For some reason, I’m having a hard time with the political thing right now. Admittedly, I spent three weeks in Europe and then a week in the American Wilderness – so I’ve been away from it for a while. Maybe it’s re-entry shock. But watching Scott Jennings testify is simply excruciating. It seems like someone ought to walk in from the back of the room and knock him in the head and haul him off to prison. Why the elected, senior Senators have to listen to that kind of crap is beyond me – just beyond my sense of acceptable conduct. In this exchange with Senator Kennedy, he seems to be smirking as he explains how his briefing government employees on the agenda of the Republican Party isn’t a violation of the Hatch Act, it’s a morale booster. I’m not even sure I understand what he means by that.
Independent of how all of this comes out, Bush is condoning [encouraging] disrespect for our government and our country. This guy is not answering questions about what he did acting under a claim of Executive Privilege. As Leahy put it quite clearly, Mr. Jennings doesn’t work for the American people, he works for Mr. Bush. The background message is that our Congressional “Representatives” don’t “represent” us, only Mr. Bush “represents” us, and I wonder if he even thinks that is the case – or cares.
But more than that, it’s just exhausting to watch the news. Each piece is screwier than the last. We’re essentially a country without a government, floundering on for an unknown number of months in hopes that some sense of purpose and competence might return. I used to think Osama Bin Laden shut us down. I now think 9/11 isn’t what did it. Bush and Cheney would’ve found some other way to plunge us into the dark morass that grips us, even if the Twin Towers still stood in New York.
I guess it’s okay to have a period of being discouraged. It just seems so tragic to throw what we could have, what we could be, down the toilet for no real reason that I can see. It’s like all those ridiculous wars and monarchies in the European history classes that were so hard to keep separated. They were hard to remember because they weren’t about anything that mattered. And to have Scott Jennings sitting in a Senate Hearing acting like a perfect ass while Rome burns just feels like too much to bear. Shame on you, Scott Jennings! Shame on you!
If you have a discouraged day like I’m having, check out YearlyKOS. It’ll remind you what we’re about…
Is the registration free for YearlyKOS? It looks like their going to have some terrific speakers. I just heard Bill O’Reilly interviewing Senator Dodd about the big shindig and the web site. Of, course you know that Billo is trying to destroy the web site and Senator Dodd actually did a great job of sticking up for the YearlyKOS and what they do. It was terrific having Dodd actually getting his point across while O’Reilly was bellowing in the background.
I’ve got it.