By Judith Gayle | Political Waves
Most of you are smart enough to avoid television news coverage, at least that’s what you tell me. I keep an eye on it because so many of my fellow Americans watch, feeding at the trough of infotainment, a 24/7 bread and circuses event that leaves us too emotionally exhausted to be outraged over the faux-outrage being displayed by this or that party. Mostly that party. This week’s pony show was, of course, brought to us by the Pubs, amping up the energy in opposing the Affordable Care Act. The sniping and stupidity displayed during this most recent round of Congressional hearings culminated in the raking of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over the coals.
I couldn’t watch; it had the same energy signature as a ritualistic blood-letting. Everyone involved with the ACA website roll-out had already apologized profusely, so a public scourging seemed pointless and pretty much proved to be. I asked Fishin’ Jim if he tuned in and he said he had, that Sebelius had preformed admirably as the opposition pounded away at her, asking the same questions over and over (and mugging for the audience back home) although, he added, he hoped she’d had that facial tick before that day. Polls today indicate that while most people are critical of the failed technology, there’s been no change in opinion over ACA itself. Pubs = zero. Sebelius = nervous condition.
Some of this non-sense makes me nuts. I’d rather watch Hoda and Kathie Lee discuss social trivialities, and believe me, I’m as eager for that as a root canal. At least they have a sense of humor, something seriously lacking in the politics of the day. There were a couple of genuine moments in this Kabuki that made me laugh though, a rarity. One involved New Jersey Dem, Frank Pallone, accusing the Pubs of trying to scare people away from enrollment. When he was rebuffed, he refused to yield the floor, calling the event a “monkey court.” Amen, brother Frank!