Carper is one of the most spry shambling corpses in the Senate
It is funny (not “ha ha” funny) to think that some of his colleagues make Carper look relatively young and with it.
Those Bits Were On The Record
I’m thinking specifically of how instead of simply reporting on their regularly skewed interactions with Dianne Feinstein, it was necessary for reporters to do deeply sourced pieces, getting anonymous quotes from staffers. They did those stories, but there probably was an easier way, as in, “in response to my question, the senator responded with [nonsense].”
It’s quite obvious they are hiding the things they regularly see.
Going back, Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms were basically zombies with pickled brains at the end of their careers, and we all know how reporters covered for Reagan.
Not sure what journalistic NORMS are served by not reporting on things that are right in front of them. Who are the other ones?
Somebody has to say it: Term limits for the house, senate and judges. It will not be easy and the politicians will only do it if we make them.
I had been in the “we have term limits, they are called elections” camp. But that stance is glib and outdated. Incumbents (particularly in the Senate) have too great of an advantage owning to the corporate money they have access to.
Term limits or campaign finance reform. Both would be difficult, but our democracy is turning into a goddam joke.
Agreed, I have an old saying I’m fond of: “The government is only as good as the people in it”. Yes, there has always been crooks, creeps and raving idiots in congress. But there has also been enough sane and competent ones to keep them in line, not now.
The low hanging fruit that is suggesting term limits is so damn ridiculous, I wish folks would let that argument out to pasture. We have term limits and it is elections. Get more people signed up to vote and actually get them to vote and there wouldn’t be an issue.