Monday, March 10, 2014

DEMOCRATS: THE '62 METS OF OPTICS

We really need to do something about climate change -- but this? This is likely to accomplish what exactly?
A majority of Senate Democrats on Monday will launch an overnight "talkathon" until approximately 9:00 a.m. Tuesday to draw attention to climate change.

... there is no legislation under debate, but overnight sessions are rare and likely to draw media attention to the topic -- which is precisely the goal....

The Democratic effort is cause for some confusion because these senators are calling for action in a chamber they control but without any specific legislation to offer up for a vote, or any timetable for action this year....
This gets back to something I was saying last night: if Democrats highlight blocked aspects of their agenda without explaining, in very specific terms, why those agenda items can't pass right now, then voters who aren't politics junkies will inevitably form the impression that Democrats are all talk and no action, or that Democrats are utterly incapable of getting things done. So why do it?

Though I shouldn't say that this all-nighter will accomplish nothing. Here's what it will accomplish: sometime during the talkathon or immediately afterward, the Drudge Report and/or Fox News and/or Rush Limbaugh will tell us precisely how much energy was expended overnight in order to keep the lights on in the Senate, and to keep the chamber heated. We'll be told the exact cost to the taxpayer -- which will almost certainly be far less than a penny per U.S. citizen, but will be made to sound like a really, really large number. And if no right-wing researcher can garner this information, the numbers will just be made up.

Given the decibel level of the right-wing noise machine, the most high-profile stories to result from the all-nighter will be stories of this kind. So what's the point again?

Can't anyone in the Democratic Party play this game?

2 comments:

Victor said...

Even Casey Stengel couldn't make the Democrats,, like that old NY Mutts team, play a decent game.

Btw:
My favorite Mets story is when Richie Ashburn learned the Spanish phrase for, "I got it!", because he kept getting run-over by their non-English speaking Shortstop on pop-ups.

And then, came that tweener fly ball, and Ashburn screamed out "YO la tangle," which is 'I got it!' in Spanish, and saw the SS veer off, only to get run-over by his Left Fielder, who didn't understand Spanish, and flattened him!!!
OY!

W. Hackwhacker said...

Victor's parable is also an apt metaphor for how, unfortunately, Democrats do play the game (as the ball drops softly on the turf). Frustrating, to say the least.