Stephanie Grace: John Kennedy should try fewer jokes, but maybe address actual issues
CNN’s Don Lemon let out a long sigh Wednesday night after airing a tape of U.S. Sen. John Kennedy’s latest self-consciously cute, pop-culturally evocative quip.
I don’t know about you, but I was right there with him.
This time, Kennedy was calling the former CIA director John Brennan, who spent a career in intelligence and national security and has emerged as one of President Donald Trump’s most withering critics, a “butthead.” As in "Beavis and Butt-head," teenage 1990s-vintage cartoon characters who are “dim-witted, under-educated and barely literate,” and “lack any empathy or moral scruples,” if we’re to believe the show’s Wikipedia entry. Or maybe Kennedy just meant to use the term more generically; a butthead is a “stupid, incompetent, or annoying person,” according to Merriam-Webster.
In the past, Kennedy has invoked a classic legal comedy — "just because you"ve seen "My Cousin Vinny" doesn"t qualify you to be a federal judge," he said — and a running bit from the original "Saturday Night Live" cast, which surely confused younger constituents who may never have heard Dan Aykroyd call Jane Curtin an “ignorant slut.”
It’s all funny until it’s not. And I’d argue that we’re long past “not.”
Trump’s latest move to retaliate against Brennan is some pretty serious business. This week, the president announced that he was revoking the retired agency chief’s security clearance, and is threatening to do the same for a long list of former government officials who’ve sounded warnings over the president’s relationship with Russia and other grave matters of state.
Yes, Brennan has been particularly harsh. He called Trump’s news conference performance in Helsinki alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin "nothing short of treasonous." He’s also outlined just why he’s convinced that Russia meddled in the 2016 election, based on his own experience and inside knowledge of what happened when his old boss, former President Barack Obama, was still in office. For that, Kennedy labeled Brennan’s performance “totally political” and said he’s given the national intelligence community a bad name.
That’s an awfully easy way to dismiss the very real claims that Brennan is making, and a nice way around the obligation to seriously consider the allegations.
Same for Kennedy’s reaction, also in the clip played on CNN, to the security clearance revocation. He said he doesn’t see why retired senior officials should maintain clearance. The official reason, of course, is that they have deep institutional and factual knowledge and can be a resource to the people who hold these positions currently, particularly in a crisis.
Maybe Kennedy actually disagrees with that on its merits. But if so, how about explaining why instead of just shrugging it off?
He’s a smart guy who is perfectly capable of arguing a case. That line about "My Cousin Vinny?" Kennedy was talking about involved a Trump judicial nominee named Matthew Petersen, whose utter lack of relevant experience became clear during Kennedy’s brutally on-point Judiciary Committee interrogation. Kennedy’s questioning was so effective that Peterson pulled out of contention for the post soon afterward.
The senator can just keep cracking jokes. That’s how Kennedy continues landing on high-profile platforms such as CNN in the first place, and it’s how he deflects legitimate concerns over the president’s behavior and policies rather than having to address them head-on.
Maybe it’s a lot to ask a mere junior senator to conduct himself with more decorum and gravity, given the obnoxious daily tweets coming from the White House.
But there is such a thing as leading by example.
Source: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/stephanie_grace/article_1e136d04-a168-11e8-84e5-9b8a963dac18.html
Comments
Post a Comment