It's one thing to make a mistake in an ad hoc address, even a very dumb mistake. Everybody does this from time to time. If you talk (or blog) enough, it's going to happen. When I do it, I acknowledge the mistake, correct it, and move on.
But it is entirely another thing to make a first class idiot of yourself in a prepared speech given as the Democrat's weekly radio response to the President's address like Senator Chuck Schumer:
The massive blackout in Northern states and Canada is an indictment of the Bush administration's failed deregulatory energy policies, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Saturday.
When Chuck Schumer can explain to me what a step-down transformer does, how it does it, and why they are used, I'll start to listen to him on energy policy. Until then, this is just more silly partisanship of the kind that must attribute every puppy falling down a well to the wickedness of the Bush junta's agenda.
Schumer, a member of the Senate Energy Committee, blamed "failed economic theory from the Depression era," and insisted "we Democrats are not going to let Republicans play Russian roulette with our nation's power supply."
Sure they aren't, because damnitalltohell, that's their job!
I'll ask again, where are the grownups in the Democrat party?
It's just Zero-Issue Politics, Charles. The Democrats are the opposition; therefore, they must oppose. They don't strictly need a substantive issue to hang it on, as long as they can sleaze something together out of coincidence and insinuation.
Expect this to swell to truly Brobdinagian dimensions as the 2004 elections approach.
But, wait, it gets better: "a quick check of Schumer's own website reveals that when it comes to energy deregulation, Schumer is a supporter himself."
Gotta love the blogosphere.
Posted by: Dodd at 11:13 PMI can see harmonics, power factor correction and voltage standing wave ratio being a BIG issue in '04. Mark my words.
Posted by: Jeffersonian at 10:43 PM