my nomination to realclearpolitics for 'political video of the day' (07/26/2006)

i know this probably won't make it, because it doesn't measure up in humor to past videos, and probably because i don't have the actual clip (although one should be available a time or two per week), but i would like to nominate the trio i call 'the 3 stooges of c-span after hours'. do you know to whom i refer? congressmen tim ryan of ohio and kendrick meek of florida, and congresswomen debbie wasserman shultz, also of florida, democrats all. these bozos, with few exceptions, take special order speeches and colloquys to new heights, keeping the house open past midnight sometimes just to hear themselves talk. poor mr. meek often looks like he's going to fall over from exhaustion.

given the time in which they like to take the floor, i don't get to see them all the time. but when i do, i have come to adopt it as a guilty pleasure. last night was one such night. they were talking past 10:30 cst, and the only reason i saw them was due to the fact that i had just returned home from class. last night was one of those nights when they broke out there big rubber stamp, the stamp they claim the house uses for all president bush wants. hello! he's a republican and they control the house! mr. ryan was in peak form last night, proclaiming all they would do in the "first 100 hours" should they wrest control of the house from republicans in november. the minimum wage stuck out, perhaps because i have researched the topic in my studies. he was quick to point out what a positive, immediate, "direct" effect it would have on millions. in the process, he exemplified the short-run vision that infects the democratic party (republicans are occasionally guilty of this, also). sure, a few million would receive an immediate raise, but his static way of thinking blinds him from seeing that many more will not be hired because of the added expense of taking on in- or lesser-experienced help. they DON'T...GET IT!

i have a difficult time taking people like this too seriously. mr. meek is the only one who comes close to having 'real world' experience, having been a highway patrolman. mr. ryan and ms. wasserman schultz have law and political science degrees. i love politics, and thought about looking into that for a masters, but figured it wasn't practical in the 'REAL WORLD'. and mr. ryan is a lawyer...nuff said.

so if you can find a particularly juicy piece of video of them displaying their talents, i nominate it. if not, i can always have them to myself