Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Cliche of the Day: "Shifting Political Landscape"

Why is it so hard to understand the kind of dynamic politics that we're now witnessing in response to an FBI search of Congressional offices? I mean, to talk of landscapes shifting is to say something pretty serious (and simultaneously fairly revealing): holy cow! the world isn't what I thought it was! Nancy Pelosi and Dennis Hastert issued a joint statement. They "crossed the aisle" . . . or one of them did, at any rate.

I guess the problem is that the landscape is the cheap fiber-board background of an elementary school play about Washington, D.C, held in place by a squirmy kid who has to pee?

Or maybe it's those stark, stock political characterizations we depend upon to make our inside-the-beltway narratives palatable. When the actors suddenly step out of these roles, the world seems askew, somehow, the landscape shifted.

It's just kind of sad, isn't it? I mean, I think this is an important story, but I'm not even sure why. And I'm sure as hell not going to figure that out by sifting slowly through all of the gossip-column stuff about which representative has surprised us all by doing or saying something out of character.
WASHINGTON -- The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday examined whether the FBI's raid on a lawmaker's office violated the Constitution, even as Senate leaders backed off their criticism and the Bush administration negotiated guidelines for any such future searches.

For all of the shifting landscape, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., a loyal White House ally, made his position clear with the title of Tuesday's hearing: "Reckless Justice: Did the Saturday Night Raid of Congress Trample the Constitution?"

1 comment:

barba de chiva said...

Yeah, the AG thing is especially creepy. By "AG thing," of course, I'm talking about Gonzalez himself. The man has all of the subtlety of a South Texas County Judge but none of the charm.