Darcy for Congress: Part 4
Earlier this week I was listening to Aaron Sorkin and Tommie Schlamme give the commentary on the Pilot episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
In speaking of casting Steven Weber to play the network executive, they said the one thing you can never act is smart. You have to be smart already. From the moment they saw Steven audition, the part was his. He was so smart, so powerful, so obviously right for the part, no one else had a shot.
All week long I've been coming back to how with Republicans, acting smart, acting patriotic, acting moral, acting as if they give a damn for people -- being seen to appear as if this or that were true, that is what truly matters to Republicans... Appearances.
Real intelligence, authentic patriotism, genuine morality, and above all, truly taking care of people such that at the end of the day or the week, at the end of the month or the year, people are left saying reflexively, "Yeah. I've been taken care of. These people really took care of me."... it's not them. They can't even fake it. Like an actor can't act smart.
Republicans not only aren't interested in the genuine article, they're actively opposed.
Why?
Because the genuine article shows the Republicans up as no different than either the thieves, or the two who passed by the man who lay dying by the side of the road in the parable so long ago:
The BibleRemember as you read the Parable of the Good Samaritan it is also about race and class, not just helping those in need. The guy who helped was of a race and class which was despised and hated and lower working class to poor. None the less, he helped anyway, even though he could have had the crap beaten out of him just for daring to help anyone. From our perspective, the risk he took is as if a disabled black vet in his thirties at 59th St and Columbus Circle just outside the entrance to the subway -- that's the south-west corner of Central Park, for those of you who don't know the city -- dared after dark to help a rich white twenty-something lying half-naked on the ground just inside the park boundary. The odds of New York's finest accusing him of making the assault (or worse), rather than doing what he could to help her...THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
ST LUKE
CHAPTER 10Jesus calls, empowers, and instructs the seventy—They preach and heal—Those who receive his disciples receive Christ—The Father is revealed by the Son—Jesus gives the parable of the good Samaritan.25 ¶ And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit aeternal life?27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy aheart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt alive.30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and awounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.33 But a certain aSamaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had bcompassion on him,34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took acare of him.35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the ahost, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Now ask yourself if Dave Reichert -- absent a camera trained on him -- would stop and take care of someone at risk to his own reputation. Question answers itself.
Darcy Burner is the real deal.
She is thoughtful, careful, considerate, and takes care of people.
All you have to do is watch the video and compare how she answers the question, with how Dave Reichert is rude and arrogant.
Beyond the issue of Congressman Reichert's believing it's fine for a pharmacist to not sell birth control pills -- not emergency contraception; birth control -- to a woman, simply because the pharmacist opposes birth control, just watch how rude Dave Reichert is. From interrupting, to forgetting the question (demonstrating he either isn't listening or that he's trying to dominate), and then instead of explaining himself and his answer to the people who elected him, he just says "No."
Reichert's answer belongs to someone who simply doesn't think, isn't smart, whose morality is all about looking good to a particular base group so that they'll vote for him, un-grounded in any genuine religious or moral conviction of his own. He is a man who clearly doesn't give a damn who he leaves dying by the side of the road, just so long as he gets his.
In short, he is a George Bush Republican.
I was privileged to interview Darcy a few months ago:
Darcy Burner*smiles*
There are five basic principles that form the basis for every political decision I'll make:
1. Government should treat everyone fairly.
2. Hard work should be rewarded.
3. Government should stay out of people's private lives.
4. We should keep our promises.
5. We should take care of our children, and leave them a better world than the one we found.
That's not the only way to slice it, of course, but it's one way, and that's how I slice it.
At some basic level, though, I think it comes down to what my father told me over and over again when I was growing up: "You're no better than them, and they're no better than you." The founding principle of our democracy is the idea that all persons are created equal*. And the fight at the moment comes down to whether that's actually true.
The other side believes, deep down, that a wealthy CEO is a *better person* than the woman who cleans my office at night.
I do not.
* I know, I know, women still don't have a guarantee of equality under our Constitution, and it was initially only white male landowners. But while we have lagged in execution, that principle has been our guide, and we make progress when we move closer to that ideal.
This is what I'm talking about.
We have to elect better, smarter Democrats.
She's one.
Please join with me this Holiday season by spreading a little cheer Darcy's way. She's really that good.
Thank you.
Previous Darcy posts:
How to Reach Darcy:
- Darcy Burner for Congress
- Help elect Darcy Burner to Congress by contributing. (Please add $0.13.)
- Feel free to send me an email letting me know.
And if you missed it in our last Darcy post (Part 3), make sure you watch her campaign video with music by the Squirrel Nut Zippers & Rickie Lee Jones.
Note: Edited at noon to fix my not paying attention to the bible verse when I modernized who was who. Thanks to the readers who pointed this out.
|