The Horrible Boringness of Covering Debbie Wasserman Schultz

By Brandon K. Thorp Tue., May 3 2011 at 1:50 AM

Categories: Politics, If You Can Call It That

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Around the world, political writers begin their days hoping for an opportunity to attack the elected officials with whom they usually agree. They do this because writers are ever afraid of bias, and because not even the greatest human animals can't stand to be improved by the occasional bout of shellacking-induced introspection.

But goddamn it, it's really hard to find something to attack in Debbie Wasserman Schultz, because all of her public utterances look like this:

I talk to [our children] about what our values are and why I take the positions that I do, and I explain to them why it's important that we fight for education for other kids, why it's important that we make sure that everybody has health care, why it's important that we stand up for other people's rights, whether it's rights based on their sexual orientation or rights based on their skin color, or making sure that as Jews we fight anti-Semitism.

That's from a rather nice Q&A published in Sunday's Sun-Sentinel. And I suppose one might object to the bizarre notion that there are "rights based on sexual orientation," but that's probably a slip of the tongue -- Wasserman Schultz most likely meant that we should make sure people aren't denied rights based on sexual orientation/color/Jewishness, etc.

Wasserman Schultz's overwhelming pleasant blandness is a great argument against the idea that "the media" can or should be "fair and balanced." The idea's absurd. To be "balanced," you'd have to invent some horrible thing about which to castigate inoffensive little Wasserman Schultz every time you gripe about a crazy ideological ejaculation from an opposing political party. To be "fair," you've just got to call the shots as you see them, when you see them, to the best of your ability.

The latter approach is honest, if necessarily imperfect. The former's imperfect and dishonest. So screw it. What I mean to say is: Debbie, I'd like to write about you, so could you please be a little weirder?

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D6670 "organizations which have indiscriminately launched rockets into civilian populations and have used women and children as suicide bombers, detonating explosives in marketplaces and bus and train stations." How would you retaliate if you were bombed with white phosphorus and depleted uranium? How would retaliate if you were a prisoner in your own homeland that was occupied by many generations of your family? How would you retaliate if the "storytellers" used every trick in their book to demonize you to a gullible and naive captive audience that at one time was the most powerful nation on earth, and military wise still is the most powerful? I'm certain that with all the turmoil that is spreading across the Mid East that Israel really should step back and reconsider their actions towards their neighbors. It is either that or they are on a suicide mission. And stop claiming people are bigots just because they don't agree with you. But that must have something to do with your race, religion , culture because your type is a touchy bunch and you all must believe you are beyond reproach.
oh and i was being nice, but diogenes, pretending that there were no Palestinians living in Israel that were made into refugees is almost as bad as Holocaust denialism.
my publik skool education was also very holocaust heavy and lacked the mention of almost any other genocide...but i don't think that means we shouldn't have covered the holocaust! otherwise, arguing against racism with more divisiveness is repugnant.
When I was in secondary school, long ago and in a far different place than Florida, my World History classes covered the Holocaust as part of the curriculum on World War II, and we also covered the Armenian genocide; I don't recall whether we studied the "annihilation of the Christian Russians by the Bolsheviks." What this confirms for me is that Florida's public education system is curriculum challenged at best, and grossly deficient at worst. As for the Palestinians, their homeland was, at the time of Israeli Independence, supposed to be Jordan. Ask the Jordanians why they kicked the Palestinians out of their country. If Israelis are bigoted towards the Palestinians, perhaps it can be laid at the feet of Hamas and other terrorist organizations which have sworn to destroy Israel, organizations which have indiscriminately launched rockets into civilian populations and have used women and children as suicide bombers, detonating explosives in marketplaces and bus and train stations. And by the way, I only accused you, personally, of bigotry; your response proves my point.
When I was in secondary school, long ago and in a far different place than Florida, my World History classes covered the Holocaust as part of the curriculum on World War II, and we also covered the Armenian genocide; I don't recall whether we studied the "annihilation of the Christian Russians by the Bolsheviks." What this confirms for me is that Florida's public education system is curriculum challenged at best, and grossly deficient at worst. As for the Palestinians, their homeland was, at the time of Israeli Independence, supposed to be Jordan. Ask the Jordanians why they kicked the Palestinians out of their country. If Israelis are bigoted towards the Palestinians, perhaps it can be laid at the feet of Hamas and other terrorist organizations which have sworn to destroy Israel, organizations which have indiscriminately launched rockets into civilian populations and have used women and children as suicide bombers, detonating explosives in marketplaces and bus and train stations. And by the way, I only accused you, personally, of bigotry; your response proves my point.
What "jewishness"? How about trying to put holocaust classes into schools for starters. That is jewish history, not our history. How about a special class on the annihilation of the Christian Russians by the Bolsheviks or the Armenian Genocide? And your calls of bigotry are laughable, how bigoted is Israel towards the Palestinians? Countdown to anti-semitism..one..two..three.... And that brings up another point, how in hell can these particular jews claim anti-semitism when Eastern European Jews are not semites and in fact the true Semites are the disenfranchised Palestinians who are living in a concetration camp whose borders are continually chipped away at by the illegal jewish settlers? Everybody everywhere is bigoted to some degree and "they" are no different.
DWS still comes across as a Middle School pep squad leader, but I'll bet that she's the smartest, most articulate one you've ever encountered, Kenny. Her grasp of everything governmental and political is amazing, and her ability to convey it to the rest of us willing to listen, even if we don't necessarily agree, is something to marvel at. She's not my rep in Congress, but I wish she was.
By using the term "these people," exactly to whom are you referring? Can you not understand that education, health care, and other people's rights apply not only to to all Americans, but to non-Americans who live here as well. What "jewishness" is shoved down your throat? Lance, your bigotry speaks volumes about who you are.
Why is the "jewishness" thing always brought up with these people. How about working for all AMERICANS, no matter what they may happen to be. Jesus H Christ I am so tired of this "jewishness" being shoved down our throats, we have many more issues to deal with besides the "jewishness" dilemma that seems to be the only thing that these people really care about.
First time I saw DWS speak was at a Kerry/Edwards rally back in 2004. When DWS got the microphone, I thought she was a Middle school pep squad leader. The woman exuded nothing. Some things never change. Just an utter waste of political office space.