The Clueless & Classless, Expounded

Rather than hijack another of Jen's posts, I'll expand upon it here.

Here's the exchange between Babbling Boxer and Condi Rice:

RICE: "I could never and I can never, do anything to replace any of those lost men and women in uniform or the diplomats, some of --"

Stop the tape for a moment. What does this sound like Secretary Rice is saying? Sounds like a groveling apology to me. An apology for fighting a war that was thrust upon us. An apology for fighting a war for which we did not ask, and from which we cannot escape without winning the damn thing. And an apology evidently intended to somehow "prove" her "compassion" to an audience who will never be convinced of it or of the necessity of the sacrifices the SecState is here lamenting.

BOXER: Madam Secretary, please. I know you feel terrible about it. That's not the point. I was making the case as to who pays the price for your decisions. Now, the issue is: Who pays the price? Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young. You're not going to pay particular price, as I understand with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families.

I guess the point was to make Secretary Rice feel even worse about it, which must be why Boxer threw in the cheap shot about not having a family. Or perhaps Boxer didn't believe that Rice was being sincere in her groveling. Either way, the larger point Boxer is making is that it is a "price" that isn't worth paying, as though we had a choice in the matter, or that the alternative to this "price" isn't a much larger one later on.

But compared to freshman Donk Representative Steve Kagan, Boxer was the picture of maturity and civility. There's no way to get a full picture of what an utter prick this asshole is than to quote this portion in its entirety:

"While meeting last month with a group of area peace activists, then Congressman-elect Steve Kagen told a story of his first visit to the White House ... He told the group one of the first lessons he learned in Washington is to never pass up a rest room because you don’t know when you’ll see one again.

"He’d already had a long day of freshman orientation when he and his wife, Gail, were expected at the White House. Upon arrival, he asks a Marine where he can find a rest room, and is sent down a long flight of stairs, to another Marine, who directs him to a rest room. 'It’s a small room – two spots on the wall, one stall one sink. I see in the mirror the door opens, and who walks in, Karl Rove ... After Rove washed his hands ('At least he’s a hand washer,' Kagen said), he attempted to leave, but Kagen prevented his departure by holding the door closed and said, '"You’re in the White House and you think your safe, huh? You recognize me? My name’s Dr. Multimillionaire and I kicked your ass."' Kagen expected to make Rove squirm, but said [Rove] acted like it was a tennis match and simply said, "Oh, congratulations." 'We’re walking up these long steps, I stopped him and said, "Look, the race is over. We’re here to do the people’s business. I want you to join me on something, but you can’t steal it, I’ve got the trademark: No patient left behind." "'He goes, "I like the sound of that."

We get to the top of the steps and there’s Vice President Cheney with a glass of white wine and a hand in his pocket. So I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity. Gail wasn’t there to hold me back. "Mr. Vice President, thank you for your service to the nation, and thank you so much for coming to Green Bay and campaigning against me. I couldn’t have won without your help." He then asked Cheney to enunciate his vision for Iraq. He says that Cheney said: '"Well, I'd like to see a stable government that could take care of itself and its people." I said, "At what price?" He said, "I don’t understand your point." I walked away.

Then we had an opportunity to take a picture with the President and his wife. I was feeling real good at this point. I said to my wife, "Honey, just follow my lead." She said, "Steven, it’s the President." I said, "Yeah, but he’s not any taller than I am." So the cameraman’s here. We’re introduced by a Marine. "'I said, "Mr. President, thank you for coming to Green Bay. My name is Dr. Multimillionaire. That was before the race. Now they call me Doctor Thousandaire. I couldn’t have won without you coming."' He said Bush gave one of his smiles and said, '"I’ve lost a lot of money in my life, too." Then I go to his wife, "Hi Barbara, how are ya?" I did that because I learned on the campaign that the meanest thing you can say to another gentlemen is, "He’s a fine fellow," and you then refer to his spouse by a different name.'"

Initial observation: Kagen really said "He goes..." instead of "He said...."? My junior high age kids do that, along with "I'm like...." and other excessively colloquial doggerrell, and I'm diligently teaching them better grammer. This guy's a physician and a congressman, for heaven's sake. I'm, like, appalled.

Second observation: This guy's an asshole. This account makes it sound like he was trying to goad Rove and Cheney and Bush into punching him in the nose or kicking him in the nuts. It also is transparently obvious that he knew they couldn't and wouldn't retaliate, either physically or verbally, because while a nobody freshman Democrat can be as big a dick as he wants with no PR fallout, the President, Vice President, and #1 advisor don't have that luxury.

Third observation: Even taking this last point into account, Rove, Cheney, and Bush come across as being about two notches above dropping to their knees and meekly squeaking, "Yes, sir, may I have another?" What happened to the Big Time who told Pat Leahy to "fuck off" a few years ago? Or the Dubya who referred to New York Times propandist Adam Clymer as "a major league asshole"? It's like they've accepted their new place as left-wing whipping posts. Although one could make the argument that that acceptance took place a long time before Steve Kagan came along.

Rush Limbaugh, based on his White House visits, thinks that Kagan is BSing the whole thing. Which is entirely plausible, though either way the guy still comes across as a prick who richly deserves to have some manners slapped into him.

What I still can't get past is that these are the people whom the American people put back into power. Knowingly and with suicidal malice aforethought.

I guess we were wrong: anger and boorishness and extremism do sell after all. And now the Donks don't even have to lie about it.

Yikes, indeed.