Doc Hastings. Repeat and Rinse.
Wearily, I ponder the question as I look through the assortment of blogs I scan through every day, and with the vague rule of at least a blog entry once a day, and with a few blog topics in my ready to get to eventually (Look for the following in the next couple of days: (1) James Webb, who deserves a follow-up to that hastily jotted down blog entry (2) Entertaining the use of Tactical Nuclear Weapons on Iran, the depressing implications thereof (3) I have an old article on Lyndon LaRoach about how he employs African Americans in his electoral politics.) …
Do I really want to “blog” about Doc Hastings? Once upon a time, my thought on the subject of Doc Hastings was “if not me, who?”, as per the explanation of his peculiar placement in the Republican Machinery. But it is difficult to get too riled up over him — about the most likely thing you can do about him is get a Democratic House Majority in place (battling the famous tightly constructed districting lines), which would, I suppose, lead him to the position of being the Minority Chair of the Ethics Committee, where he can still seek out the (ahem) Rahm Emanuel and Steny Hoyers of the Democratic party over what remains of the Duke Cunninghams of the Republican Party.
The answer to whether I really oughta blog on Doc Hastings is a weary, Sure, I guess. I must take note whenever I see somebody make comments like this:
Now, we need to keep our eye on the ball that is still in the air: the Republican Culture of Corruption, systematically put in place by the worst of the worst, the worst lowlifes to ever stalk the halls of Congress (and K Street): Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Rick Santorum, Roy Blunt, John Boehner, Jerry Lewis, Bill Frist, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Conrad Burns, Richard Pombo, John Doolittle, Deborah Pryce, Bob Ney and, in some ways, worst of all… Doc Hastings.
But… but… Doc is a role-player in the Republican Culture of Corruption. He’s a Utility Infield player. The guy who comes off the bench because he can block a few shots. A “Hands-player” who generally plays on Special Teams, but is called in for the assortment of players who would have the easiest time converting an on-side kick. If he weren’t there, someone would slide into his place. Right?
And the umpteenth hundredth article bemoaning the “Do – Nothing” Ethics Committee under Doc Hastings’s tutelege. It is a bit depressing that a legitimate ethical cloud now hovers over the Democratic co-chair of the Committee — legitimate as opposed to the pointless tact at Jim McDermott.
The guy is so lame and clueless that his official campaign website is crawling with pictures of Dick Cheney.
Dan Quayle used to be deployed for public appearances almost exclusively in heavily Republican rural areas, where he could do little harm nationally and some good for the “base”. Dick Cheney, although in stature at the exact opposite end as Quayle — ie: Dick Cheney is president — , is used the same way. Except that may have been back when Cheney’s approval rating was roughly where Bush’s is today, as opposed to in the teens.
Although Hastings resides in the very heart of the Culture of Corruption, his remote district is so red and so out-of-touch, that almost no one considers him to be vulnerable unless a mega-tsunami of revulsion with the Republican rubber-stamp Congress sweeps virtually the whole pack of them out of power in November. The Democrat who is challenging him in WA-04 is Richard Wright, the kind of good-government type who would give a corrupt sleazebag like Hastings nightmares if he represented a less partisan district.
Out of touch. In a way I don’t know what the phrase “out of touch” means. The nation is a rich tapestry of divergent opinions and geographic divergences. Vermont has a safe Socialist Representative — soon to be a safe Socialist Senator — in place whether the nation moves rightward or leftward in the next several election cycles. The same for most safe Republican districts… including districts even safer than the 4th Congressional District of Washington State. Speaking for “red”, I’ve always wondered about “red”. Somehow or other Jay Inslee slipped through in 1992, and somehow or other Jay Inslee and Rick Locke ended up with near-wins in 1994 and 1996. The Republican that preceeded Inslee was considered a “moderate”. There are always funny streams swarming under the surface of these things, a bit undetectable.
Richard Wright. He a good guy?