By Michael J. Smith on Wednesday March 22, 2006 11:30 PM
JSP's last post sent me running off to look at Louise Slaughter's report. It really deserves a thorough exegesis, but staying awake might be difficult. My favorite item -- much dicussed of late in our comments here:
Americans have no confidence that their government will be able to adequately respond if a disaster (natural or man-made) strikes their community, because its agencies are staffed not by professionals, but by political cronies and lobbyists....I got a fine, salutary, cardiovascular laugh out of this. The public will turn out in droves to vote for -- "professionals"? I think the public might be happier to hang 'em from the nearest lamppost.
But it's really pretty telling, isn't it, that this endearing, earnest folly is right up there in the bullet points of the press release. It says a lot about what the party of Jefferson and Jackson has become -- namely, the party of the diploma rentiers.
Comments (2)
Just recently I've been hammering out a review for the 1951 sci-fi pic "The Man From Planet X." In the film, an alien uses a hypno-ray to turn people into pliant worker zombies who will take orders from anyone who happens to be passing by.
My question is: How is this any different from your average Democrat representative? Do lobbyists have that kind of ray?
Posted by AlanSmithee | March 23, 2006 12:41 PM
Posted on March 23, 2006 12:41
Hendrik Hertzberg says the Democrats appear to have triangulated their way into fecklessness because the appearance of fecklessness and the triangulation are part of their jobs. And anyway, they have to think about their careers. He concludes that they're not all that bad and is very careful not to mention John Conyers. He does manage to suggest that Russ Feingold is a selfish maverick.
Posted by J. Alva Scruggs | March 23, 2006 1:20 PM
Posted on March 23, 2006 13:20