Comments on: The Stink of the Citizenry: Congress Celebrates the Opening of the Visitors Center http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/ Res ipsa loquitur ("The thing itself speaks") Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:12:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: David Tarrell http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-30283 Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:04:46 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-30283 Reid’s comment made me think of 2 things:
1. Michael Sandel’s comment that we live in the age of the gated community, and,
2. the phrase “the great unwashed” which I learned via the google was “coined by the Victorian novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton… in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford: ‘He is certainly a man who bathes and ‘lives cleanly’, (two especial charges preferred against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed).’”

Interestingly, this book begins with the famous lines “It was a dark and stormy night…”

]]> By: Jill http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-30172 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:44:59 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-30172 From OneNewsNow (in Christ):

“A constitutional scholar says the new Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC, is an extremely biased and historically inaccurate exhibit that “twists and distorts” the Constitution.

The new $621 billion Capitol Visitor Center features an exhibition hall that is dominated by a very large marble wall called “The Wall of Aspirations.” Dr. Matthew Spalding of The Heritage Foundation says the exhibit is not about the Constitution’s limits on powers delegated to the government, but instead lists aspirations such as unity, freedom, common defense, knowledge, exploration, and general welfare, and then points back to where they are found in the Constitution.”

]]> By: Jill http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29997 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:48:24 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29997 I can’t help but draw comparisons from this to how the auto companies request for bail out money is treated vis a vis the banks/financial industry. Bank/finance managers are connected to the highest levels of our govt. Certainly the decisions they have made both rival and even surpass the incredibly poor management choices of auto exeutives. Yet not one bank/finance player was asked to go before Congress to give their plans for restructuring and heading back into the black. In fact, the only black invovled with them has been the secret 8 trillion dollars, so far, handed over to them by their BFF’s in treasury.

Meanwhile as millions of jobs for the “great unwashed” are hanging in the balance, one would think the hoi polloi was completely responsible for the ruin of the auto companies (and quite possibley the entire economy). Congress acted in only a few days to rescue billionaires in finance but they have only scorn for those greedy auto workers making $35.00 per hour.

It would appear Congress favors the Walmart model for the poor and middle class. Those types may do without jobs or find ones with low wages and no benefits. The state govts. may pick up the tab for their health care and the food banks can feed them. Rich Americans are showing their class hatred. This is foolhardy and in the long run, it won’t even work for most of them.

]]> By: calipennsylhattan http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29995 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:24:07 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29995 apres moi, le deluge

]]> By: Cris Cohen http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29994 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:39:16 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29994 He really knows how to make people feel welcome. It’s a wonder he hasn’t been asked to write for Hallmark Cards. “To my darling wife. Just looking at you makes me want to vomit. All my love…”

]]> By: mespo727272 http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29992 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:06:05 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29992 Yankee:

Funny you should ask. He does indeed perspire (not sweat) but it is immediately and carefully removed from his person by his staff, scented with perfume, and then reapplied. Obviously, you are not a member of the bourgeoisie. More is the pity.

]]> By: Yankee http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29991 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:59:56 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29991 Does Mr. Reid not sweat?

]]> By: rafflaw http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29972 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:45:24 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29972 Wouldn’t some air cleaners be a lot cheaper than a whole new building?

]]> By: Party of the People! « Breakfast in the Ruins http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29971 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:31:29 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29971 [...] donkees, they are YOUR party! You, the great unwashed masses: Reid noted that “In the summertime, because (of) the high humidity and how hot it gets here, you [...]

]]> By: Buddha Is Laughing http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29961 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:52:42 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29961 Well played, mespo.

]]> By: Jill http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29958 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:15:03 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29958 Torts,

So true. It’s not like meeting your lobbyist for breakfast. Maybe a little like going golfing though because some of the caddies do sweat.

]]> By: Torts Student http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29956 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:03:43 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29956 Tourists who hoof it all around town in August stink, and as former Hill staff, the Majority Leader has a point on this one. People pit out in their shirts and then come to visit their congressman’s office. It’s not pleasant.

]]> By: jonathanturley http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29954 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:45:24 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29954 Oh baby, these are golden oldies.

]]> By: WAYNEBRO http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29953 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:17:03 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29953 Smelly Citizen: Please Senator,the economy is in ruins, the people are starving,they need your help.

Senator REID: Are the workhouses all filled? Have the prisons reached their maximum capacities?

Smelly Citizen: Sir…most would rather die than subject themselves to such horrific places.

Senator REID: Then let them do so and decrease the surplus population.

]]> By: Jill http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29952 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:37:50 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29952 This is from, “Bridge of Birds a Novel of an Ancient China that Never Was” by Barry Hughart. The protaganist has been sent to Peking to seek out a fortune teller:

“…I banged at the nearest door. It was opened by a haughty eunuch who was attired in clothes that I had previously associated with royalty, and he ran his eyes from my bamboo hat to my shabby sandals, clapped a perfumed handkerchief to his nose, and ordered me to state my business…The door slammed in my face, and when I tried the next house I exited through the air…while a bejeweled lackey shook his fist and screamed,…back to your mud hovel, you insolent peasant!”

]]> By: jonathanturley http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29949 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:15:56 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29949 Pure genius Mespo.

]]> By: mespo727272 http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29945 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:12:19 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29945 Forgive the dyslexia, make that “nemesis.”

]]> By: mespo727272 http://jonathanturley.org/2008/12/02/the-stink-of-the-citizenry-congress-celebrates-the-opening-of-the-visitors-center/#comment-29944 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:11:28 +0000 http://jonathanturley.wordpress.com/?p=6001#comment-29944 “It is extraordinary to me that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children. One or the other of you is for ever in the way. How do I know what injury you have done to my horses?” —

—DeFarge’s menesis in “Tale of Two Cities,” Marquis St. Evrémonde, fretting over the injury to his horse following its trampling of a child to death in the street.

“In the summertime, because (of) the high humidity and how hot it gets here, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. “And that may be descriptive but it’s true. Well, that is no longer going to be necessary.”

–Sen. Harry Reid fretting over the injury to his patrician yet tender sensibilities caused by malodorous emanations from the same rabble who placed him in his high position and pay his inadequate salary.

I notice a faint parallel.

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