January 13, 2007
Democrats and disdain
Jack Kemp
The defendant is a snob
Chorus: And a great snob, too.
- Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial by Jury
First it was John Kerry calling American troops child killers and rapists, as in the days of "Jenjis Khan." Then there was his wife Teresa saying that Mrs. Laura Bush staying at home raising two daughters "didn't have a real job." Then both John Edwards and John Kerry went on to publicly gay bait Vice President Cheney about his lesbian daughter. This was followed a few years later by Kerry saying that people who joined the US military were stupid and society's losers.
Now we have Barbara Boxer, Senator from Disneyland on The Bay, implying that a very accomplished, distinguished African American woman, Dr. Condoleeza Rice, isn't fit for her office because she hasn't given birth to children, a condemnation she wouldn't dare raise about the white Gloria Steinem, Donnna Shalala or Janet Reno. Dr. Rice had previously also been Provost of Stanford University in Sen. Boxer's home state.
This whole pattern reminds me an Edgar Allen Poe story I had to read in 8th grade, "The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Feather." In this story, a visitor to an insane asylum finds the "staff" acting more and more bizarre, until he realizes that they are, in fact, the inmates who have tricked the real staff into being incarcerated in the real inmate's place. As my memory recalls the story, there was one woman, who describes the antics of an inmate as making sounds like a chicken or rooster - and then illustrates the behavior by climbing on a table and repeating it.
That is exactly how Sen. Boxer appeared as a few days ago, the "feminist champion" doing her best imitation of Archie Bunker's Evil Twin, ostensibly to denounce her Bush Administration target, but in the process revealing much more of Boxer's own mindset - and shortcomings - than anyone in the room would have imagined.
