Dying Congressman to Lead Watchdog Committee
Dying Congressman to Lead Watchdog Committee
A 74-year-old congressman stricken with an especially deadly form of cancer was chosen today to be the top Democrat in charge of oversight, a watchdog role that will oversee investigations into public corruption and wrongdoing over the next two years.
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Doctors I interviewed took a uniformly dim view of Connolly’s prognosis, expressing shock that he hasn’t resigned, much less been passed up for the demanding oversight role.
“This man is clearly dying,” a Pennsylvania-based surgeon told me, requesting that their name not be used in order to comment candidly. “This is insanity.”
For fucks sake, this is infuriating. Choosing between a young, extremely popular, highly effective congresswoman and a dying man few people have heard of, should have been the easiest choice ever for one of the most important House committees.
It depends. Are you looking out for the American people, and aware that your career forever if not your very literal physical survival over the next few years will depend on having people in important roles who are smart and tenacious and have some proven popularity with the people they are representing?
Or, are you a money-corrupted ghoul so addled by campaign contributions and sociopathic consultants that the very idea of someone who's there for reasons other than fabulous wealth for you and your friends is abhorrent, to the point that you would never let that person anywhere near power, because the mere thought of her and what she knows you to be, inspires in you nothing but nervousness and hatred?
I don't think "both sides" and I think we need allies in power right now, even if they are the Democrats. But also, if the Democrats were going to do something about Trump, they would have at some point in the last four years. They're going to keep sleepwalking, most of them, until firing squads come into the capitol looking for them.
putting this in the context of other committee fights the Democrats have been having:
77-year-old Jerry Nadler was the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee (which also plays a crucial oversight role)
Nadler's leadership was successfully challenged by 62-year-old Jamie Raskin.
so Democrats' version of "younger blood" was to replace a baby boomer (born 1947) with...a slightly younger baby boomer (born 1962, which depending on where you draw the line is the last of the baby boom, or the very beginning of Gen X)
Raskin had previously been the top Democrat on House Oversight, so that spot became vacant.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ran for that leadership position on House Oversight. she's 35 years old, has an excellent media presence, and is well-known nationally.
instead of AOC, Democrats chose a 74-year old, Gerry Connolly.
and not just any 74-year old...they chose a 74-year-old who has cancer
and not just any 74-year old with cancer...a 74-year-old who has an especially deadly form of cancer
and not just any 74-year old with an especially deadly form of cancer...esophageal cancer. cancer of the esophagus. you know, that thing that's in your throat. you know what else is in your throat, right next to your esophagus? your voice box. that thing you speak with.
Democrats in a nutshell: the guy we put in charge of oversight of the Trump administration...there's a good chance he's going to have surgery that renders him physically incapable of speaking.
People with power behaving like people with power. There used to be concessions to logic, but that I see less and less.
This is politics. This was not by accident. What I'm hoping to see here is (and I do not wish for his death) that this actually makes things easier to install AOC. At the risk of getting into alphabet soup, this is of course not the DNC's preference, but this could be an act of defiance.