A Little Morning Humor... and Disgust
Justin Katz
I sure hope Sheldon Whitehouse writes his own speeches, because I'd hate to think that somebody (let alone taxpayers) paid for this:
But for the duration of our Republic, even though our Republic is admittedly imperfect, that light has shone more brightly and more steadily here in this Republic than in any place on earth: as we adopted the Constitution, the greatest achievement yet in human freedom; as boys and men bled out of shattered bodies into sodden fields at Antietam and Chicamagua, Shiloh and Gettysburg to expiate the sin of slavery; as we rebuilt shattered enemies, now friends, overseas and came home after winning world wars; and as we threw off bit by bit ancient shackles of race and gender to make this a more perfect union for all of us.
The speech is overflourished throughout and peppered with a laughable naivete about political and governmental realities. Its purpose is to make a vague call for "discovery, disclosure and discussion" of the asserted misdeeds of the Bush administration, in which regard, Whitehouse is like the kid who so enjoyed mocking the disliked teacher that he wants the gang to go slash her tires after class.
A democracy repairs itself. Enough people wanted "change" that the country elected a president and legislature from the other party. The process of shifts in the following will traverse the natural course of our political and governmental system:
In short, when you have pervasive infiltration into all the halls of government - judicial, legislative, and executive - of the most ignoble forms of influence; when you see systematic dismantling of historic processes and traditions of government that are the safeguards of our democracy; and when you have a bodyguard of lies, jargon, and propaganda emitted to fool and beguile the American people.
The Senator is free to join the inevitable mob of hypocrites who treat as essential much greater reconfigurations than those for which they lambasted the previous administration (as with the "politically motivated" lawyer firings). But if Whitehouse wants a more significant purge than existing law has already set into motion with the change of administrations, then he's not just an oaf, but dangerous. In his blue blood ignorance, he'd usher in a North American Banana Republic.
As a constituent, I therefor request that my Senator repeat the last line of his speech over and over, like a mantra, for at least a half-hour per day:
I yield the floor.
(via Ian)
How could he write his own stuff?He is so busy at the polo match,dontcha' know?
A useless,blathering empty suit.The Senate is getting filled with more human crap as each day goes by.If Franken gets in,it will prove that chamber is really a chamber pot.
Sheldon Whitehouse is just another noblesse oblige blue blood empty suit, looking to provide meaning for his existence in the "higher" world of politics, err, "public service," so that he need not have to dirty his hands in the rough and tumble world of private enterprise.
Which also insulates him from private enterprises' gravitational pull toward meritocracy and performance and results.
He's slightly smarter than his silver-spoon peer Lincoln Chafee; and way smarter than his silver-spoon peer Patrick Kennedy (who isn't?).
But he's still an empty suit ... a not off the rack empty suit, but an empty suit nevertheless.
But hey, this is Rhode Island. We like our politicians to be either dimwit blue bloods or clever crooks!
The irony of hearing conservatives who couldn't get rid of Chafee fast moan about Whitehouse is simply...delicious.
File under "be careful what you wish for."
Rhody-I wasn't thrilled with Chafee,but he was tolerable.I voted for him.
Rhody-I wasn't thrilled with Chafee,but he was tolerable.I voted for him.
Rhody,
This isn't a case of "be careful what you wish for."
When it comes to policy, Chafee and Whitehouse are interchangeable.
The benefit is that Chafee is not longer diluting the Republican Party.
Similarly, the RIGOP would be better off without Avedisian and Savage, and is better of with Long and Gibbs gone.
Let the liberals and their go along to get along "moderate" Republican sycophants go under the Democrat umbrella of collectivism, and leave the Republican Party to advocate for the true American values of free minds, free markets and individual liberty.
Ragin, that kind of thinking is precisely why the GOP is in the jam it's in.
The Democrats started winning elections after they stopped subjecting their own candidates to the ideological purity test. The Republicans will get positive results by doing the same.
Rhody,
It's not an ideological purity test, but an ideological compatibility test - Chafee, Avedisian etc. are indistinguishable from Democrats.
If their ilk is what the Republicans need, then the GOP would be thriving in the Northeast. This is where it does the worst. It has gotten more "moderate" in California, and continues to shrink there as a result.
The Democrat constituencies are those who feed off of the public trough - public sector workers, welfare recipients and illegal aliens.
Everyone else is a natural Republican, even if they don't (yet) recognize it.
Here in Rhode Island is a perfect example, those who work in the private sector vote against their own self-interest when they vote Democrat, though many still fall for the falsehood that Democrats representing "working families."
"Republicans" who try to kiss up to the public trough constituencies lack appeal to self-aware taxpayers, and have less appeal to the trough feeders than the "real thing" Democrats. Hence the Republican decline in periods when it is more "moderate" (1950-80) and places where it is more "moderate" (New England).
The problem is that the GOP's national leadership was completely hijacked by the Southerners. They immediately banished Northerners (look at the way they muscled JOHN Chafee out of the Senate leadership after they took Congress in '94).
These Southerners running the GOP decided they had no use for our part of the country. That's offensive to me not as a political partisan or independent, but as a lifelong New Englander.
