Paul Pelosi
A video of Paul Pelosi and his attacker has been released by the San Francisco police. This is another video that I will not be watching. Seeing an 82-year-old man fighting for his life as he is struggling with a much younger man and a hammer is not my idea of entertainment. There is nothing new that’s going to be revealed in this video. The attacker, David DePage, has admitted that he bought into all of those right-wing conspiracy theories. He thought that Democrats were harming America. He thought that Trump won the election. This was domestic terrorism. I hope and pray that Paul Pelosi has a full recovery.
Somehow, we have to figure out a way to remove inflammatory rhetoric from the public space. This should be our number one priority. This propaganda needs to be removed from social media. It needs to be removed from the airwaves. It needs to be removed from our televisions. The idea that if you would disagree with me that you are un-American, an enemy of the state, a pedophile, an offspring of Satan, and are somehow subhuman, is simply wrong. If we are going to move this country forward, we have to figure out a way to discuss our differences and find common ground. This is the only way that we are going to be able to tackle the complex problems facing our country – poverty, underemployment, healthcare, undereducation, and climate change.
Bait and Switch
I’m really not a big fan of the State of the Union address. Unfortunately, over the last decade or so, it is devolved into a staged affair just like McBeth or Fiddler on the Roof. The president will stand at the lectern and tick off his list of accomplishments. His party will stand and cheer. The other party will sit stone-faced and scowl. This is exactly the way this State of the Union started. But, something subtler was happening in the background. Joe Biden was congratulating not just the Democrats but also the Republicans for coming together and getting significant legislation passed. He actually went out of his way to thank Republicans for their support.
Then, in what can only be called political jujitsu, President Biden led the chamber down the primrose path. It was a path that was completely factual. Some Republicans decided to do their best Congressman Joe Wilson impersonation and act like children. (Joe Wilson was the congressman who yelled out during Barack Obama’s State of the Union address – You Lie! He received a meaningless reprimand from the House.) With some Republicans displaying behavior (yelling, catcalls, and the like) that could only be appropriate at a WWE wrestling match, Biden then asked the chamber a series of questions, and before you know it, the Republicans had agreed to protect Medicare and Social Security. Call it jujitsu. Call it the old Jedi mind trick. It was masterful. Suddenly Joe Biden does not seem too old and feeble-minded to be President of the United States. I have never seen anything like it. Biden was like a seasoned comedian putting the drunk heckler in his/her place. Our old dog proved that he still has a few new tricks.
