This was not Winston Churchill, determined to rally his
nation to continue the fight against the Nazis despite a military setback. Nor
was it President Kennedy challenging those who saw no difference between
"the free world and the communist world" to "come to Berlin." It wasn't quite as good as Hubert H. Humphrey's address at the
1948 Democratic Convention in which he boldly and bravely declared "the time has arrived for
the Democratic party to get out of the shadow of state's rights and walk
forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights." Certainly it wasn't the equal of arguably the
greatest speech ever given by an American, in which Reverend King quoted a 19th
century Unitarian minister in reminding us that "the arc of the moral universe is
long."
The feigned shock and outrage by GOP senators was stunningly dishonest, as numerous commentors noted. However, it was perhaps bestunderstood, and most poignantly explained, by the former Department of Justice employee and current MSNBC security analyst:
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But it was excellent, elegant and eloquent, notwithstanding pundits being loathe to admit it. The rats were sent scurrying as their cowardice was called
out by one congressman who said out loud what is whispered among his colleagues
in Washington but must not be spoken of in polite company. Adam Schiff's closing
statement in the impeachment near-trial on Friday included
Is moral courage really more rare than that on a
battlefield? And then I saw what Robert Kennedy meant by moral courage. Few, he
said, are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of
their colleagues and the wrath of their society.
And then I understood by that measure just how rare moral
courage is, how many of us are willing to brave the disapproval of our fellows,
the censure of our colleagues, and the wrath of our society.
Just as those who have not served in uniform can't fully
understand what military service means, so, too, there is a different kind of
fraternity and sorority among those who have served in office.
I always tell my constituents there are two kinds of jobs in
Congress and it's not Democrats and Republicans. It's those from a safe seat
and those from an unsafe set, and I'm sure the same is true for those from a
safe state and those from an unsafe state.
It's why I think there is a certain chemistry between
members who represent those swing districts and states because they can step in
each other's shoes.
And one of the things that we in this fellowship of office
holders understand that most people don't is that real political courage
doesn't come from disagreeing with our opponents but from disagreeing with our
friends and with our own party because it means having to stare down
accusations of disloyalty and betrayal. He's a Democrat in Name Only or she's a
Republican In Name Only.
What I said last night if it resonated in this chamber
didn't require courage. My views, as heartfelt as they are, reflect the views
of my constituents. But what happens when our heartfelt views of right and
wrong are in conflict with the popular opinion of our constituents?What happens
when our devotion to our oaths, to our values, to our love of country depart
from a momentary passion of the people back home? Those are the times that try our souls.
CBS News reported last night that a Trump confidant said
that GOP senators were warned "vote against our president, vote against
the President and your head will be on a pike."
Now, I don't know if that's true. Vote against the President
and your head will be on a pike. I have
to say when I read that- and again I don't know if it's true- but when I read
that I was struck by the irony, by the irony. I hope it's not true, I hope it's
not true.
But I was struck by the irony of the idea- where we're
talking about a president talking about a president who could make himself a
monarch that whoever that was would use the terminology of a penalty that was
imposed by a monarch- head on a pike.
The feigned shock and outrage by GOP senators was stunningly dishonest, as numerous commentors noted. However, it was perhaps bestunderstood, and most poignantly explained, by the former Department of Justice employee and current MSNBC security analyst:
My dad was a Baptist preacher, and he always said that after every service you could tell who was most embarrassed by the sermon by how mad they were on their way out. https://t.co/zHBJYw4Dub— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) January 25, 2020
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