Yet Again and Even More Regarding Cowardly Lions

 

Long ago, in a faraway land, I was asked by an ambassador to take on a mission that was more than slightly out of my normal duties.  I didn’t have to do it.  But I thought it was a good idea and it presented no real danger to me (I thought) and I liked the ambassador and, well, even though I’m now considered by some to be a godless commie socialist snowflake, I thought it was an overall patriotic thing to do.  I said yes, I’ll do that.  And I did.  I went above and beyond what the ambassador wanted, in fact, and I thought we’d later have coffee in his office and there would be handshakes and congratulatory discussion and so on.  I certainly didn’t expect public acknowledgement or little colored bits of cloth to hang on my uniform. 

I hardly ever wore a uniform back then, but I had two or three in my closet should an emergency arise. 

Anyway, long story short, the larger US government was apparently happy with what I had done.  Conversely, they were quite displeased with the ambassador and wanted to know why he himself had not done more in his role as the senior representative of the US government in the entire foreign country where we worked.  This, I thought, was not my concern.  I’d been given an objective, I exceeded expectations and I was ready to go back to my secretive assignments where no one noticed me very much at all.  In what I believe was an effort to embarrass the ambassador, a very senior Senator requested my presence in DC.  He wanted to publicly recognize my success.  On the floor of the Senate.  Meetings were called.  Encrypted phone conversations flew back and forth between us and Washington. My masters at the time were so-called important bureaucrats at one of the alphabet soup agencies and they absolutely forbid me to make any public appearances.  This was fine with me.  I was already pissed off about the situation.  The Senator was advised of my secret-squirrel assignment and that the agency would not allow my participation.  He withdrew the request and I was happy as a clam. 

What I’m getting at is this.  Had I been allowed (forced) to appear, I would gladly have answered any questions put to me (if the questioner had proper clearances and need to know).  I did nothing at all that would have brought shame upon myself, my service, or the United States of America.  I took pride in what I did and I followed (in this instance) the rules and regulations that defined my service and my assignments.  I didn’t want to go to DC for this, but if I had been forced to go, I would have complied.

Service to country should be honorable.  If courage is required, it should be summoned from within – or faked, if need be. 

I have done both. 

Those who serve, from the tiny little gears in the Big Government Engine (that was me) to the highest-ranking members of the Senate or the House or especially the president, should conduct themselves in such a way that they might always answer questions about their conduct.  This seems pretty obvious to me, especially in those we call ‘public servants’.  We pay them to do our bidding, to represent us when we are busy with working or playing cribbage or just fucking off.  They should at least be able to answer questions about how, why, when, and so on. 

And so it is that I tell you that Kevin McCarthy is a goddamned coward.  I will add that anyone and everyone who agrees with him is also a goddamned coward.  Mitch McConnell is a goddamned coward.  My representatives from Texas, John Cornyn, Michael Burgess, Ted Cruz, et al, are all goddamned cowards.  When I am done writing this morning, I shall inform them regarding my considered opinions, and suggest that they line up to kiss my ass.  I would refuse to let their cowardly lips anywhere near my ass, but I still think they should queue up.  Goddamned cowards.

McCarthy sent a trusted lieutenant to negotiate with the Democrats.  This, he did, and he made demands and the Democrats said this: “Well, okay.”  But McCarthy had sent him on a fool’s errand.  He never intended to accept those terms.  ANY terms.  He pulled the rug from under his own colleague.  These were not good faith negotiations.  McCarthy is scared.  He is one of the only members of Congress to speak to Trump on 6 January and, should he testify honestly, might give us insight into how Trump was dealing with the riot, the insurrection, that he himself provoked.  McCarthy is frightened out of his pee-stained little boy pants by Donald Trump.

What a sad existence that must be, to be so scared of the fat schoolyard bully that you pretend to be his best friend so he won’t beat you up after school.

And McCarthy wants to be Speaker so badly that he is willing to continue to subvert democracy.  His desire for power far outweighs his love of country.  He is willing to lie, to cheat, to swear his allegiance to a twice-impeached ex-president, to completely fuck over you and me and every other American, because he wants a better job.  Is this in any way admirable?

And the Republicans, by and large, line up behind him.  They are no longer the party of Lincoln.  They are the party of goddamned cowards.