During a recent Last Word segment, Lawrence O’Donnell hailed Democratic Congresswoman Dianne Feinstein for blatantly defying the GOP and releasing the Fusion GPS transcript. O’Donnell added that what Feinstein did was the single most important act by United State’s Senator since Donald Trump’s Inauguration—and nothing less.
”Senator Feinstein reached the breaking point with her Republican colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee. It was her Howard Beale moment—that moment in Paddy Chayefsky’s Oscar-winning screenplay, Network, when Howard Beale is shouting ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore’—and then the whole country starts shouting with him.”
O’Donnell goes on to say there is nothing more rare than a Howard Beale moment in the Senate—they seem happen only once in a generation. The last one O’Donnell recalls was in 1984 when Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan resigned his Central Intelligence Committee post after a blatant violation by the CIA director. Here is O’Donnell’s MSNBC Last Word video clip.
Network movie trailer that includes a short clip of the Howard Beale “Mad as Hell” scene. Senator Feinstein’s behavior does not mirror Beale’s, nor does his gripe completely mirror the troubles of today. What is very recognizable to many Americans is the rage from feeling completely fed up after witnessing Trump/GOP corruption day after day—sometimes hour after hour. It’s the feeling of wanting to explode—before you implode.
Thank you to Dianne Feinstein for breaking norms and flipping off the Republicans in Congress with action rather than wordy rants. May an army of Democratic and Republican lawmakers be so bold as to follow her lead.