Wham
By Mitch Berg
The headline is that Arlen Specter told Michele Bachmann to shut up and get back in the kitchen.
Not quite in the headlines? Even if you leave out Specter’s little sexist jape, you hear Bachmann clobber Specter on all the points that are going to be big and key this fall; jobs; prosperity; everything but more and more and more regulation.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:49 am
Specter seems to think that the more bills you pass, the better life becomes.
Thank god, we won’t have to hear from him any more.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:14 am
To me “act like a lady” means that same as “act like a gentleman,” except you would use the former instead of the latter if you are addressing a female. I suppose next you’re going to say that the congress clerk is sexist for referring to her as a “gentlewoman” rather than a “gentleperson.”
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:21 am
For the love of Christ… act like a man, ApathyBoy.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:31 am
I suppose next you’re going to say that the congress clerk is sexist for referring to her as a “gentlewoman” rather than a “gentleperson.”
Dunno. But I do know that the clerk implies no condescenscion, while Spector most assuredly did.
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Badda, spot on.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Badda, there’s a reason he choose that handle…
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Funny thing is……..Pen was sitting right next to Bachmann on the flight back from DC yesterday. He was more courteous than I would have been about not intruding on her privacy with questions, while she was reading during the flight. I would have been polite about it, VERY polite, but I would have asked her more questions.
Specter is requesting she behave more courteously by not interrupting him. He clearly indicates in his comments he considers her a lady……there is nothing demeaning here. As a woman, I do NOT see the condescenscion you’re claiming Mitch. He asks not to be interrupted, and he tries to respond to her with the same courtesy.
So, what’s the fuss?
Looking at a larger issue, if you read through pretty much any of the Congressional Record………..in both the house and the senate, they speak over each other A LOT. This interruption and speaking over each other IS a legitimate problem to which I would hope more of our legislators on both sides of the aisle would object.
It sure as heck would make trying to read what they have to say, pro or con, a lot less of a headache.
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:29 pm
I have to wonder if John McCain had jumped on Hillary during the 08 campaign for not “acting like a lady”, if the resulting reactions would have been the same.
Somehow, I don’t think so. I bet the cries of “it’s not the 1890’s anymore” would be deafening.
January 22nd, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Specter asked her a question, do you really consider answering the question he asked to be “interrupting” him, DG?
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:03 pm
“not intruding on her privacy with questions, ”
He’s famous for that.
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Specter was being much more than condescending; he’s always been an arrogant self-aggrandizing bully. And like many a bully he’s likely to snivel and cry when confronted. I expect to him do just that come November, when he gets his ass handed to him, and his long deserved walking papers. I wonder who he’ll bully after that, maybe the nursing home staff?
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Funny thing is…. when people confuse courteousness with cowardice. We’ve seen peevee practice the latter, not the former.
January 22nd, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Looking at a larger issue, if you read through pretty much any of the Congressional Record………..in both the house and the senate, they speak over each other A LOT. This interruption and speaking over each other IS a legitimate problem to which I would hope more of our legislators on both sides of the aisle would object.
It sure as heck would make trying to read what they have to say, pro or con, a lot less of a headache.
I couldn’t disagree more. The one thing the Brits have right is how “decorum” or lackthereof should operate in the house of governance. Ever seen the House of Commons on C-SPAN? That shit is awesome and there are some real verbal beatdowns. And sometimes…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/31/house-of-commons-fight
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9804E2DB1230E233A25752C2A9619C946196D6CF
much more literally
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Talking over each other is more prominent these days for practical reasons: in this age of the sound bite, letting a zinger get out without interruption will generate tons of negative publicity so politicians have all sorts of incentives to interrupt each other.