You know the Rhode Island way of doing government is sickly when the habits and practices of elected officials drive the political left and right so close as to leave no space whatsoever between them. Witness Bob Kerr‘s suggestion that the state replace its current system of selecting its Speaker of the House through back-room schmoozing and deal making with a tour of the state’s hardships, which would conclude as follows:

When they are done, when they get off the bus back in Providence after looking into the faces of those who pay the hard price, they will be asked why it all happened.
And the one who keeps the straightest face while saying “It’s the governor’s fault” will be the new speaker.

For now, I’ll just renew my call for some legislator to use the speaker fight as an opportunity to showboat. Even if I don’t agree with the upstart’s policies, it would at least provide some reason for mild, abstract hope to see a politician actually “playing politics” with the goal of getting a message out.
Of course, the hope would be even greater were that message delivered from the political right (which is to say, were the message correct). How about it, Trillo, Watson, Newberry, Ehrhardt? The process (the entire government) is a joke, anyway; if all you accomplish is to emphasize that fact, you’d have done the state a service.