I’m sorry, but I find this hysterical.
Voicemail 15: Paul. John. Man, that voicemail message. I’ve got it memorized now, ha! Ha. I just want to talk to you. Can’t we just talk? About, you know, dreams and stuff? I have a lot of dreams. Last night I had a dream. I dreamed that I was a goatherd and I lived in a deep dark tunnel where there was no regular order and the goats were very critical of my performance. But I was finally going to get to stop. I was climbing up out of the tunnel, up toward the light, where I would never have to see another goat again. I felt the breeze on my face. I saw the sunshine. And then they pulled me back. (long silence, sound like ice cubes clinking in a glass) They pulled me back, Paul. Just when I thought I was out. Just when I was reaching for the light. They pulled me back. But I can’t go back. Paul. I. Can. Never. Go. Back.
Then again, as you all know: I retain a certain rough sympathy for John Boehner. Which is no doubt a flaw in my character, and/or a sign of my being infected by the Beltway – still, there it is.
Moe Lane
PS: Dang straight I’m a goat. When it comes to political analogies… better to be a goat than to be a sheep, pig, cow, or chicken. Better by far.
I can understand an amount of sympathy .. I mean, he did what he thought was his best work, in what he believed was the best direction, and he’s .. taken rather a lot of static over it.
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That said .. since I think his direction was wrong, I’m not at all displeased that his best work wasn’t .. really all that and a bag of chips ..
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It’s gotta be a hard thing, clawing your way out of a goat-infested tunnel; I can respect the effort .. even while I point out that he was generating extra static by going the wrong way in a one-way tunnel ..
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Mew
I would like to point out, though, that the problem wasn’t, as many center-ish pundits have been proclaiming, that of over-promising and under-delivering. It was ‘promising with no intention of even trying to deliver’. Because they absolutely could have accomplished some of what we wanted.
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It’s fairly simple in concept, really. In January when Congress was convened, they should have started work on appropriations. Pick one of the twelve annual bills and work on it. Start with something relatively non-controversial like interior, and get it passed, along with a 4-6 week CR for the other 11 bills. Then go along to the next one, and repeat as necessary. Then, when you want to defund planned parenthood, the veto only shuts down a few departments, the parks are still open, the cops are still getting paid, social security and welfare checks are still going out, etc. It’s a lot easier to sustain the will to keep going. If necessary, you split up parts that are controversial into smaller parts.
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This isn’t rocket surgery. And sure, it would be a _lot_ of work, because guys like me are going to argue to defund some things on every single bill. But that’s a feature, not a bug. Deciding to use brinkmanship to shove a load of crap through at the last minute is at least some of the reason they’re in this mess to begin with.
Howie Carr yesterday mentioned that you don’t just quit The Mob. The way This Town operates, there were probably people leaning on him last year to stay. Now they’re “encouraging” Ryan to step up, like he’ll have a choice.
What is interesting is that between cable tv and the internet a lot of people are seeing a lot of representatives on tv. Representatives that have never been on any tv before (except for a local station for the 5:30 am Sunday morning public affairs programming). People are seeing these representatives on their first time on Big Time TV and are shocked surprised and angered by the products of these representatives mind-thoughts that escape between the teeth.
They should not shocked, surprised and angered. They are not actually seeing the sausage being made. They are not privy to the phone calls and the meetings where names are being put forth, factions are being rallied, and votes are being acquired.
This is not an endorsement of any candidate or faction. This is me pointing out that some representative that you have never heard of who is suddenly getting facetime with Wolf Blitzer and using that time to utter the dumbest things any human has uttered may not represent anyone but himself – if that.
Alternatively, these are members who have not yet had a chance to be taught by the establishment how to lie.
okay, I laughed so hard I got hiccups.
thank you Moe
Possibly Weepy John was afraid his exercise equipment would turn on him and attack. that can be pretty scary.