Kathleen Parker spends a column telling us that Sykes wasn’t funny and Rush Limbaugh isn’t a terrorist, which is why Sykes’s now oft-repeated joke wasn’t funny. Thank goodness she cleared that up! But she misses the boat when she says the real problem is “our thin-skinned intolerance and our reflexive lurch to take offense.” Yes, that’s a problem in society and would have been relevant if Limbaugh had actually taken offense. But that’s not what is at issue here.
The concern Pete and I (as well as many others) have raised has nothing to do with a foul-mouthed, unfunny comic. It has to do with the president. If Parker hadn’t noticed, the focus of the mini-kerfuffle has been on the president’s obvious amusement at the time, followed by perhaps the first time in history a White House press secretary has “walked back” a laugh. It’s not the biggest story of the week, but it provides some insight into the president’s lack of presidential-ness, which has become all too familiar.
It should be of concern that, after riding into office on the hope and promise to end the perpetual cycle of acrimony, Obama has intensified it through perpetual slights and jabs at his predecessor. It should be of concern that he doesn’t quite realize his job is to rise above nastiness; not to encourage it. It should be of concern that his administration has made a fetish of vilifying select media figures, a practice not seen since the Nixon presidency. And it should be of some concern, quite bluntly, that Obama thinks a joke about someone keeling over from kidney failure is a hoot.
Bottom line: we don’t expect anything better from Sykes, but we do from our president.
He’s almost 80. Shouldn’t he retire soon and all this will be moot?
What’s with politicians? Their egos are so large that the country can’t survive without them.
He’s already their 60th vote.
I wish that he would retire (but I don’t think he will). Failing that, I wish he would lose either in the primary or the General (but I don’t think that will happen, either). And failing all of that, I wish he would switch parties. But (alas) I don’t think that’s going to happen, either.
I am afraid we are stuck with him — both as a Republican, and as a US Senator — probably until he dies.
I think Specter is toast in PA. We elected him last time because we thought he would use his position to support the Republican cause. That not only didn’t happen, he is a patsy for Patrick Leahy. Pity us poor Pennsylvanians, we have Arlen Specter and Robert (Obsequious Pile of Mush) Casey representing us.
If Specter’s camp is raising this possibility, it’s time for the GOP to wish him well, and beat him in 2010. Sadly, I wouldn’t put it past Specter to float something like this.
Either way, it’s time for him to go. With the stirring against bailout nation and gross increases in government spending, I think Toomey has a very good chance. No Republican will win the Philly area, but moderates and conservatives will probably be very fired up if the White House and Democrat party continue on the path they are on.
A backlash could be brewing…
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