From Bob Collins’ “Newscut” blog at MPR, in a story about the congressional donnybrook over extending healthcare benefits to first responders and construction workers from Ground Zero:
With that brick, Jon Stewart showed again last night why his retirement has created such a vacuum of moral authority in the national dialogue.
Doesn’t that tell us so much about why this country is in the state it’s in?
One side gets (and, with deep imperfections, practices) its “moral authority” from a long train of the best of human thought, tracing back from Friedman and Hayek and John Paul II, back through the Declaration of Independence and the Rights of Man, all the way back to the Ten Commandments.
The other? From standup comic on a TV show conceived as the “progressive” establishment’s answer to conservative talk radio hegemony, featuring a talented standup comic with a gift for snarky faces.
Yikes. Is it just me, or are heretofore misguided but deliberative libs getting more militant and angry? Eric Black has become a full-on, drooling moonbat, and it looks like Collins is right behind him.
I’m taking that for a sign that they are deliberating the political landscape and not liking what they see. Today’s happy thought.
“Jon Stewart” and “moral authority” in the same sentence. Torture is too kind a word for this.
If the King of Snark is America’s moral authority, we’re in worse trouble than I thought. As a doctor, I found it of interest to read The Lancet article from 2011 on cancer incidence in 9/11 firefighters. It’s about 10% higher than one would expect. And there are the usual caveats from the authors that it might be more, might be less, especially since lead time for cancer development is all over the board. So, given that 90% of first responders would have gotten cancer anyway, do we want to commit a lot of resources for an indefinite time frame creating another entitlement? Yes, I honor the service of the police, firefighters and others on 9/11 and at all other times. But do not police and fire professionals have existing pension, healthcare and other benefits in place? Looking at the long term is sensible. To argue that it’s mean spirited….well, that’s what the Left does about everything.