It has been some time since Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA) created an appearance of impropriety this appalling. Earlier in the year, I went after him here, here,here, here and here. Nobody seemed to want pay that much attention at the time.
I understand that an already flabbergasted electorate had many other distractions. The potential damage I warned Issa might cause by misusing his new and powerful chairmanship of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform wasn't nearly as interesting as the ceaseless parade of lunatics calling the president a socialist or suggesting that the government had no business mandating an end to segregation.
A little over a month ago, I engaged in the profoundly masochistic act of reading David Mamet's most recent book. As rambling, bumbling, and painfully obtuse a portrait of neo-conservative conversion as it is, I didn't consider the possibility that Mamet would, in short order, embarrass himself further. This appears now to have been a terribly misguided overestimation. Since legitimate political and literary observers of all stripes have savaged its inanity, Mamet hasn't exactly had much of a promotional junket.
But, the 700 Club was more than willing to have him on. It's about what one would expect. There are broad character assassinations of "liberal Jews." Regarding American Jews who voted for Obama, Mamet stipulates they should be asked, "are you crazy?" It is, however, when Robertson poses the question "do you think the Jews are ever going to wake up?" that we discover Mamet has become the kind of man who treats such lines of inquiry as legitimate. There is also Mamet's reinterpretation of the biblical plagues... they "were actually sent on the Jews" and not Pharaoh.
It's enough to make one wonder whether he has a full grasp of the concept of self-loathing. (via)
