At the UN just now, the U.S. delegation has walked out on remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on the mention of allegations that the United
States orchestrated the 9/11 attacks at the behest of Israel.
Friday, September 24, 2010
U.S. Delegation Finds Guts, Honor
This pleases me to no end. I cannot tell you how unusual it is for the U.S. to do such a thing, officially. This is very good news indeed that at bottom at least some of our people retain a sense of national honor:
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Standing in stark contrast is Congress, which where Colbert will appear in character.
ReplyDeleteI don't often wish I were a Congressman, but oh what I wouldn't give...
...I understand Mr. Colbert that you are to remain in character. I refuse to address you as such and will only observe this: that you, as a comedian, are in effect a professional clown. That makes this a professional clown show. I'm not a professional clown, I'm a citizen-legislator, and so I'll be taking my leave. Any other citizen legislators of either party who wish to follow can assemble with me at the nearest starbucks and conduct the peoples business. The rest of you clowns, carry on.
Any critter with the balls to deliver something like that tomorrow will have a check in the mail by end-of-business.
Lewy....send that check to Representative John Conyers Jr.(D-Michigan-14th District), my Congressman, then. He pointedly asked Colbert to leave, since he was a unnecessary distraction for both media and Congress, but the committee chair, who invited Colbert, denied the request.
ReplyDeleteWhat amazes me is how fast the report of Conyers' comments and request were taken down across local and MSM. Guess we can't have the 2nd most senior member of Congress, a noted liberal, talking trash, eh?
lewy's check was my first thought when I read about Conyers. :)
ReplyDeleteDon't go looking for a pen just yet, lewy. Conyers caved, and Colbert proceeded to make an utter mockery of the hearing.
ReplyDeleteVideo! Conyers plugs Colbert's "march", kisses him soundly and often, then asks him to leave.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the stomach for it, here's Colbert's "testimony" before the committee. I didn't watch this one.
Conyers was civil and found no humor in the orchestrated mockery. Being old school, he even deferred briefly to his "Republican colleagues." It was an attempt, albeit futile, to keep the hearings august and not comedic fodder for a later TV episode.
ReplyDeleteI have an advantage of having met the man and had him intervene on my behalf, more than once, which I have mentioned before. He's noted for his civil rights stances, among other things, even his wildlife stances, and seeks little publicity for himself personally. He knows his constituency and that includes the cracker white ones like me.
He knows no one in his constituency will be moved one way or another by Colbert. He does his job. He represents.
And yes, I still vote for him, not for his politics but for his character. His wife is serving time now in federal prison for graft that I am sure is profoundly embarrassing for him at a very personal level. Check his modest financials out on a site that lists them for members of Congress. Greed is not his style. Yet, he made no grandstand "we are victims" rote road show out of it, staying quiet and in the back ground no matter how hard the media tried to goad him.
PS: vis a vis Conyers
ReplyDeleteI wish he was a bit more "conservative" politically. I also wish I'd win the Mega Millions Lottery.
Among politicians I've met or dealt with, he is rare and old school. He makes a promise, he keeps it. If confidence is required, he keeps it. There is more than a little grace in that. For the record, Rep John Dingell (D-Mich) is the same way. You can pass them on the street and say hello and they will stop and acknowledge you at the least. They've got no Rahm Emanuel in them.
Conyers may get an honorable mention, but no check.
ReplyDeleteI took Jourdan's post somewhat off topic but the idea was saluting people who walk out when served up a tragedy/farce cocktail they can't swallow.
See above:
The US delegation did not shake hands with Shorty A'Dinnerjacket and ask him to play nice and share the toys. They got up and walked the f*** out.
This will likely entail a price in the diplomatic community. You can't do that very often; it's seen as a serious insult and a prelude to war. (See, e.g., Japan walking out of the League of Nations). The US delegation decided this was a price worth paying. Awesome, especially coming as it did from this administration. That deserves recognition.
Conyers (or any representative) would also pay a price for walking out. Sadly none did.
Conyers protested his clown status, but at the end of the day he put on his clown hat and nose just like the rest of them. Shame.
I don't know where Ron Paul was but if he didn't avail himself of the opportunity to decline clown status, then shame on him, too.