| Poking around this morning, I came across a good piece at the blog Dissenting Justice, a DC blog by Professor Darren Hutchinson. His post, Definite Candidate for Wimp of the Year Award: Vermont Governor Jim Douglas, is a good one, as it's taking on the lack of spine of our pathetic excuse for a governor in the way he's dealing with the marriage equality debate. He believes the governor is hiding behind the president, as Obama has also come out for civil unions as opposed to full-blown marriage, and that it's easier to do that than for Douglas to come up with his own coherent argument. The latest talking point/strategy from GOP HQ seems to be to fight anything progressive with the argument that it's "distracting" from dealing with the economic crisis that they played a huge part in creating (you know, that whole "Reaganomics on steroids" thing). We're seeing it with all the Village-speak lately with this "Obama trying to do too much" garbage. Now, coming from Republicans, not the most adept, complexity-handling, agile subset of our species, this is understanding... sometimes I wonder how they're able to actually show up to work in the morning in DC with all those similar-looking big grey buildings everywhere; if it weren't for the obvious dome of the Capitol, I suspect some would probably show up at the Smithsonian for work. And as Hutchinson points out, Douglas, in a bold stroke of originality, is using the same playbook as the mouthbreathing Eric Cantor, who recently criticized Obama's stem cell decision as a distraction, yet apparently found that a resolution congratulating the American Dental Association , a bill to declare English as the official language of the United States, and a beer tax reduction all vital, pressing issues that most of the country loses sleep over at night. I know I do; every time I go to the dentist, I ask him if he feels appreciated enough by the American people, and that he damn well better answer in English, because I'm feeling ornery because of those few extra cents I paid on my bottle of beer last night: Why Aren't These Things "Distracting"?
Here are some of the other things that Governor Douglas has done (or has planned for this year) that have not caused economic collapse in Vermont.
Vermont Quarter to get a Makeover>: "Governor Jim Douglas has nominated Vermont’s 150 miles of the Appalachian Trail to replace the scene of Camel’s Hump and sap buckets as part of the U.S. Mint’s new America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Program."
Public Appearance Schedule of Governor Jim Douglas:
Friday, March 27, 2009
6:00 p.m. Annual Green-Up Poster Contest Awards Banquet, Capitol Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, Montpelier
Saturday, March 28, 2009
10:00 a.m. Poultney Maple Fest Weekend Tree Tapping, Green Mountain College, Poultney
11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Tour of Sugar Houses for Maple Open House Weekend, Locations to be Announced
6:00 p.m. Vermont Trappers Association Annual Banquet, Montpelier Elks Club, Montpelier
Governor Douglas has time to hang out at a tree tapping, go on a tour of sugar houses and attend a poster contest banquet, but he thinks that debating civil rights is too distracting.
Maybe he's not distracted because they're all superficial campaign-like PR events, which is primarily what Douglas seems to think passes for governing, when he's not impeding progress in some form or another. Indeed. |
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