Or breeches, if you prefer to be proper. I just like using the colloquial version in this context.
I was not set off by the video above, but rather by this headline in the paper this morning:
DeMint mocks Obama in video, won’t attend speech
What I’m saying is that boycotting the speech is what gets me much more than the video, which is fairly run-of-the-mill, even tame. But the part where he won’t deign to listen to the president, after the president has already been dissed by the House, takes us to a new level.
Jim DeMint, between refusing to tolerate the presence of the president of the United States (perhaps our latter-day Wellington is frustrated not to have brought about Mr. Obama’s “Waterloo” yet) to his peremptorily summoning those who would replace the president before him, to be questioned one at a time like prisoners in the dock, seems to be trying to carve out a unique space for himself in American politics.
It seems to be a position something like that of a king (or something more powerful, a kingmaker). In any case, it’s nothing that our Framers envisioned in setting up this system of governance. It’s personal. It’s specific to him. And it answers to no one. We need to come up with a whole new system of political science (or at least, hark back to a very old one) even to come up with the terminology with which to explain what he is doing.
How does his pattern of behavior strike you?
Related Posts
Frankly, his behavior strikes me as par for the course. DeMint has been an attention-seeker since he first stepped on to the political stage. He seems to revel in being the most extreme, seeing how far he can go in his quest to royally tick off everyone to the political left of Mussolini.
I’m glad he’s not seeking re-election. I look forward to having our state represented in DC by two real senators.
Jim Demint is acting like a spoiled brat.
Criticizing DeMint is just too easy. He’s such an idiot.
Shootin’ fish in a barrel — he’s so big for his britches, he’s a Dunlop.
Amen, Bud! I heard the guy speak at a regional Chamber meeting a couple of years ago and anyone with decent recall, knew he had no credibility especially on his debt mania. He voted for Bush’s tax cut, Medicare Part D with no funding, voted to not fund Bush’s two wars nor did he did stand against Bush’s TARP. Anyone who puts any credibility in his political views is just plain ignorant – maybe even stupid also.
He’s so plastic. And yes, the britches split long ago…sick of him.
I don’t have the same contact with him that y’all do, but from this distance, frankly, he seems like an a-hole. But then I was raised to respect the office of the president, whoever was in it.
Why not, He’s one for Burnin’ down the house? Careful what you wish for and all that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNnAvTTaJjM
Jim DeMint has no vision or desire to serve as the US Senator from SC.
Rather, Jim DeMint is the singular embodiment of a toxic ideology that respects no traditions or courtesies.
My wife calls to protest his actions, and the distain from his staff is barely concealed. Lately his voice mail has just gone to muzak.
He does not care to represent SC. He is following (or maybe he had set) the failed example of Mark Sanford in that his peculiar ideology trumps constitient service and need.
People have played on his name for some time (i.e., he is deminited) but lately I think of him as Jim Diminished.
Diminished as in contributions to any sector of SC except its most narrow and provincial viewpoints. Diminished as in deserving respect for respecting others. Diminished as in opportunities lost in pursuit of what is tantamount to ideological masterbation.
And we have only ourselves to blame for permitting his entry and success into politics.
This man, with the following he has, has become a demigogue. I am afraid of this type of rhetoric, which attracts so many people while appealing to their selfishness, their clannishness (I highly suspect his treatment of Mr. Obama stems in part from (unadmitted) racial prejudice), and their need for a target to scapegoat. Historically speaking, we’ve seen what happens when this sort of person continues to gain power, and it’s not good. I can only hope that there are enough people of good sense and good heart to stop it.