Issa and Christie don't care about Drum!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

Public statements don’t have to make sense: In a new post, Kevin Drum marvels at a recent statement by Darrell Issa.

The statement in question was especially absurd. “It takes a special kind of mind to think you can get away with that,” the Drumster remarks.

Here on our sprawling campus, we’re puzzled by Drum’s statement. To state the obvious, Issa will “get away with that.” Issa and all others know this.

The tribalists to whom Issa is appealing won’t care about the absurdity of his statement. And at this point, there is no action or statement so absurd that a consequence will be levied via the press corps, especially if the statement in question has been made on the right.

(One exception: If Obama makes the remark, Glenn Kessler will awake from a coma to color in some Pinocchios. To ponder his growing Ahabism, go ahead—just click this.)

There is no statement or action so absurd that a consequence will be levied by the press. The proof of this point has been delivered by New Hersey's governor, Chris Christie.

Last week, Christie announced his plan for a special Senate election in mid-October, just three weeks before he himself is on the ballot running for governor.

The special election will cost New Jersey $12 million. Presumably, its peculiar date will substantially reduce voter turnout.

On the bright side, the October date increases Christie’s chances for a big blow-out win three weeks later. If the Senate election was held in November, it would bring Democrats to the polls, where they could vote against Christie.

Has there ever been a high-profile proposal which was so baldly absurd? At the time Christie made it, we wondered if it possibly could stand.

One week later, the answer is clear. At this point in our devolution, there is no proposal so absurd that it won’t be allowed to stand.

A few newspapers made half-hearted attempts to protest Christie's absurd proposal. Surely, no one believes the absurd rationale he gave for his ludicrous plan.

It’s $12 million thrown down the drain. Plainly, it's being done for Christie’s benefit and for nothing else.

To tell the truth, no one really made any attempt to say that this nonsense can’t stand. Our conclusion:

Our public discourse has ceased to exist, except for the Standard Group Stories which dominate almost all our discussions. For the most part, those Standard Stories are built upon two kinds of facts—invented and withheld.

Christie’s scam slid down smoothly. We’ve moved light-years beyond the point where things have to make sense.

Things no longer have to make sense. Fellows like Issa know this.

Things no longer have to make sense: For a second example of this principle, watch Al Sharpton any night discussing the Zimmerman trial.

We admired Sharpton for years. His conduct here is remarkable.

11 comments:

  1. if you've admired sharpton for years, there's definitely something wrong with you. what do you admire most? his lying about tawana brawley? his refusal to admit he was wrong about her totally unsubstantiated charges of rape? his refusal to pay more than $60 thousand in court ordered damages to someone he defamed, which money was paid off by other "admirers" of sharpton (or did you contribute to that?). his anti-semitic remarks in crown heights that helped fuel which one book author called the worst anti-semitic riot in american history? his urging the picketing of a black-owned store in harlem that result in some lunatic causing several deaths there? or his threats to big companies of labor troubles unless they paid him off? tell me, which of those actions of al sharpton do you admire? and why? and are you sure you are sane and not psychopathic?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks David in Cal!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sometimes Sharpton makes sense, sometimes not. He didn't in the Tawana Brawley case, and if he doesn't now it's not new.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I'd like to follow you if that would be ok. I'm definitely enjoying your
    blog and look forward to new updates.

    Also visit my site; backlinking service

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've been following both Greg Sargent and Kevin Drum's reporting on the IRS story. How the GOP is trying so hard to pin this on Obama and failing. Today I thought that it really doesn't matter if they fail to find the 'smoking gun' tying the entire scandal to Obama. It doesn't matter even if it could be perfectly proved that it was all a low level operation in the Cincinnati office. Come the 2014 elections, conservatives will use the IRS scandal to slug Dems regardless of whatever is 'proved' about the issue today. And, as you point out, the press will just let it stand.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rep, Issa's selective release of testimony transcripts is self-serving and has omitted the testimony of the manager who oversaw the IRS pursuit of Tea Parties etc. and that he testified that he's a conservative Republican and that he had no reason to believe the so-called scandal went beyond his branch.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm in NJ now visitingt old friends. One friend, Cheryl, a Prof at NJ Med School with whom my wife used to teach, specifically brought up this stupid waste of money. She convinced me that Christie deserves severe criticism. BTW Cheryl said the cost was $21 million.

    ReplyDelete
  8. you typed New Hersey...New Hershey, more like, with Christie running it

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News.
    Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News?
    I've been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thanks

    My webpage ... quick backlinks *http://bethany69.datingish.com/*

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi there! I know this is somewhat off-topic however I had to ask.
    Does operating a well-established blog such as yours take a large amount of
    work? I am brand new to running a blog however I do write in my journal on a daily basis.
    I'd like to start a blog so I can share my experience and feelings online. Please let me know if you have any kind of suggestions or tips for new aspiring blog owners. Appreciate it!

    Feel free to surf to my website - contextual link building

    ReplyDelete