Quote of the Day:
Since the Lauer news broke this morning I’ve seen a half-dozen variations of the joke that he’s now qualified to run for Congress.
Somebody pointed out last night that while several media biggies have been toppled by accusations of sexual misconduct, congressional cads remain in power (so far).
But Congress over the years has made itself a privileged class. A quip from Rep. James Clyburn, Democrat from South Carolina, says it all. When asked why, unlike Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Bill O'Reilly, and Charlie Rose, Rep. John Conyers, the scourge of the elevator, is keeping his job, Clyburn instantly replied, "Who elected them?"
Got that?
Members of Congress are a protected class, insulated from the consequences of their deeds. There is even secret fund, paid for by us taxpayers, to defray the cost of settlements when our public servants (ha ha) step out of line and harass someone. Our elected officials vote in ObamaCare but are made exempt from having to rely upon ObamaCare themselves.
Many Americans aren't aware of the extent to which Congress has set itself up as a quasi-nobility (without being inoble). Voters probably think their elected representatives are struggling with increasing ObamaCare premiums just as they are. Joke's on us, my fellow taxpayers.
Let's hope that the current scandal over sexual misbehavior will strip away the veil and let more Americans see what a privileged class Congress has become.
Conyers, who is 88, may have been shoved by the time you read this. If so, it will have been a sacrifice to expediency. But that should not make us forget that for years–make that decades–Conyers "believed that as a 27-term congressman, he was entitled to the Washingon, DC, equivalent of the Ottoman Imperial Harem."
The swamp has never spoken more clearly or arrogantly than in James Clyburn's words.