Thursday, July 15, 2010
"Two Vietnams, side by side..."
Via Ace from Moe Lane, a remarkable video of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (D, TX-18):
I am pretty sure that sitting here in the year 2010, there is only one Vietnam.
I think I understand what the congresswoman was trying to say, and (provided that the commenter over at Ace is incorrect when he implies that the "we" Jackson-Lee uses refers to forces which the American military was fighting against) the notion that we should honor the service of members of the U.S. military is one that nearly every reader of this blog would agree with. But she's either got to bone up on recent history, or get better staffers to write better set piece speeches for her when she stands at the podium.
12 Comments:
By 
, at
Thu Jul 15, 10:31:00 PM:
The Congresswoman from Texas certainly has a way with words. From Gateway Pundit:
And I thank you professor very much. I’m going to be engaging you with those very powerful numbers that you have offered on what the tea party recognizes, uh, or is recognized as. Might I add my own P.S.? All those who wore sheets a long time ago have now lifted them off and started wearing [applause], uh, clothing, uh, with a name, say, I am part of the tea party. Don’t you be fooled. [voices: "That's right.", applause] Those who used to wear sheets are now being able to walk down the aisle and speak as a patriot because you will not speak loudly about the lack of integrity of this movement. Don’t let anybody tell you that those who spit on us as we were walking to vote on a health care bill for all of America or those who said Congresswoman Jackson-Lee’s braids were too tight in her hair had anything to do with justice and equality and empowerment of the American people. Don’t let them fool you on that [applause]….
She got her Bachelor’s degree from Yale, and her law degree from the University of Virginia.
By , at
Fri Jul 16, 12:32:00 AM:
All these years later, and the Democrats keep pretending the KKK was a Republican organisation. The KKK used to hang Republicans, black and white.
By , at
Fri Jul 16, 08:48:00 AM:
That was hard to watch. Her intention was well founded, but the idea of two Vietnam's standing side by side as good neighbors??? Ouch...I am sure my many Vietnamese friends would tear up thinking about what their families left behind or how they were treated prior to coming to America by those "good neighbors" from the North...?
By , at
Fri Jul 16, 10:05:00 AM:
This woman is racist ignorance on the hoof. Yale must have been giving out degrees for breathing.
By 
Ed Rasimus, at
Fri Jul 16, 12:29:00 PM:
See, it would have been so easy! Simply "declare victory"! Let's just declare victory in Iraq and Afghanistan, then we can declare victory in Iran and N. Korea (there actually are two Koreas...) It justs takes a couple of days of serious declaring and then we can get back to the work of dismantling America.
By , at
Fri Jul 16, 12:31:00 PM:
Here's a map of the Texas 18th District.
I see a donut. mmmmm donuts.
The 18th is drawn the way it is to create a Black seat in Congress. Before Jackson-Lee, the 18th was represented by Barbara Jordan.
The 18th is about one-third white. You can argue that the whites in this district have been disenfranchised by gerrymandering.
There's a contrary argument that you have to create districts that look like Rorschach ink blots so as not to dilute minority voting. The premise is that without ink blot districts we wouldn't have any blacks in Congress.
This may have sounded like a good idea a generation ago. But in practice it's given us the Congressional black caucus, which includes "bright lights" like Jackson-Lee. These folks get elected to represent a literal ghetto. There's a reason that no black in Congress ever advances to a higher office like Senator or Governor.
I'm "old school." The Irish couldn't get elected in NYC until they got the Italians to vote for them. That's America.
***
KKK = Tea Party
"Don’t let anybody tell you that those who spit on us as we were walking to vote on a health care bill for all of America ..."
This is especially infuriating. I expect it will backfire come November.
By , at
Fri Jul 16, 04:10:00 PM:
The recent utterances of Yale grad Sheila Jackson-Lee remind me of Allan Sherman’s parody of When I was a Lad. (to the song of the same name from Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore). Allan Sherman’s parody ends thusly:
Now I have a big office at the end of the hall,
With very fancy carpeting from wall to wall.
I keep my mouth open and I keep my ears shut,
And I've got a little palace in Connecticut.
(And he's got a little palace in Connecticut.)
So I thank old Yale, and I thank the Lord,
And I also thank my father who was Chairman of the Board,
(And he's grateful to his father,
Yes he's grateful to his father,
Yes he's grateful to his father,
Who was Chairman of the Board.)
Both Allan Sherman’s and Gilbert's lyrics to “When I Was a Lad” satirize the granting of positions and power to those who are already connected to the powerful, instead of positions and power being awarded on merit.
Judging from what Yale grad Sheila Jackson-Lee has recently said, she doesn’t sound very bright. I very much doubt that either Yale or UVA law school admitted her on merit, anymore than the protagonist in the Allan Sherman song advanced on merit. We have substituted one system of selection ignoring merit – the good old boy network- for another one : affirmative action. Out of the frying pan into the fire.(Granted, our political system is not always blessed with the brightest bulbs on the tree: look at VP Biden. But he wasn't a Yale grad.)
By , at
Fri Jul 16, 05:18:00 PM:
I just looked up her bio. Sheila Jackson Lee graduated from Yale College in 1972 as a poli sci major, and from UVA Law in 1975.
Saigon fell in April 1975, which is of course why we have one Vietnam ... not two.
The Last Helicopter Out made an impression on me, even though I was a
Dazed and Confused
high school senior at the time.
She didn't just misspeak (like Gerald "Poland is Free" Ford). She was reading her own prepared remarks.
You can't make this up: Jackson Lee is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. One of her subcommittee assignments is "Middle East and South Asia."
... and they made Barney Frank chair of the House Banking Committee.
We're in the best of hands.
By Bomber Girl, at
Fri Jul 16, 08:57:00 PM:
Agreed, Ignoramus (or the commenter previously known as The Truth is Out There.)
By , at
Fri Jul 16, 09:45:00 PM:
This illiterate woman is a member of the United States Congress. She makes me feel ashamed for my country.
By , at
Fri Jul 16, 11:00:00 PM:
But she's either got to bone up on recent history, or get better staffers to write better set piece speeches for her when she stands at the podium.
A better idea would be for her to avoid making speeches that touch on things she doesn't have any clue about.
By , at
Sat Jul 17, 05:23:00 PM:
Miz Sheila, she git a pass, cause she be black.
