The Tears of a Clown
So, am I a horrible person for finding John Boehner's constant bawling positively nauseating, or should I be happy that in my lifetime we have made such strides that what was political suicide back in 1972 when a Democrat did it is now de rigueur for Republicans in power?
And never mind that if Nancy Pelosi had begun her tenure like this, well, she would have been heckled out of office, obviously.
For a while there misting up became a sign of authenticity, a way for politicians to show that, yes, they really felt your pain. But, like politics in general, crying has become a zero sum game. Misting up is just too ambiguous (remember the raging debate about whether or not Hillary actually shed a tear during her Presidential run?). No, nothing less than a big hiccuppy fit of selfish, stunted anguish will do nowadays.
And it's not that we have become more empathetic and emotional, it's that we have become irrepressibly self-indulgent. Boehner's tears are not about anyone but John Boehner — the dude's a reptile — his voting record shows an utter lack of human feeling — and that's what makes them particularly toxic.
And anyway, the question of authenticity is moot. It doesn't matter one whit whether a weepy drunk believes what he's feeling. I mean, of course he does. And then he blacks out. Don't blame him for what he did. He doesn't remember, poor sod.
I don't care about tears, I care a lot about people so drunk they can't speak properly representing any body of people and exercising power of any sort. How far down the list of next in line for the Presidency is the Speaker of the House?
Your rapier is doggone sharp these days!
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I agree that reptilian is the perfect description of Mr. Speaker Boehner. And I wonder how long it will be before America, which voted for change in how WASHINGTON works, will realize that the Republicans' desire for revenge manifested by lengthy battles to undo the work of the last two years (thereby spinning Washington's wheels while, to judge by recent Republican behavior, retaining all the earmarks they profess to despise) will lead to disastrous approval ratings for THEM.
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Any chance that those Boehner tears will end up on Ebay? I'd like to purchase them to mix with gypsy tears to get rid of a curse.
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I would like to lodge a protest on behalf of Reptilia over the usage of "reptile" to describe Rep. Boehner. It is inaccurate. There are more than 8,700 members of the Reptile family versus only 5,400 of mammals like John Boehner- clearly a majority even by Congressional counts. Although longevity is endemic amongst politicians, Reptiles have been around 320 million years. Though considered "cold-blooded," they require far less fuel to maintain bodily functions (the original Green Party Animals!) - mammals like Mr. Boehner rarely save energy, and typically are unable to use the energy around them efficiently. Actually cold-blooded heartlessness is a much more mammalian trait, even though mammals refer to themselves as "warm-blooded." One of Reptilia's distinguished members, the crocodile, needs between a fifth to a tenth of the food required by the King of Beasts, the lion, and can live half a year without eating. I need not remind you of the voracious appetite of those like Rep. Boehner, especially when devouring the hard-sourced foodstuffs of other citizens of the territory. While reptilian brains are much smaller than those of mammals, color vision and depth perception is superior: thus do Reptiles make up for thinking they know more through the advantage of seeing more. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the vast majority of Reptiles are not aggressive, preferring avoidance on account of being on not only each others' but also on many mammals' menus.
I trust the above comments will serve as a corrective of the regrettably common epithet "reptile." Reptilia I have known often note that thet they prefer plain speech, and that calling mammals "mammals" is opprobrium enough.
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Brilliant. I stand very much corrected
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