WATCH: The Phantom of the Congress - Arizona's Own - Makes Rare Appearance During Shutdown Play; Ruled Out of Order

Arizona Rep. Ed Pastor (D-CD7)) rarely speaks on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.  When he rose yesterday to play his role in the theater of the absurd that has been the Congressional debate on the government shutdown, he was promptly ruled out of order.

Pastor has been in Congress for 22 years, and has probably logged fewer speaking minutes (based on a quick C-Span review) in the chamber over that time than some (e.g. John McCain) have this year alone.

During the debates the past three days, Democrats have lined up and taken turns calling on the House leadership to consider a "clean CR" - a resolution (already approved in the Senate) that will fund the federal government without Obamacare-related conditions.  With increasing vehemence, the Republican wielding the gavel at the moment has ruled them out of order.  (Arizona Reps. Ron Barber (D-CD2) and Ann Kirkpatrick (D-CD1) have also taken their turns in this parliamentary game.)

Pastor took his shot yesterday afternoon, throwing in an "outrageous" into the standard verbiage about the "Republican shutdown".



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