What images are more apt to win your sympathy? The scowling faces of vain men with hair plugs, finger-pointing multimillionaires, and an angry, bloated drunk all essentially accusing a man they don't know of being a bigot? Or, Mrs. Alito, leaving the Senate hearings in tears? Big girls don't cry. But it really helps when they do.
After watching all the grandstanding and silly questions, it seems to me that these types of hearings really need to be behind closed doors. No reporters. No TV. And no Ted Kennedy. What a disgrace that guy is.
Wonder if Ted remembers what happened at Chappaquiddick? Dan, any idea why Kohl is even on the judiciary committee?
Ted doesn't remember what he had for breakfast. Embarrassing.
Good point. I just find it disgusting. Talk about snakes.
Hmmm...you raise an interesting idea, Obi Juan.
Would Ted Kennedy BE Ted Kennedy without TV? IMO, TV has destroyed civic participation in the political process. The media soundbite, or quick blurb in the paper that interprets what a politican is saying, has absolved most people from the responsibility of paying any substantial attention to their elective officials. Seriously, if we were forced to READ the statements made by these buffoons, as opposed to relying on the nightly news' heavily slanted "bullet point"-ized summaries, would people like Kennedy and Biden have lasted this long?
Homer, T.V. hasn't absolved, it has made them lazy. I find that members of my own family don't go beyond what the media reports. People don't seem to have the interest to look beyond the idiot box.
I think this is true. Some of my family members, friends or co-workers will take a position based on what they've seen on the box. When I ask them for details, they can't provide any more than what they've seen or heard.
If I've read about the same item, I can easily shoot them down if I disagree because not only do I have more detail but typically a couple of points of view.
It is disturbing that commuting used to mean reading a book or a newspaper. Now it means listening to and ipod and staring into space. And I expect that this carries over to most when home as well. There, it's TV over reading.
I fell in love with books in high school. I can't get enough of them. There's so much information out there. Also some good sci-fi and sword and sorcery. I bought my sisiter an ipod for Christmas. She likes it a lot. She asked if I wanted one for my birthday. I told her no way, then gave her the titles of 2 books I want. She looked at me like I was nuts, but said o.k.
I stick with my comments, William. I don't believe that Americans are generally lazy, and didn't mean to imply that TV has made them so. I only meant to suggest that the "News" has become ingrained in our culture in a way that is disturbing and has led to the situation I described. Americans, quite the opposite of being lazy, are too busy and time-strapped to do anything BUT look to the news to keep them current. It's simply a case of technology inadequately replacing what was a more effective way of keeping the American people in tune with their ELECTED officials. (Dammit, Dan, why can't we edit our posts???)
But I reject the inclination to label people as lazy or stupid because they don't get engaged in or more informed on the political process. People are just too darn busy, mostly. People do want to be informed (just recall any recent political discussions you may have had over Christmas dinner), the messenger just sucks.
To the extent of the messenger sucks, I agree totally.
When I got baaaghk, Mary Jo and the caaagh weaah gone.
asdf, the ipod and other mp4* players make it very easy to download and listen to conservative lectures while commuting. I've done it tons of times with the lectures on isi.org or mises.org.
*Hey Dan, why does the filter throw a fit on the word mp"three"?
Interesting that you bring that up as I was reading yesterday that Harvard Medical now has all of its lectures available on itunes and students are using their ipods now to help them study.
Great idea.
Although, I would suspect that fewer people are downloading lecture material than music.
Obi Juan: My spam filter blocks words that are commonly used by spammers. It's a spam filter, not an obscenity filter.
"it seems to me that these types of hearings really need to be behind closed doors. No reporters. No TV. And no Ted Kennedy. What a disgrace that guy is."
Agreed on barring Jabba the Hut, but, if this is the way the Democrats behave on TV, imagine how much worse they'd be behind closed doors, where they can do anything they want to without public scrutiny?
Well, we have some idea of how they act behind closed doors. Kennedy's and Dodd's waitress sandwich, Ted the Hut after a night of drinking waking the kids to go out for more and his nephew's subsequent drunken rape and that daily ration of Chivas.
The "Liberal Lion" from the Republic sets the moral bar so high. Perfect to argue against and judge the competence and character of others.
www.massforscott.com
Please, PLEASE, help us get Ted Kennedy out of office.
Ben,
Many have tried and many have failed. I consistently vote against him as do many others who I know. But, there are still plenty of nostalgic old democrats and liberals of all stripes who continue to keep this load in office.
The rap I get a kick out of is that he's for the working people. However..., A) What does rich, privileged Fat Ted know about "working people" and B) If he IS for the "working people", why is he continuously working to re-distribute their money to the "non-working" people"?
