August 30, 2007

Why careerism stinks

As pointed out here, there are conservative Democrats who can't seem to recognize that the Administration is Constitutionally so far out of line that it has to be stopped. That's bad enough, but when one reads an analysis (accurate, I'm pretty sure) which says:

. . .political fear still hovers over any legislation that touches on the fight against terrorism, which, for Democrats, may be the new third rail of politics.
which is then followed by a line like this:
"People say to me, 'Well, what about the 30-second spots?' " said Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, referring to attack ads.
One wonders why the speaker wanted to get into public service in the first place.

Jack Kennedy would be hard pressed to find subjects for an updated edition of Profiles in Courage among the current members of Congress.

On the other hand, at least one Democrat fully recognizes the problem:

"We can do this, but you have to keep in mind Republicans care more about catching Democrats than catching terrorists," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. "They have spent years taking Roosevelt's notion that we have nothing to fear but fear itself and given us nothing but fear."

Posted by Linkmeister at August 30, 2007 11:30 AM | TrackBack
Comments

I don't know if Rahm Emanuel is an effective lawmaker, but he'd probably make a good comedy writer.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Peter at August 31, 2007 09:55 PM

Could be. I agree with his main point, though. Bush and his party have successfully scared a portion of the American public into believing that Middle Eastern terrorists are around every corner, which is nonsense.

Posted by: Linkmeister at September 1, 2007 10:48 AM

I seem to recall members of his administration citing the lack of a repeat of the 9/11 attacks as evidence that the Bush security measures had succeeded. They forgot that once cannot prove a negative.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Peter at September 2, 2007 08:50 PM

"I've installed an invisible elephant fence around the house."

"I don't see any elephants around here."

"See, it works."

Posted by: Linkmeister at September 2, 2007 08:59 PM