A few days ago, TN-01 incumbent Congressman Phil Roe made a big mistake.
He appeared in public.
He might have been better off staying out of sight and keeping his mouth shut. But, that may not feel like a viable option right now, especially with recent surprisingly critical newspaper editorials questioning his fitness for re-election.
The editorial tipping-point came after Roe conducted closed meetings on the high-profile topic of school safety. The meetings took place in a public building capable of accommodating an open forum, but Roe chose to exclude the public. This is not new behavior — Roe has been avoiding open public forums for some time. His enablers say he’s busy. A lot of his constituents think he’s scared. With respect to the school safety meeting, Roe also largely excluded the media, and in response, a local newspaper editorial board delivered this scolding:
If [Roe’s] afraid of an open forum and facing his constituents — all of his constituents — maybe he should think again about running for another term if he’s clearly unwilling to listen to those he represents.
Following publication of that and other similar criticisms, Roe stepped out, just a bit. The effort hasn’t been going well for him.
First, a local newspaper asked Roe about his position on the controversial separation of immigrant children from their families by border authorities. Now, before I tell you what Roe said, keep in mind that he is a physician, an OB-GYN no less, who boasts of having delivered thousands of babies in a 30-year medical career. (He has actually joked that he literally delivered most of “his” voters). In any case, by virtue of his profession, Roe ought to know something about the critical importance of parent-child bonding and attachment in early life.
So what did this physician-congressman say about separating infants and children from their families? He said:
“Is that the right thing to do? I don’t know...”
Really?! How could he not know whether separating children and parents is proper? An average kindergartner could have gotten this one right.
Then, during a campaign launch stump speech at City Hall, Roe again faced unexpected questions about the family separation policy. This time, the inquiry originated from a small uninvited group of protesters. The group included Roe’s fine
Democratic opponent, Marty Olsen MD (yes — Marty is also an OB-GYN — this election is a unique “battle of the baby doctors”). As Roe’s aides scurried to push him out of the room, Roe again avoided the topic, saying he couldn’t respond to questions until he conferred with the President, Shortly thereafter, he left the building, receiving an escort out a side door from the Chief of Police.
After escaping from the immigration protesters and his Democratic opponent, Roe continued down the street to a swanky hotel, where he addressed a private audience of Republican supporters. There, despite having just run away from his Democratic challenger, he delivered this testosterone-fueled
boast:
“I’ve got a confession to make … I’ve got a little redneck in me. They (Democrats) have made me want to work even harder. I want to bury them.”
“I want to bury them” — a theme perhaps borrowed from another ‘red’-neck, Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev, who famously blurted “we will bury you” to his Cold War adversaries?
But, while Roe’s words are similar to Khruschev’s, Roe’s statement in context is far worse. At least Khruschev was speaking about people he regarded as legitimate foreign enemies. In contrast, Roe wants to bury his own constituents, his neighbors, people whose only offense has been to expect him to do his job with integrity, wisdom, and compassion, and to express disappointment when he has failed to do so.
A couple of days later, after Trump capitulated and issued an Executive Order halting the family separations, Roe’s office published a written statement saying he agreed with the President.
How many other misanthropic Presidential Puppets like Phil Roe walk the halls of our Congress?
How many so-called “representatives” have become Congressmen in Name Only?
How many are caught up in a suffocating culture (or maybe just a cult) of partisan tribal loyalty that, figuratively speaking, renders them unable to pass gas without checking to see if there is an applicable Executive Order from the White House?
Phil Roe isn’t going to bury this Democrat. To the contrary — I’ll be casting my vote to shovel him out the door.