Another case of Beltway-itis
Everything you hate about the culture of Washington is symbolized in the little story of GOP Rep. Christopher Shays going ape when challenged by a Capitol police officer. The arrogance. The elitism. The obscenity. The contempt for the common man.
Via The Crypt:
On Thursday afternoon, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) got into a loud, angry dispute with a U.S. Capitol Police officer at the security checkpoint inside the entrance of the West Side of the Capitol. On Friday, Shays, a veteran lawmaker, offered a public apology for the incident and said that he wants to meet with the officer personally to reiterate how sorry he is.
Shays reportedly grabbed the officer during the dispute over whether the officer should allow a group of tourists to enter the building, said several sources. Tourists are not allowed to use the West Front entrance, but Shays was trying to bring the group through that entrance anyway. The officer refused to allow them in, and Shays then “yelled and screamed” at the officer, including using profanity, the sources said.
Shays is the GOP Cynthia McKinney. A Capitol diva. A legislative Lindsay Lohan in a suit and tie. But he’s just the latest in a long line of Beltway Brat Packers. Here’s a flashback to a column I wrote in 2002 about bipartisan buttinskis in Washington:
***
Feb. 22, 2002
Battle of the Beltway buttinskis
There’s a word for people like Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who got caught last week cutting in line at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
The word is buttinski.
Beltway buttinskis can’t wait around like everybody else. Long lines are for little people. Beltway buttinskis are Very Important Persons with very important places to go. Such as political fund-raisers. That’s where Secretary Thompson was headed last Friday when he and his security detail elbowed their way past passengers who had been waiting to board for 40 minutes. After customers complained to the airline and to the media, HHS spokesman Tony Jewell told the Associated Press that Thompson “feels terrible.”
At least Thompson apologized. Kind of. And at least no one was physically hurt. Thompson acted badly. But when it comes to the Beltway sport of boorishness, Democrat buttinskis beat Republicans hands down in the medal count.
Bronze goes to Rep. Patrick Kennedy for his run-in at the Los Angeles airport two years ago. Rushing to catch a plane back to D.C. after attending a Hollywood fund-raiser, Kennedy attempted to ram his oversized luggage through an X-ray machine. When a female security guard tried to stop him, Kennedy flashed his congressional ID card as if it were an FBI badge. When Della Patton continued to block him from passing through the checkpoint, Rep. Kennedy shoved the 58-year-old woman backwards. The entire episode was captured on videotape. Kennedy later explained that he had a Very Important speech to give the next day.
The L.A. city attorney’s office declined to file charges, but ordered an informal hearing in which Kennedy “apologized” in person to Patton. He offered her $25,000 to fend off a civil assault and battery lawsuit, but the guard refused. The matter is scheduled for trial this summer. In true buttinski form, Kennedy (son of Sen. Teddy Kennedy) blames the victim. A legal brief filed in the case argues that Kennedy manhandled Patton in self-defense! Moreover, Patton “voluntarily and unreasonably proceeded to encounter a danger which was known to her,” Kennedy’s lawyers claim. They have a small point. Given the congressman’s membership in a liberal political dynasty famously plagued by scandals with women, maybe Patton should have known that Kennedy spelled trouble.
Silver goes to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for her treatment of police officer Ernest Dymond. Last fall, Sen. Clinton and her entourage reportedly rolled through a security checkpoint at Westchester County airport - injuring Dymond as he tried to stop them. A Secret Service agent was driving Sen. Clinton, en route to a fund-raiser, in a large black Ford van. According to Dymond, the agent was on his cell phone as he motored through the sensitive checkpoint (the airport was on high alert for terrorists). Dymond was forced to shout and bang his shoulder into the van to make it stop. He told the Washington Times that Clinton’s driver was “quite agitated” when asked to show his identification. Dymond, who never received a word of apology from Sen. Clinton or anyone else on her staff, was taken to a hospital for treatment of bruises.
But not even St. Hillary can outdo Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. As chronicled by The Houston Press and The Weekly Standard, the Texas congresswoman is the gold medalist of Beltway boors. She has terrorized her office staff, airline staffs, and foreign dignitaries with world-class megalomaniacal antics. When she didn’t like her seating placement at a formal dinner in Africa with Prince Charles and Nelson Mandela, she parked herself in the chair of a high-ranking Nigerian official and refused to move. “Don’t you know who I am?” she reportedly shrieked at flight attendants who didn’t serve her the right food. “I’m Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.” And when she didn’t get chauffeured to a civil rights commemoration, she yelled at an aide: “You don’t understand. I am a queen, and I demand to be treated like a queen.”
That’s the Washington way. Rep. Lee’s only mistake was saying out loud. For the line-jumpers and elbow-jabbers in power, “public service” means never having to say you’re sorry for behaving like a royal pain in the … buttinski.
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Personally, I would gladly let them cut in line or be helpful in any way if they were actually getting something accomplised in Washington DC. Until then,forget it.
My solution for all this arrogance and other DC ills is TERM LIMITS. Time in DC corrupts!
corr. / accomplished
Not a damn difference between the DEMOS and the REPUBS. Just look here in FL with Senators Martinez(R) and Nelson(D). Third party time?
