Democratic Diva

My God, that’s all they talk about!

03 Jul 2012 11:03 pm
Posted by: Donna

Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh’s recent buffoonery is an example of a type of IOKIYAR that should forever be in a category of it’s own.

Rep. Joe Walsh’s Facebook page is flooded with negative comments today after the Illinois Republican said his opponent, Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth, was not a “true” hero because she often makes reference to her military service on the campaign trail.

Duckworth lost both her legs after an RPG attack in Iraq brought down the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting in 2004. Walsh never mentions his own military service on the campaign stump. He never had any.

“My God, that’s all she talks about,” Walsh said of Duckworth’s military career in a video recorded at Walsh’s town hall speech Sunday and posted by Think Progress. “Our true heroes, the men and women who served us, my God, that’s the last thing in the world they talk about. That’s why we are so indebted and in awe of what they have done.”

If I didn’t know who either of these people were, or their party affiliation, I would be safe in assuming that the disabled vet candidate was a Democrat and the idiot incumbent complaining about her was a Republican. Because Republicans are often not the the slightest bit hesitant to denigrate veterans who are Democrats, no matter bravely they served or how much they sacrificed.

Leaving the partisan electoral hypocrisy on military service aside, Walsh’s dismissive comments about Duckworth speak to a larger truth – how the powerful use their position to silence the inconvenient voices of “lesser” people attempting to describe their experiences and challenge powerful institutions. It can take the form of denial, minimization, humiliation, intimidation, bribery, or various combinations of all those. But the crucial thing is to muzzle those voices so that the comfortable are not afflicted.

It would, you know, cause problems for the church’s image and hurt collections if they turned those child sex predators in. It would make things difficult for the alumni and coaching staff of the football team at the big university too. It could make them “vulnerable”.

Working class and poor people should definitely quit whining about their “how will I feed my family?” situation so that the Very Serious People^TM can get on with important austerity plans for The Economy^TM.

Ladies, please stop with this “war on women” and “vagina” nonsense. It’s making the guys squeamish and, besides, you can always learn to hold an aspirin between your knees!

And helicopter pilots who got their legs shot off should at least have the decency to forbear in silent dignity and not do outrageous things like go out in public and point out the difficulties returning disabled veterans face. It’s so unseemly!

My God, is that all you people talk about? Don’t you realize there are people in America facing the unmitigated horror of a *gasp* 3% increase in their marginal tax rates??!?!! Can you please think of them and stifle yourselves so that they can command all the airwaves and dominate the discussion as the Lord intends?