July 19, 2004 - Heart and Soul? Maybe. Brains? Nope!

Today's Commentary: July 19th, 2004

As I mentioned in my previous rant, I spent last weekend up in Maine camping with some friends. It was wonderful. No TV, no internet, and the only phone I had came with an 'off' switch. I missed the news flash on Martha Stewart's cushy prison sentence - and lived to tell about it. On Sunday morning, I packed up my gear and headed home. As I headed east on 302, I stumbled across a broadcast of "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert on a local radio station. This was serendipitous for a geek like myself, since the listening options were pretty limited. I already had my fill of the ubiquitous classic rock for the weekend. The only other choices were the rap/hip-hop stations playing the soundtracks to MTV's instructional videos on public dry-humping, or country music - which I'm just not into.

I opened my windows as it was hard to tell who smelled worse after 4 days in the woods, me or my dog. Then I settled in for "Meet the Press". The first guest was the US Senator from the great state of West Virginia, Robert 'Sheets' Byrd. Sen Byrd was hitting the airwaves promoting his new book, "Losing America: Confronting A Reckless And Arrogant Presidency." Byrd is certainly hoping to outsell his previous work, "How to Burn Crosses in Humid Southern Air." During the Russert interview, there was an exchange that was the reveille which snapped me out of my weekend calm. So much so, I had to dig for the transcript on Monday:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you what you also say in the book. Back in October of 2002, only 23 senators opposed a resolution authorizing the president to go to war. "In the end, only 22 other members voted to oppose this despicable grant of authority. ...Never in my half century of congressional service had the United States Senate proved unworthy of its great name. What would the framers have thought? In this terrible show of weakness, the Senate left an indelible stain upon its own escutcheon. Having revered the Senate during my service for more than forty years, I was never pained so much."

You say that the 22 senators who joined with you were profiles in courage, and those who didn't vote that way had shown weakness. John Kerry, candidate for president, John Edwards, candidate for vice president, your Democratic Party, voted for the war. Are they weak?

SEN. BYRD: They were misled. I'm confident of that. And I have a feeling that that is why they voted as they did.

...Moments later, Russert hits Byrd again on the same topic:

MR. RUSSERT: You seem to suggest that John Kerry and John Edwards lacked courage.

SEN. BYRD: No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying they lacked the facts.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5458209

...Sorry Senator, you did say that. Maybe all those petroleum fumes from the Klan cookouts have gotten to you, but you cannot have it both ways. I wonder how many other members of the 'collectively weak' Senate are now considered "misled" by Sheets Byrd? I suspect only those with a 'D' after their name.

This got me to thinking. The vocal far left - politicians as well as activists - remind me of the zombies from the "Dawn of the Dead" movies in two important ways. First, they want to remove and eat your brain - so you'll be just like them, and second, no matter what you hit them with, they defy logic and reason and just keep coming and coming and coming.

Here, Russert uses Sen Byrd's own words as the basis for his question, and not once, but twice clubs this zombie over the head. No matter. Byrd sidesteps his own quote and continues sloshing his way through America looking to eat everyone's brain until they all vote for Kerry/Edwards.

Need another example? Try the star of the celluloid classics, "Sister Act" and "Sister Act 2." Apparently Whoopie Goldberg cannot believe that she should be held accountable by her employer for her actions. After her recent on-stage diatribe of lewdness (with wine bottle in hand) at a political fundraiser for John Kerry, Slim-Fast caved to mounting pressure from customers who called in to complain about their sponsor. Slim-Fast promptly lost 160 pounds (estimated) of ugly fat. Now the Whoopster is recently quoted as saying:

"America's heart and soul is freedom of expression without fear of reprisal," she added. "In a time when candidate bashing has become the norm, be it on television, in speeches or Sunday morning programs, I find all this feigned indignation about 'Bush bashing' quite disingenuous.

"The fact that I am no longer the spokesman for Slim-Fast makes me sad, but not as sad as someone trying to punish me for exercising my right as an American to speak my mind in any forum I choose."

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/mercurynews/news/9168057.htm?1c

Apparently this zombie believes that she should have the ability to say or do whatever she wishes without the possibility of repercussions. I believe she should have a free one hour session with Trent Lott as part of his outreach to the black community. Maybe he can explain it to her.

And what is it with the left's use of the term "heart and soul" lately? If memory serves me correctly, John Kerry referred to his distinguished colleagues in the entertainment elite as "the heart and soul of America" at this same gathering. I certainly wish he would see fit to release the video of this fundraiser, because as we all know, conservatives like myself have neither heart nor soul. I wish to understand what it is like to have one or both. I would appreciate seeing these shining examples of music and film, filled with heart and soul, call a sitting president "a cheap thug" and "liar."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20040709-110749-1132r.htm

However, I suppose that referring to the far left as "the heart and soul of America" is the best Kerry can do, since it appears that someone has already eaten their brains.