Topical Quotes Roundup
Former Rep, "Duke" Cunningham is not a good man. As a congressman, he's shown himself to be a sleazy, corrupt, war-mongering bigot. On Monday he pled guilty to accepting millions of dollars in bribes from defense contractors. (Up until his day in court, he'd insisted he'd done nothing illegal. Last year, when the investigation into his antics started, Tom DeLay called him "an honorable man of high integrity.")
However, Cunningham's speech to the press that day was a rare and laudable thing--a genuine apology. Since I've written previously on how our moral absolutists weasel and dodge when it comes time to take responsibility for their own actions, it seems only right to give credit to an exception:
I'm resigning from the House of Representatives because I've compromised the trust of my constituents.
The truth is I broke the law, concealed my conduct and disgraced my office.
I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions, and, most importantly, the trust of my friends and family.
The Boston Globe reports that the FCC wants to crack down on sexuality on cable television, opening with a typically lurid headline ("Smut on cable, satellite TV targeted"). For me, the most interesting part of the piece was a quote from FCC chairman Kevin Martin on why stricter regulations are needed:
You can always turn the television off and, of course, block the channels you don't want, but why should you have to?
Why should you be burdened with controlling what you view, when we can control it for you? Why indeed.
Ion, who still refuses to get a blog, because he's a Bad Person, pointed me to Orrin Hatch's remarks on a Fox News show:
The Democratic Party seems to be taken over by the Michael Moore contingent in their attitude toward Vietnam, and they continually call for a withdrawal of troops at a time when we haven't finished the job.
Apparently no-one commented on his error at the time, and the official transcript actually read 'Iraq' rather then 'Vietnam' until bloggers pointed out the flub.
History repeats itself--the first time as tragedy, the second time as Freudian slip.