Thanks to Glenn Reynolds and Megan McArdle, this is going to be one of the funniest videos you’ll watch today:
That’s Representative Dan Rostenkowski being attacked at a town-hall meeting with his constituents. Afterwards, he plaintively asked his press officer how long it would be before the media foofaraw blew over. “Let me put it this way,” the flack is said to have replied. “When you die, they will play that clip.”
Admittedly, Dan Rostenkowski didn’t lose his job then – he got caught up in the 1994 tsunami, although he was probably on the way out then anyway – but then, in 1989 they weren’t putting practical video cameras in cell phones*. They also weren’t able to make footage showing a Congressman doing a high-speed getaway from his constituents instantly available to anybody with a decent Internet connection. And they didn’t have the capacity to let protest groups coordinate activities nationwide. But we have all these things now.
Enjoy your recess, Congress!
Moe Lane
*Heck, in 1989 what they considered a ‘cell phone’ looks strange and confusing to our eyes.