George is a former East Texas newspaper publisher who retired to Arkansas, and I suspect the move raised the average IQ in both states.
He is one of my liberal friends - not a screaming, rioting, Pussy-hat liberal - but his views on most things would fall left of center. That being said, his political posts are always well thought out and expressed in a way that I can appreciate.
Although retired, George still writes a weekly guest column for the Marshall, Texas newspaper. Here's the one from today:
(This column appeared today in the Marshall News Messenger. Thanks to Publisher Jerry Pye and Editor Caleb Brabham for allowing me the space.)
Lightening rods of dissention
There are two so-called leaders that should be removed from the national political landscape., like, today.
Both are blowhards, both have accomplished much in their careers and more than a modicum of their efforts have resulted in positive results; both firmly believe they are more important in the national discussion of issues than they really are. But (there’s the expected ‘but”) the time for their actions resulting in anything positive for their party is over; this duo is sucking up the positive oxygen necessary for righteous party platform plans, diverting attention from party members who need freedom to move and maneuver the rocky road of partisan, hate-filled actions and rhetoric.
What can be done to create an environment for change that will mandate camera-hungry politicians who still attempt to sell their particular and peculiar brand of leadership to go ... go away? Poof. Disappear. Gone.
What is it about these two born-and-reared political machines that cause them to hang on despite the fact they their time in the spotlight has past, despite the fact their individual and collective power bases are crumbling and that their ability to influence even the most simple of issues has eroded significantly. Too many people literally hate them for for them to be effective.
Yes, it’s time that these once powerful forces in politics, these lightening rods of dissention, retire to the company of a warm and welcoming cliché of old friends and supporters and live off the income from reveal-nothing books and say-nothing, repeat-platitudes speeches.
Both were forces to be reckoned with at one time as they delighted in dictating policy and political protocol and were surrounded with kowtowing sycophants who followed the orders flowing from the silver-tongued leaders of … what exactly?
Did the duo lead a party? Attempt to lead a party? A movement, perhaps? A segment of the political spectrum they could bend to their will? A cult of like-believers or thought-zombies? What exactly did they do? And what are they doing now?
Without a thought, they are chipping away the foundation of their party with an atomic jackhammer; every time they open their mouths, they not only do irreparable harm to their personal legacies but drive a number of party faithful into the Independent category, if not the ranks of the opposition party.
There was a time when these destructors of self-image and party were heralded for their uncanny resourcefulness, ability to read the rough-and-tumble forays into the political equivalent of a WWF cage match, confident in their individual abilities to conquer all foes.
Today, everything they touch seems to wither before the eyes of the nation; the edges of their pictures in the annals of national leaders are starting to turn up at the edges as the color in the pictures themselves fade from vivid hues to monotone.
Like old vaudeville troupers who refused to understand that motion pictures tolled the dooms-day bell for their careers, these two, once-powerful purveyors of political push-and-pull tactics refuse to exit the stage gracefully, with the spotlight following their stage left exit. Instead, they hunker around the edge of the stage, holding desperately onto the curtain, waiting for an encore when all that is awaiting them is the fabled hook.
Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, once party powerhouses, are now the scourge of the party and should exit not just the stage but the entire theater of politics.
When the opposition party leaders continually use your name and image to excite and enthrall the party faithful, instead of sticking to the discussion of important issues facing the nation, it’s time to remove the ammunition from their arsenal.
Go home, Hillary. Take your resume and travel the world over and give speeches and write books. Leave the Democratic party to find a new road to success without having a Clinton as a crutch, and deny the opposition the availability of a convenient whipping girl.
Go home, Nancy. Your time is past and you are hurting the party and the section of Congress you once ruled competently. Do not be the continuing virus that has infected your party. Be the solution to the problem, not the cause that could endanger the Democratic Party’s future as a competent political party.
Go now. Go with grace and dignity. Or kicking and screaming. Just go.
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