Gracchus

Foghorn Leghorn, meet Chicken Little

Unsurprisingly, The Nation magazine has joined the Democrats' campaign, waged by the institutional successors of Senator Claghorne, to save the precious filibuster.

As headlines go, "Fight for the Filibuster" has got to be in line for some kind of award -- Lamest Slogan in the So-Called Left Press, maybe. Stiff competition for that one.

This profoundly pathetic appeal showed up in a section of the magazine's site called Act Now! "Act like what," I wondered, and "a laughingstock" was the only answer I could come up with.

But of course they mean "act" in the sense of "take action." And just what action is Act Now! urging upon us?

I won't keep you in suspense: They want us to write to our Senators. Tears of mirth are streaming down my face as I write these words.

Let's work through the possibilities. Either our Senator is a Democrat -- in which case he already looks upon the filibuster the way Paris Hilton regards her trust fund -- or he is a Republican, in which case he looks upon the filibuster pretty much the way I regard Paris Hilton's trust fund. Either way, is he going to be swayed by letters from the half-dozen little old ladies who read The Nation?

There's a touch of pathos on The Nation's Act Now page. Apparently the page is maintained by one Peter Rothberg, whose photograph is strangely arresting. He looks rather boyish -- but his hair is gray. And he is wearing an enigmatic, heavy-lidded, sedated expression.

I can't say I'm surprised. I wouldn't have that poor schmuck's job for love nor money.

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Posted by gracchus at May 24, 2005 03:52 AM | TrackBack