Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Why Do I Read Larry Sabato?

I'll deduce the answer right now: because other people do. I need to know what they know. I need to know what they know to counter the crap people are willing to shove into their noggin from Mr. Sabato, who some people seem to consider a political god. I think he's much more like the Bay State's own John Keller, except maybe a little more eloquent in print.

Now, don't get me wrong. Sabato can have his moments, but his latest "Crystal Ball" was anything but a moment of clarity or political genius.

Yet as Kennedy flew to the Mayo Clinic for yet more drug dependency treatment, he took Democrats' hopes of running against the Republican "culture of corruption" with him.

It would be one thing if there were only Tom DeLay, or Goss, or just "Duke" Cunningham, or just Abramoff, or Bill Frist, or Scooter Libby. Instead, all of these members of the Republican leadership are currently being boiled alive in their own scandals. It isn't just one person - it's the entire Republican leadership.

Cunningham's in prison - Abramoff to follow. Tom DeLay is retiring and may be heading to the joint himself, with Scooter Libby likely to follow him. Libby and Abramoff are both likely to squeal like pigs to save their skin.

But damn that Kennedy! His car accident and drug problem equals the lie the brought America to war, the American torture chambers in Eastern Europe, the outing of a CIA agent for political revenge... and more than a dozen examples of extreme corruption not seen since Nixon was forced to flee office.

This congressman with the celebrity name grabbed everyone's attention, and he reminded the public in an unforgettable way that sleaze and corruption and special favors on Capitol Hill are very much bipartisan. That's what the American people believe anyway, and now they have had it confirmed in new headlines.
Writing has an amazing quality. If you write it, people will believe it. If Sabato and the like keep repeating themselves, people will indeed believe it. As of now, America favors Democrats being in charge on Capitol Hill... so I'm inclined to disagree with Sabato. However, I'm sure he'll keep prophesizing it until he says it enough times that it becomes true.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about Alan Mollahan?

My favorite though, is Nancy Pelosi. Everyone loves to talk about how horrible Tom DeLay is, it's practically a national passtime. However, in 2004, Sen. Pelosi was found guilt of the saaaaaaaaameeee thing that Tom DeLay did. "Fund-raising committee...improperly accepted donations over federal limits" Two of her PACs were found to be circumventing the law to raise more money for her.
However, she was not forced to resign because the Democratic party doesn't have the same rule that caused DeLay to resign from a Republican seat.

Ryan Adams, if you call on Nancy Pelosi to resign her seat, I will give you a mighty round of applause and will never again mention Tom DeLay's persecution to you again.

Ryan said...

I'm not familiar with what Nancy Pelosi did, or her role in what was done.

However, what Tom DeLay did has nothing to do wth Republican party policy and everything to do with Texas state law. He didn't resign to save his party from an embarrissment, he resigned because he saw the writing on the wall: his case is going to go to trial.

However, I'd be happy to read more about Pelosi, I just severely doubt anything that she did personally would compare to DeLay... who alterered the entire make-up of national politics through irregularly changing district lines after a district change had already been done just a year or so earlier, which was the sole reason Republicans increased their seat count last election.

Anonymous said...

Here's the most succinct article on Pelosi's crime I could find..

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/10/1/103918.shtml

In comparison, here's Delay's wiki, which is pretty thourough about what he did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_DeLay

Look at that, they did the same thing. Nancy Pelosi could have been indicted, but she wasn't, but Tom DeLay was, and we all know that was some district attorney trying to bring down the man. I'm not defending him, but that's what happend.

Tom DeLay's gerrymandering are hardly new or criminal. Look at us, for instance. The 10th Bristol district is my favorite...it's Marion, Mattapoisett, Rochester and Middleboro, and I dont know if you know the area well, but all those towns are considerably more conservative than a lot of the state, and then bunched with those is Fairhaven...A democrat stronghold. That is 100% gerrymandering right there.

He resigned because the Republican Party has a rule that if a majority/minority leader is indicted, they have to step down from that position (the democratic party has no such rule) and then the subsequent resignation of his seat was more of a courtesy. Since that happend, the case has pretty much gone nowhere.

Ryan said...

It wasn't just the gerrymandering, it was the fact that they redistricted 2 years after the previous because they won the state legislature - in great part using the money DeLay illegally raised.

I'll read the stuff on Nancy Pelosi. I've never been a big fan of her and if she did something I think was shady, I'll be the first to let you know. There are bad people on both sides.

Anonymous said...

Might be weird coming from someone of my political leanings, but an open mind is the best I can ask for.

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