Driving back from my weekly Sunday afternoon trip to the dump, flip on my main source for the news these days, WTOP out of D.C. Then I hear this quote via the radio waves:
"If they choose not to appear, guilt may be implied"
Speaker was Republican Congressman Tom Davis, from Northern Virginia, who is generally considered to be a moderate. The source for his display of a amazing lack of knowledge of The Bill of Rights . . . his concerns about steroid use in major league baseball and his desire to have testify before Congress players perhaps involved in the scandal; a list which seemed oddly focused on names mentioned in the recent book by that pillar of virtue, Jose Canseco.
Even leaving aside the question of Mr. Davis' priorities-shouldn't Congress be more concerned about say, soaring gas prices, American casualties in Iraq, released hostage casualties in Iraq-his ignorance of some of the basic principles of American justice are disturbing.
Like my mostly apolitical wife instantly said when I just relayed the news report to her, "This isn't China".
Bingo. And Davis is what passes for a moderate these days. How do we get out of this increasingly Looking Glass world?