Saturday, June 17, 2006

CD8 A Quirky Open Thread

Here’s a kind of Open Thread for Data Port commenters. Your challenge: Find the humor in politics. For instance---

Patty is fond of saying that she’s a citizen candidate, not another politician. The sly implication is that her opponent is “just another politician” with all the baggage that phrase entails. Hello? Reality check, please. Patty, you’re applying for the job of politician. You’re telling us that you can do a better job of politics, take better care of the nation and the District, than Kolbe did or Giffords would.

If politician is a dirty word, and a bad thing to be, then apply for the job of somebody’s press secretary. That at least is a job for which you have the experience.

And have you all noticed that many Progressives are either scornful of, or dislike and resent, something called “the establishment,” by which they mean the men and women in the Democratic Party and in National organizations who wield power and influence both in and behind the scene in Washington?

These are exactly the people who can help a novice congressperson’s legislative career by telling them where the political bodies are buried, or help with a bill by nudging an important sub-committee member in their direction. It’s good for a congressional freshman to have a connection to the establishment.

Jeff will have great establishment connections if he is elected…the military-industrial complex, with which he has been connected most of his working life. I’m sure his former colleagues will be quick to advise him on issues of military funding and defense, in case the congressional enthusiasm for the War On Terror flags.

All that being said, have at it guys and gals.

2 comments:

Rex Scott said...

GOP-inspired humor/irony:

1. A party that used to tout itself as a bastion of fiscal prudence...and that is now responsible for pissing away a surplus and running up a huge debt.

2. A party that is suspicious of government intrusion...except in terms of telling people who they can marry or dictating control over women and their uteruses.

3. A party that was founded to counter the greatest social injustice in our nation's history...and that now callously and cravenly uses racial, social and economic divisions for political advantage.

4. A party whose country-club leaders for years encouraged right-wing attack dogs to go after Democrats...and then express shock when the hatchet men decided they wanted to run the show!

5. A party that used to be the home of the first president to make conservation a priority and another president who signed the legislation creating the EPA...and that is now run by the most anti-environmental president in history.

6. A party where many hid behind America First isolationism in the years leading up to World War Two in order to AVOID confronting Hitler...and is now the seat of America ONLY internationalism in the Middle East.

7. A party that used to be led in Congress by people like Dole, Michel, Dirksen and Baker; people who understood that you had to work with those on the other side of the aisle to really effect change...and that is now lead by shrill, nasty partisans such as DeLay, Hastert, Frist and Boehner.

wearetribal said...

Well, I think that CD 8 is the epicenter of the shredding "Big Tent" of the Republican party. Their racist base will never support continued policies that leave our borders with Mexico porous. Their corrupt big business owners, on the other hand, need workers who can be completely exploited so they can eek out that extra five million in bonus for the CEO.

These two sides are mutually exclusive of each other. You are on one side or the other. We can expect Graf supporters to abandon the Republican Party and stay home from the poles. I assume here that Graf will not be the nominee. If he is...he will not raise much money and he will top out around 30% no matter what happens or who he runs against.

Republicans face a choice between their racism and their love of unrestrained greed and lawlessness. I think it will be hilarious to watch the results.