And He Graduated West Point
It takes a very special, truly unique person to deliver one of the most wrong analogies of all time. Representative John Shimkus (IL-19) was up to the task this afternoon -- on the House Floor no less. He compared the war in Iraq to the Major League Baseball feud between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs.
Eric at PrairieStateBlue posted almost immediately. He offers some very good questions.
Jon Soltz has a good blog post on the subject. He even called for the congressman's way overdue resignation.
The Chicago Tribune is quite active with the reader comments. One commenter suggests that the congressman move to Missouri. Illinois would throw a huge party if that happened. Another happy thought is several Republican millionaires reading the text and ending their financial support adding to the $1M+ in the Shimkus re-elect fund.
Bernie Schoenburg at the State Journal-Register provided the official explanation from Spindoctor Steve Tomaszewski: He would never say or do anything in disrespect to the men and women in uniform. Well, that is certainly subject to interpretation. Jon Soltz was a Captain during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He feels the disrespect, and he has some company in that.
As usual, readers can depend on the St. Louis Post Dispatch to come to the rescue of John Shimkus when he suffers from a bout of foot-in-mouth disease. One can only hope that the editors and writers eventually remove the rose-colored glasses surgically attached to their eyes. Those razor-sharp Shimkus horns have such bright and shiny points! Editors and writers should not deny themselves the blinding reality.
Since the Commander Guy encouraged him to remain in office, the residents of IL-19 can fantasize about a long overdue resignation with the Shimkus signature. They can also take solace in knowing that the atypical West Point graduate that had been on the other dean's list will always be a follower that could never comprehend the definition of leader, and a foregone conclusion with no original thought to call his own. In other words, he calls the Cubs terrorists and he ultimately, typically put his foot in his mouth.