DECEMBER 8, 2008
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Looks like GOP leaders aren't seeing what I saw in Republican lawyer Joseph Cao's triumph over corrupt incumbent Bill Jefferson -- namely, that it was essentially a fluke victory facilitated by Jefferson's penchant for keeping bribe money on ice. Ryan Grim finds Minority Leader John Boehner extrapolating boldly out from Cao's victory in a memo to House Republicans entitled "The Future Is Cao":
The Cao victory is a symbol of our future. In the two years ahead,
House Republicans will demonstrate our commitment to reform by holding
ourselves to the highest possible ethical standard ... Just days before the Cao win, Speaker Pelosi declared she "does not
foresee" a change in the current leadership of the Ways & Means
Committee, whose chairman [Charlie Rangel] faces questions about potential abuses of tax
laws and House rules.
Today, Cao, tomorrow, the world!
But really, I just doubt how immediately susceptible the Democratic majority will be to corruption attacks from the GOP. It takes a while for the kind of reputation Tom DeLay and Duke Cunningham bestowed on the GOP to dissipate. The strategy feels anachronistic, too -- like trying to graft the strategy that worked for the Democrats in '06 onto a different political moment. The House Republicans already tried to play the Rangel angle this past cycle, to no particular effect. Now, Rangel certainly is not American ruling class's most angelic figure, but in the midst of a huge financial meltdown, he's far from the most dangerous, either.
P.S. Commenter ratnerstar, you're famous!
--Eve Fairbanks
19 comments
Jefferson's district is now a Republican stronghold the way Stevens' senate seat is safe in Democratic hands for the next 20 years. As in, not safe.
- rozenson
December 8, 2008 at 3:30pm
Don't underestimate how effectively the GOP will use two corrupt black Democratic politicians to paint the Dems as corrupt, particularly with an incumbent black president. It will put the southern strategy to shame.
- csmiller
December 8, 2008 at 3:48pm
The Future is Cao
Holy Cao
Sacred Cao
...
Caoabunga, Dude!
Swords Into Cao Shares
The Tao of Cao
Cao 36,000!
By the Sweat of his Cao
Cao Zedong
The Golden Cao
Cao is The Winter of Our Discontent
Cao What?
That should keep you guys covered on Cao headlines, no matter what he does in Congress. You can remit royalties to my subscription address.
- ratnerstar
December 8, 2008 at 3:59pm
John Boehner is extremely well-qualified to lecture others on Congressional ethics:
From his Wikipedia page:
In June 1995, Boehner's conduct was questioned when he distributed campaign contributions from tobacco industry lobbyists on the House floor as House members were weighing how to vote on tobacco subsidies.[10] Boehner stopped handing out the checks only "after being questioned about the practice by two freshmen who’d heard about the handoff on the House floor". While his conduct was legal, he later apologized for handing out the checks.[11][12] He later led the effort to change House rules and prohibit campaign contributions from being distributed on the House floor.[13]
- davemb
December 8, 2008 at 4:02pm
ratnerstar: You missed
How now Joe Cao?
Cao-er to the People
Cao-beating the opposition
His enemies will Cao-er
And my personal favorite, Caodilly Doodily, Neighborino!
- adaglas
December 8, 2008 at 4:14pm
Don't have a Cao dudes.
- jemerk
December 8, 2008 at 4:21pm
And when he goes on CNBC he will be able to chew it over with Kuddlow!
- jemerk
December 8, 2008 at 4:25pm
Just btw, does anyone find these comic ethnic-other tweaks on Cao's Vietnamese name as stupid and offensive as MoveOn.org's blundering "Petraeus/Betray Us" gambit of a year ago? Or is it just me?
- ironyroad
December 8, 2008 at 4:26pm
I don't really find them offensive, irony, and I hope I didn't offend anyone with my post above. I'd say what was objectionable about the Petraeus ad was not the pun on his name, but the suggestion that he'd "betray" the country.
- ratnerstar
December 8, 2008 at 4:36pm
am i the only one on the face of the planet that believes charlie rangel should step down from his leadership position or be forced out? clearly pelosi isn't going to push this but that doesn't mean she shouldn't. i guess we can push someone out (dingell) when it's politically expedient but not when removal is actually called for. not that i'm saying dingell shouldn't have been toppled. he should have. and so should the politically corrupt carcass of charlie rangel.
- poortomsacold
December 8, 2008 at 4:48pm
Sorry, irony, but you're way off here. These puns would be spilling forth if this chap were some Anglo guy named Cowe or Kowe, a French descendent named Caoue, a citizen of Dutch origins named Kaue, or whatever. (Note: I'm no linguist, so I have no idea if these examples really work in those languages; the point is that it's strictly the phonic combination, not the ethnicity, that is the subject of punning gamesmanship from ratner or jemerk.)
Now if it comes out that this fellow's name is really pronounced "Kay-oh" then look for a whole other set of puns. And they won't be any more ethnically oriented than these. In other words, as far as I can see, it's just you.
- cspencef
December 8, 2008 at 5:00pm
Maybe you're both right, and I'm out of order. But I did think at the time that the MoveOn.org thing was especially dumb because they used the pun-content of Petraeus's Greek name as if we were in some vaudeville show from 1908 when anything other than a non-Anglo name triggered fear and embarassment, and was therefore ripe material for a skit.
- ironyroad
December 8, 2008 at 7:58pm
That should read: " . . . anything other than a regular Anglo name . . ."
- ironyroad
December 8, 2008 at 8:38pm
Tell the GOP to enjoy the next two years with Jefferson's old seat, its the only time ever that they'll occupy it.
- frilz1
December 9, 2008 at 6:44am
irony- I continue to feel that making name puns is all in good fun, but I will note that, in the blog post Eve linked to in her post script, all the commenters think I'm a horrible racist. Again, I hope I didn't offend anyone with a Vietnamese name, and sincerely apologize if I did. I certainly did not intend to play to any Vietnamese stereotypes. I'll add that, as far as I can tell, Cao seems like a pretty good guy.
On the other hand, seriously people, we're talking about name jokes. My last name is Wilson and I've had to listen to literally thousands of people make Cast Away jokes for the last eight years (and a lifetime of Dennis the Menace comparisons before that).
- ratnerstar
December 9, 2008 at 9:58am
hey ratty, it is funny. my last name is blackton and i have lived with stupid jokes about my last name as well. somehow it is ok to make fun of English names but nothing else. one thing I am curious about, what the hell is a ratnerstar?
- blackton
December 9, 2008 at 12:09pm
The story of ratnerstar goes back to early 2000, when I was signing up for my first free web-based email address. What I wanted was twilson@hotmail.com; sadly, it was taken, as were all the other variations on my first and last name. I happened to glance at my desk and saw a book I was reading at the time, Don Delillo's novel "Ratner's Star." In frustration, I conjoined the two words, dropped the redundant 's', and used that.
Over time, I noticed that there are millions of sites that require a username, and virtually all of them already have several Thomas Wilsons. However, I am the only ratnerstar. If you google 'ratnerstar -"ratner's star"', virtually all the results pertain to me. As such, it's a remarkably good pseudonym.
- ratnerstar
December 9, 2008 at 1:04pm
Jefferson, Spitzer, Blagojevitch. Really Eve, do you think da peepul will stay focused like a laser solely on Republican transgressions. Do you think memories of Rostenkowski helped DeLay or Cunningham?
- lsernoff
December 9, 2008 at 1:42pm
basmanroselaw.blogspot.com
- basman
January 8, 2009 at 12:44pm