Time for Thorns

Which,  as Brian Fairrington points out,  is the most  the Congress critters deserve.

A friend purchased disgraced lobbyist Jack  Abramoff’s book about  the endemic corruption in Washington.   She is horrified.  I can’t even pretend to be surprised by any of it.  I will reads the book,  but I spent two years in college around D.C. and my opinion of congress critters hasn’t improved any.

MSNBC sticks to its  unflagging support  of His Oneness by reporting no jobs BUT also that there’s no recession.   Dan Keating says the White House assurance that we aren’t headed back into recession may be right since we  never really  left it.   Victor Davis Hanson quickly  lists the  policies which have failed,  then explains why.

And just when you thought Obama might shut up for a while after his boffo, blockbuster,  so important as to demand the venue of a joint session of Congress speech on the economy,  comes the depressing news that  more speeches   and proposals on the subject  are planned.  Leaks of such an extended roll out tell me that His Oneness has no workable plan except to claim that he does and the mean old Republicans won’t let him blow another $3 trillion to get re-elected.

Eric Allie has fashioned  a new logo  for team Obama.

His Oneness wanted to  address a  joint session of Congress  — during the time the Republican presidential debate is taking place.   His spokesman is claiming the timing is purely coincidental.  If you believe that,  I have a mountain in Florida I’d like to sell you.

Of course,  the White House also claimed they had consulted with Speaker Boehner before announcing the request,  but his office says they got notice barely 15 minutes before the announcement.  Now that the Speaker has  fired back   saying Thursday would be better,  the White House is suddenly  all reason  and sweetness.

It can’t even  bind itself,  which is another reason the debt ceiling agreement is so horrible,  but it  may also set  another dangerous precedent.   If we elected representatives  we could  actually trust….

For those of us who raise an eyebrow at the apparently overly cozy relationships between the White House,  Congress, the press and foreign officials,  this piece necessitated a run for the antacid bottle.

Why haven’t we seen another piece like this?  Do you think it’s because it hasn’t happened again?   Or because it was done far more discreetly?

Philip Klein  nails another casualty in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords   –   Congress critters now have the perfect excuse to avoid meeting with their constituents,  and indeed they are already whining about  security concerns.

The one thing we do know about it is that Sarah Palin isn’t responsible for it,  as the  Left contends.   That’s part of what one of Robert Stacy McCain’s readers terms the  colossal failure of journalism.   Of course,  that’s when they aren’t blaming FOX News and admonishing we lesser mortals to stop our  heated rhetoric.  Speaker Boehner’s  remarks are once again graceful and appropriate,  even before any comparison with the strident accusations of the Left.

Byron York  compares reporting on this incident versus Major Hassan at Fort Hood.   The  double standard for incitement is alive and very well.   This is how it looks to someone from across the pond.   Andrew Stuttaford has  an interesting  round-up.

This is just one more log on the fire of why Congress critters should be required to hold at least one job in the real world   (not  “public service”).  And nobody should serve more than 12 years under any circumstances.

None of this may prevent them from being adults who can’t cope, but at least we won’t have to listen to them for as long.

The Old Gray Lady  found Charlie Rangel’s behavior puzzling,  but his attempt at winning public opinion is an extension of his efforts over the past 2 years,  and I never thought he’d have the bottom to stay and hear the charges against him.

He can’t be very happy that the ethics committee took only the day to determine  that the facts,  as presented by the prosecution,  were not in dispute and that Rangel had not refuted the charges.

Dana Milbank thinks the whole thing  is a farce.    Here is Rangel whining and complaining response to the mess he created.   Charles Hurt has a  grand piece on it all.

What I think is that nobody on camera today had the balls to come out and state the plain truth,  which is that Charlie Rangel is a corrupt politician who thinks the rules should not apply to him, and is perfectly willing to lie,  obfuscate,  deny and delay to escape his punishment.  He should be expelled from Congress.   He is likely to receive a slap on the wrist.   On the other hand,  approval of Congress  is  in the low double digits  –  this should drive it down further.

Insider trading gets us sent to jail,  but just  enriches Congress because members and staffers don’t live under the same laws they place on the rest of us.