"Dana Milbank For Congress!" We won't see such signs, and that's a pity because Milbank has just demonstrated the singular quality missing in most members of that august body: the willingness to hold himself publically accountable for his mistakes. His column "My Cracked Crystal Ball" (The Washington Post, December 28, 2011, A15) is testimony to the fact that, while possessed of an appropriately strong ego, Milbank is not willing to worship it by sacrificing his integrity. To the left of Milbank's column is a piece by Carter Eskew on the price of dissembling for those who govern and, though its focus is on Romney, its punch line applies to all: "The only way to govern such a country (that has lost faith in its political institutions) is to reestablish trust. And the only way to do that is to be honest, even when it isn't easy. So, again, "Dana Milbank For Congress!"
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May 4, 2011
To the Editors:
Dana Milbank, in his Washington Post May 3, 2011 column, "No Pax bin Ladenis", quotes the President, who in the wake of the public unity following his announcement that Osama bin Laden had been found and killed, said: "It is my fervent hope that we can harness some of that unity and some of that pride to confront the many challenges that we still face." To which, Milbank acerbically responds: "Right. Good luck with that, sir."
He then recounts the bi-partisan return to the status quo ante of invective, name-calling and ad hominem attacks. Milbank gives some examples: "Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, began with a complaint that every time he tries to move small-business legislation, 'another Republican raises their head.'" (An obvious reference to "Whack-a-Mole.") "DeMint followed a few minutes later by stating his heartfelt belief that 'the administration, I believe, is acting like thugs that you might see in a Third World country trying to bully and intimidate.'"
Ah, yes: the world's greatest deliberative assembly in action! It puts me in mind of a mirthful bit of teasing that four generations of my Hoosier family have foisted upon unsuspecting younger family members. Here's how it goes:
Older Person: Do you see that building we're coming up on now? Yeah, that one over behind those trees. Do you know what it is?
Young Victim: No, I have no idea.
Older Person: It's the town's sewage treatment plant. It's a very interesting place. Have you ever been through it?
Young Victim: No, I haven't.
Older Person: Well then, you're a lucky little turd aren't you!
As the largest such facility in the world, D.C.'s own Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant is surely capable of accommodating the additional - though considerable - load of sewage that is the current Congress: all 535 members of them. The few lucky little turds that survived their passage through Blue Plains, would simply settle to the bottom of the Potomac, where they would cause significantly less harm to the environment than is currently the case.
(Author's Note: We were informed that our letter was rejected for being: too long; too scatological for a family newspaper; and, an indulgence in the same rhetorical style to which it so floridly objected. Picky, picky, picky.)