Any wonder how people outside the South got turned off by the GOP? (And judging by the last couple of elections, some people in the South are beginning to question the obsession with God, guns and gays, too.)
Rhody-God is a personal matter;gays I don't give a damn about one way or the other;guns is where I draw the line-I won't bow down to social engineering motherf**kers now or ever and there are a lot of us-sneer if you like,but it won't be pretty if things pick up in that area-liberals never learn-like that malignant dwarf Reich dissing white male construction workers-I am always amazed how "intellectuals"manage to piss on their shoes when they open their mouths.
A word of advice to liberals-learn when to leave well enough alone when thinking about people who aren't actively screwing with you.most of us have a live and let live philosophy-the social engineering types ought to try it out.
Click here for the new Anchor Rising & Ocean State Current page
About Community Crier
About Engaged Citizen
How could he write his own stuff?He is so busy at the polo match,dontcha' know?
Posted by: joe bernstein at January 24, 2009 1:22 PMA useless,blathering empty suit.The Senate is getting filled with more human crap as each day goes by.If Franken gets in,it will prove that chamber is really a chamber pot.
Sheldon Whitehouse is just another noblesse oblige blue blood empty suit, looking to provide meaning for his existence in the "higher" world of politics, err, "public service," so that he need not have to dirty his hands in the rough and tumble world of private enterprise.
Which also insulates him from private enterprises' gravitational pull toward meritocracy and performance and results.
He's slightly smarter than his silver-spoon peer Lincoln Chafee; and way smarter than his silver-spoon peer Patrick Kennedy (who isn't?).
But he's still an empty suit ... a not off the rack empty suit, but an empty suit nevertheless.
But hey, this is Rhode Island. We like our politicians to be either dimwit blue bloods or clever crooks!
Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at January 24, 2009 1:23 PMThe irony of hearing conservatives who couldn't get rid of Chafee fast moan about Whitehouse is simply...delicious.
Posted by: rhody at January 24, 2009 5:05 PMFile under "be careful what you wish for."
Rhody-I wasn't thrilled with Chafee,but he was tolerable.I voted for him.
Posted by: joe bernstein at January 24, 2009 5:12 PMRhody-I wasn't thrilled with Chafee,but he was tolerable.I voted for him.
Posted by: joe bernstein at January 24, 2009 5:12 PMRhody,
This isn't a case of "be careful what you wish for."
When it comes to policy, Chafee and Whitehouse are interchangeable.
The benefit is that Chafee is not longer diluting the Republican Party.
Similarly, the RIGOP would be better off without Avedisian and Savage, and is better of with Long and Gibbs gone.
Let the liberals and their go along to get along "moderate" Republican sycophants go under the Democrat umbrella of collectivism, and leave the Republican Party to advocate for the true American values of free minds, free markets and individual liberty.
Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at January 24, 2009 6:17 PMRagin, that kind of thinking is precisely why the GOP is in the jam it's in.
Posted by: rhody at January 24, 2009 9:16 PMThe Democrats started winning elections after they stopped subjecting their own candidates to the ideological purity test. The Republicans will get positive results by doing the same.
Rhody,
It's not an ideological purity test, but an ideological compatibility test - Chafee, Avedisian etc. are indistinguishable from Democrats.
If their ilk is what the Republicans need, then the GOP would be thriving in the Northeast. This is where it does the worst. It has gotten more "moderate" in California, and continues to shrink there as a result.
The Democrat constituencies are those who feed off of the public trough - public sector workers, welfare recipients and illegal aliens.
Everyone else is a natural Republican, even if they don't (yet) recognize it.
Here in Rhode Island is a perfect example, those who work in the private sector vote against their own self-interest when they vote Democrat, though many still fall for the falsehood that Democrats representing "working families."
"Republicans" who try to kiss up to the public trough constituencies lack appeal to self-aware taxpayers, and have less appeal to the trough feeders than the "real thing" Democrats. Hence the Republican decline in periods when it is more "moderate" (1950-80) and places where it is more "moderate" (New England).
Posted by: Ragin' Rhode Islander at January 24, 2009 9:36 PMThe problem is that the GOP's national leadership was completely hijacked by the Southerners. They immediately banished Northerners (look at the way they muscled JOHN Chafee out of the Senate leadership after they took Congress in '94).
Posted by: rhody at January 25, 2009 3:20 PMThese Southerners running the GOP decided they had no use for our part of the country. That's offensive to me not as a political partisan or independent, but as a lifelong New Englander.
Any wonder how people outside the South got turned off by the GOP? (And judging by the last couple of elections, some people in the South are beginning to question the obsession with God, guns and gays, too.)
Rhody-God is a personal matter;gays I don't give a damn about one way or the other;guns is where I draw the line-I won't bow down to social engineering motherf**kers now or ever and there are a lot of us-sneer if you like,but it won't be pretty if things pick up in that area-liberals never learn-like that malignant dwarf Reich dissing white male construction workers-I am always amazed how "intellectuals"manage to piss on their shoes when they open their mouths.
Posted by: joe bernstein at January 25, 2009 4:50 PMA word of advice to liberals-learn when to leave well enough alone when thinking about people who aren't actively screwing with you.most of us have a live and let live philosophy-the social engineering types ought to try it out.