Thursday, August 20, 2009

Reductio ad essentia

You have no doubt heard about the exchange between Representative Barney Frank (who happens to be Jewish) and a constituent who calls healthcare reform a "Nazi policy". Representative Frank concluded his dressing-down of the woman by saying that having a conversation with her would be as fruitful as having a conversation with a dining room table, and he had no interest in doing so.





It was a long drink of cool water for a lot of frustrated people to finally see one of the Town Hall ranters, some who are downright scary, being told in no uncertain terms that they are, well, saying things that are apeshit crazy. So of course it went viral immediately.
This is one of the many tributes I've seen around the web and I can even forgive the misspelling of "literally" due to the simplicity and profundity of it.
(You'll need to click on it to read it, obviously.)
ronnie




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3 Comments:

Blogger Dann said...

I agree with Mr. Frank in so far as that woman was a bit.....off...in her commentary.

I also agree with you in that there are a lot of scary people involved in this debate. Fortunately, the scary people opposed to it aren't holding elective office.

Unfortunately, one can't say the same for the scary individuals that are in favor of it. I'm not suggesting that everyone in favor of it is scary.

--
Regards,
Dann

10:47 a.m.  
Blogger Brent McKee said...

And we poor simple Canadians shake our heads at the half-truths, untruths and outright vitriol that we got over and done with over forty years ago with the Saskatchewan Doctor's strike. That happened when I was a kid - a kid whose family were part of the CCF, which became the NDP, since the party was founded. You can guess whose side we were on.

7:29 p.m.  
Blogger Xtreme English said...

i love barney frank. he personally has taken a lot of crap in his life, and he knows how to handle it. god love him.

i am at a loss to understand why this resurgence of gun nuts is happening. except that when you DO gather peacefully, nobody takes your picture. I stood with hundreds of fellow democratic party members this past week to greet the president when he arrived on capitol hill have another confab on health care. it was the usual good-natured, peaceable bunch I remember from the past 8 years of protests against the bush admin., the iraq war, and torture.

missing were counter-demonstrators and the vacuity of their signs ("libruls are lazy") and the press. also missing was the president. we were kept from moving by the secret service while the president drove around us and ducked into the building before we could cheer him.

i'm very glad the SS can keep people away from the president these days, since a lot of folks at those town meetings are wacked out. but gee....we represented the great majority opinion in this country, and that is that we want the public option. the percentages vary from 79% to 83% IN FAVOR.

4:28 a.m.  

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