Years and years ago, I read an article that was titled, I believe, "Congress' License To Lie." It described one of the little benefits members of Congress grants itself -- the right to "revise and extend" their remarks on the floor in the Congressional Record.
One might think that something called the "Congressional Record" would be just that -- a record of what is said and done in Congress. It bears about as much resemblance to that as a Picasso has to a passport photo.
Members of Congress use that privilege to rewrite history to their own purposes. It's become second nature to them.
Which is why I don't share the outrage of Charles Schumer's rewriting his own words -- both in the Record and on his official web site -- when he disparaged the troops fighting in Iraq.
In the old days, this would have gone unnoticed. But in the days of C-SPAN and Youtube and blogging, the Congress can no longer blithely recast events to put them in a more favorable light.
If Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi really are interested in "the most ethical Congress in history," they can start by giving up their ability to lie and rewrite history at their whim.
But I ain't holding my breath.
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Comments (14)
If it had only been a matte... (Below threshold)1. Posted by 89 | September 12, 2007 5:59 AM | Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
If it had only been a matter of submitting additional information into the record, or the attach a note about something he mis-spoke about, that would be all right, but actual altering of the record should only happen in the unlikely event that the transcpription was actually wrong..
1. Posted by 89 | September 12, 2007 5:59 AM |
Score: 1 (3 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 05:59
2. Posted by marc | September 12, 2007 6:39 AM | Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Does this make Chucky a slimy bastage?
Wait, he already was. He just reconfirmed it.
2. Posted by marc | September 12, 2007 6:39 AM |
Score: 5 (7 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 06:39
3. Posted by Oyster | September 12, 2007 7:10 AM | Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
What "89" said. They should be permitted to clarify, but only as an addendum to the original statement. It's not as if their words aren't thought about and prepared in advance before they open their yaps.
Even without the ability to record, by the many means you mentioned, Jay, a glimpse into the black soul of another is never forgotten.
For instance, will anyone ever forget Kos' "screw 'em" comment?
3. Posted by Oyster | September 12, 2007 7:10 AM |
Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 07:10
4. Posted by WildWillie | September 12, 2007 7:26 AM | Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
"It bears about as much resemblance to that as a Picasso has to a passport photo."
JT, I just look forward to your analogies. Great stuff. Schumer is a schmuck. He oozes slime. ww
4. Posted by WildWillie | September 12, 2007 7:26 AM |
Score: 4 (6 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 07:26
5. Posted by Candy | September 12, 2007 8:21 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
All of us would like a "do over" once in a while - but as an accounting teacher, I can assure you that if you edit something in the journal of a business' accounting records, you must notate what was changed and why. I'd like a "what" and a "why" from Charles "Give him the shoe" Schumer.
5. Posted by Candy | September 12, 2007 8:21 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 08:21
6. Posted by Carl | September 12, 2007 8:27 AM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!!
Oh, waitasec...you were SERIOUS?
6. Posted by Carl | September 12, 2007 8:27 AM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 08:27
7. Posted by 914 | September 12, 2007 9:10 AM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
"If majority leader Reid and speaker Pelosi really are interested in the most ethical congress in history"
Right, they also hold the dubious distinction of being the most unpopular ever.
If either one could see beyond their pile of money they would resign.
7. Posted by 914 | September 12, 2007 9:10 AM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 09:10
8. Posted by kim | September 12, 2007 10:08 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Schumer is a bad and dangerous man.
================================
8. Posted by kim | September 12, 2007 10:08 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 10:08
9. Posted by jennifer | September 12, 2007 10:25 AM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
I feel like at times that this is a World created by Garp.
9. Posted by jennifer | September 12, 2007 10:25 AM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 10:25
10. Posted by Scrapiron | September 12, 2007 10:27 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
People standing over Chuckie's casket will praise him while thinking how bad it is to lie at a funeral and wondering if they will go to hell for lying. The best thing about the internet is that no one can hide the facts. He is a sleeze and will go down in history as such. People always say how natural the dead look. I always think they look dead and they ain't coming back.
10. Posted by Scrapiron | September 12, 2007 10:27 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 10:27
11. Posted by kim | September 12, 2007 11:04 AM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
You da Man, Scrap.
=================
11. Posted by kim | September 12, 2007 11:04 AM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 11:04
12. Posted by spurwing plover | September 12, 2007 11:09 AM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Chucky schumer is a scondrel and a cad he is your usial liberal left-wing demacrat lowlife who would need a ladder to reach up and tickle a snakes belly
12. Posted by spurwing plover | September 12, 2007 11:09 AM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 11:09
13. Posted by pudge | September 12, 2007 12:47 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
This, biggest in the US, fraternity of liars, perverts, whores and sellers of creeping communism cast judgment down upon real men like General Patraeus, and we vote them back into office again and again.
I'm sorry, but I missed the part where it says we are guaranteed to go on thriving or even existing when we not only allow, but actually exalt pieces of human filth like Fuss Rienscold. Those two facts simply cannot be true at the same time for very long. Well, he aint goin' nowhere, so that must mean...
13. Posted by pudge | September 12, 2007 12:47 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 12:47
14. Posted by pudge | September 12, 2007 12:53 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Oh and for the hate that these scum cause, otherwise peaceable, people to have in their hearts, for that alone they should burn for a thousand eternities.
14. Posted by pudge | September 12, 2007 12:53 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on September 12, 2007 12:53