

I'm not sure it will make Schaaf feel any better, but Richard's been ignoring all sorts of rules lately -- he shouldn't take it too personally.