I often find myself itching – no, not from my eczema, though that certainly doesn’t help – to grab a politician by his lapels and shake him until his brains start to work. In several cases that might be a very long shake, but on occasion a pol will display a readiness for the therapy:
Secretary Pompeo was almost there. His responses to the odious Chris Murphy were excellent returns to Murphy’s political tendentiousness. But what Murphy (and most of his Democrat colleagues) really deserve is not polite, wholly factual responses delivered in uninflected tones, but to be publicly whacked across the chops with their biases and their ill-concealed agendas.
Anger properly used can humiliate your enemy, making him slink off with his tail between his legs. Properly deployed and modulated, anger can leave your foe knowing that he’s been overmatched so completely that he’ll deem a return engagement out of the question.
When Murphy asked, querulously, how to know “which of [Trump’s] statements are policies,” Pompeo replied, entirely calmly, “Look at the policies.” While that was the exactly correct factual answer, it needed a dash of tabasco for maximum effectiveness. Perhaps like this:
(face clouding with contempt) Well, Senator, if it isn’t too much trouble, you could try looking at the policies. That might clear up your confusion.
Or imagine what Pompeo could have done with this:
(smirking) Tell me, Senator, who was it who said “After my election, I’ll have more flexibility” -- ?
The implication that Murphy is callously wasting the time of the Secretary of State, an official critically engaged in international negotiations right alongside President Trump, should hang in the air like a particularly noxious fart. The undertone, of course, should be While you’re doing your pitiful best to besmirch my boss and his administration, I have important national business to conduct.
A man is entitled to be angry about the waste of his time to answer stupid questions, especially when it’s being wasted for political purposes. It’s high time Republican officials began to display such anger. It would help to make clear exactly what’s going on.
Ironically, Barack Hussein Obama was rather good at delivering this kind of angry public riposte. His media handmaidens often applauded him for them. They might not cheer a Trump appointee, but who cares? Didn’t we elect Trump in part because he’s straightforward, especially when he’s angry?
Conservatives and republicans still are living to the code of a 'civil discourse' and 'maintaining the dignity of the office' all the while the left is shredding the manners rule book and preparing for the ultimate conquest of our nation that they are quite sure will come to pass. I really cannot understand why the opposition to the left has not recognized and/or responded in kind to the left.
ReplyDeletePolitics historically has been a bloody and winner take all process since the first time two people debated an issue. Those elected 'pretend' to maintain a civil repartee' in Congress but that is nothing but an act for the CSPAN crowd. I would bet the conversation in the various caucuses runs a bit more direct and is less than complimentary regarding their opposition.
We mere mortals here on the outside of such foolishness ache for a political figure from our side to take a solid shot against the left. Trump tosses a bomb every so often to keep his opposition upset but too many of his underlings still cling to the 'civil discussion' notion that is all but dead in today's politics.
From my viewpoint, we are in the fight of our lives in an effort to save our lifestyles and nation that we love. The left is marching upon Washington and responding to one of their verbal attacks with manners is doing nothing to protect the realm.