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https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a22063027/republican-senators-russia-4th-of-july/This Ought to Run in Campaign Ads from Now Through Eternity
Attention Optics Police: a crew of Republican senators spent the Fourth of July in...Moscow.
By Charles P. Pierce
Jul 5, 2018
I guess the Optics Policea vital part of Punditstans enforcement divisionhad the holiday off, or they were geared up elsewhere in anticipation of the Second Civil War, in which they would be tasked with keeping it more, well, civil than the first one was.
You remember the Optics Police, right? Theyre the folks that made sure that Hillary Rodham Clinton was constantly reminded of the phantom corruption in her familys charitable foundation, corruption that existed only in the bank accounts of professional right-wing ratfckers in league with the elite political media. They sat on all those panels on the electric teevee machine, holding forth on HRCs trust factor, and about how the appearance of impropriety is the most important thing. Their motto is, Re vera sensus est. Perception is reality.
So now consider the optics, and appearance and perception of the following entry from the electric Twitter machine account of Senator Ron (Shred of Freedom) Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, and chairman of the Senates Homeland Security committee.
Link to tweet
Pretty standard holiday bunting-draped bunkum, no? Thats only if you ignore that:
b) that it was posted while Johnson was in Russia not three days after the Senate Intelligence Committee joined with the entire U.S. intelligence community in concluding that Russia had ratfcked the 2016 election on behalf of the current president*;
c) that it was posted while Johnson was in Russia the same day in which two more Britons were felled by the same nerve agent that had nearly killed a Russian defector and his daughter;
and, finally, d) that it was posted while Johnson was in Russia on the Fourth of Freaking July, aka Independence Day.
I mean, honestly, thats got to call for the Optics Police SWAT team, especially now that its clear that the attack on liberal Western democraciesfor which Russia at the very least is cheeringis becoming a wildfire in Europe. This ought to be the trigger for a thousand hilarious TV spots when Johnson runs for re-election in 2020, and those spots ought to be blanketing the airwaves now. In fact, incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin ought to be hanging Johnson around the neck of her opponent, no matter who that turns out to be. The entire Wisconsin Republican Party should be made to drag Johnson around as a deadweight around its ankles.
The same should be true of all the Republican senators who made this little junket to visit the Volga Bagmen on this countrys 242nd birthday, and that especially includes Richard Shelby (R-Easy Mark), Republican of Alabama. From the WaPo:
Dude, we are adversaries. You become an adversary when you ratfck our elections. You become an adversary when you ship nerve agents overseas to kill someone living in peace under the protection of one of our allies. We are adversaries because Vladimir Putin stands in proud opposition to everything we were supposed to be celebrating here while you passel of hopeless marks were going to the ballet in St. Petersburg and having your geopolitical pockets picked.
(And, yes, hold all calls. I am well aware that this country has not lived up to its founding creed in many different ways. But, at the moment, this country is being led by a two-bit thug quite possibly in thrall to a very successful foreign thug, and the president*s political party is equally subservient. If its all the same to everybody, Id rather not see Russian-style kleptocracy spread generally across the world.)
However, the only way any political price for this incredible blundering ever will be paid is if the Optics Police do their jobs as enthusiastically as weve seen them do it in other contexts. Early signs are not promising. While the Republicans were toasting autocrats and jabberwocks in Russia, on the Fourth of July, the Optics Police were very busy checking out how liberals on Marthas Vineyard for refusing to give Alan Dershowitz a cookie.
New York Times, A1.
Boston Globe, top of A1.
At least Nero could fiddle a little.
brooklynite
(93,880 posts)babylonsister
(170,964 posts)calimary
(80,700 posts)In THIS era?
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)media to actually make themselves useful.
I trust that AT LEAST Rachel will be spending time on this (or has been, haven't watched this week) and some of the other MSNBC hosts as well?
Their being there on the 4th is UNPATRIOTIC as hell, IMHO. I have to think this was a power play by Putin, making them come on THIS day, if they wanted the airtime of the Russian Government.
If Dems had done this, ESP. while a Dem was POTUS and under a federal investigation? RW heads all over the country would be EXPLODING with wrath, and it'd be all over the news, media would cover it all damn day for days.
ffr
(22,649 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,790 posts)Again Alabama RepubliConMan leadership features in negative news.
BBG
(2,478 posts)Seriously. Why isnt this being covered? What the hell yall?
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Appalling.
stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)Treason right in our face and fully taxpayer funded.
calimary
(80,700 posts). ... things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
mere anarchy is loosed upon the world... William Butler Yeats verses STILL echo in my mind.
His poem The Second Coming is one of the scariest, most disturbing poems Ive ever read. Its creeped me out since high school English Lit class.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=10490694
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Cha
(295,929 posts)We're in putin's pocket on the 4th of July and what of it?