I always get sick of how Ms. Lee waits hours to get a spot near the aisle during the State of the Union, so she can get a photo op of the President. While he is shaking her hand or kissing him on the cheek, she is trying to figure out a way to disrupt his entire life. She is a boor and an ignorant one at that. Remember, she was wondering where the American flag was in all of the pictures the Mars Explorer was sending back. I’m from Houston, and I can’t see how she keeps being reelected.
the major failure of Newt’s Contract with America was not being able to pass term limits for congress. It may take an amendment to the Constitution to accomplish, but it must be done to save our Republic. May God help us do so…
Our Founding Fathers were great students of human behavior. You give a person the least bit of power and prestige and so many turn into little emperors. Thank God for our checks and balances.
Also, I love how Shays is sorry AFTER the story breaks.
However, at least in America we as a culture don’t tolerate this elite diva-like behavior. Most countries around the world do and even think lording over “inferiors” is a sign of your greatness.
I am all for TERM LIMITS. If it is good enough for our U.S. Presidents it’s good enough for our Congress. I say Senators they can get elected to two terms that two six year terms for them (12 years). For our Congressman and Congresswomen they can get elected to three terms that would be 6 years for them. This way that get off the dole. My back is killing me caring Kennedy, Kerry, McCain, etc. They’ve been on the dole long enough. Oh and by the way NO RETIREMENT, etc.
There should be a probationary period for all elected officials with the exception of the Presidency.
This includes state government as well.
After one year, if they miss voting on a frequent basis, refrain from voting, and do not represent their constituents, they should be dismissed.
The replacement can be the other contender.
I bet they’d shape up IF this could be implemented.
I’ve stated the case for TERM LIMITS before and think it would be the best thing ever … I do not think the founding fathers had “career politicians” in mind when they talked about “citizen representatives” … as for the retirement thing … they should be in the same “social security pool” amd “medicare plans” with the rest of us … anyone want to give odds on how quickly that mess would get straightened out if they had to count that into their retirement plans instead of the outrageous plan they have now …
Ms Malkin….
It looks like we have another cause for you. We need TERM LIMITS for Congressmen and Senators! I bet if we put this issue on the ballot, it would pass with a big majority. Many states now have term limits for governors. Congress seems the big exception to term limits.
Career politicians are at the root of most evils in DC. Newer senators like Tom Coburn (R- OK ) are trying to change
the way congress operates, but it’s like swimming up stream against the status quo and powerful career committee chairs.
The argument you always hear against term limits is that staff will then have
too much power. I personally don’t buy that argument, it’s just an excuse. If it’s good for governors, it’s good for congress.
I just want to know if Shays said “Don’t you know who I am?”
And please for the Love of God, lets start with a fresh new batch from the outset.
I can, the dems have dumbed down the population so bad they vote for who they are told to vote for. Just keep the SSI, food stamps, doles, pork, etc acomin and wez vote you in!
Term limits! That would fix a WHOLE lotta stuff. Been saying this forever. As for that bum Shays, if he put his hands on a cop, why isn’t he being prosecuted?
Term limits would be nice but we would not need them if we elected adults to congress.
In the Age of Monarchies in Europe, the aristocratic nobles were above the little people. The French Revolution was the bloodiest “protest”. Thirteen British Colonies did away with that, only to form their own aristocracy come the 20th century, “the Celebrity”. Not only of politics, but of entertainment, sports, and big business.
Not that I condone Shays, but it is when entertainers behave this way that bugs me most. Just because someone is an actor doesn’t make him/her so special. Who are they to be given such special treatment? I really hate the idea of “VIP” rooms at restaurants, clubs, or similar venues.
You should see these primadonnas around Andrews AFB when they are going to or coming back from their taxpayer funded junkets on military aircraft. The “important” ones usually take two suburbans, on filled with security. I’ve witnessed these morons blow through traffic and force people out of their lanes. The worst incident was when one of the security folks rolled down the window and while halfway out, yelled at a motorist to get out of the lane they wanted to be in… Sad…
It all boils down to lessons they failed to learn in Kindergarten: Take your turn. Don’t cut in line. Be nice to others…
Shays is no McKinney. He took total responsibility for the incident and did not make an egregious attempt to redirect focus by making false claims that play upon people’s emotions . Unlike McKinney’s “apology”, Shays’ was direct and unambiguous. I don’t condone his behavior towards the officer but, I do appreciate the integrity of his willingness to take ownership of the inappropriate conduct.
/agree Calamityville
The problem lies within the individual. They honestly believe that they ARE better than everyone else. I have yet to meet a politician, local, state or federal, that did not think that way.
They think they are smarter and more important.
In reality what make them different from most people is the fact that they are attention whores. Which isn’t an attractive trait, but lets fact it.. if you are going to put your life out into the media… it’s a must. So it’s kind of a catch-22. As no one BUT an attention whore could put up with being a politician.
They must have ‘freshman orientation’. Perhaps everyone needs a refresher course in common courtesy. And when they roll their eyes and insist they don’t need it then they should be subjected to video of their compatriots doing just these things. And it should be REQUIRED at the beginning of every session.
I’d love to see congressional boot camp. Where they are stripped away from their kiss ass staff and have to do their own shit for a week… with DI’s ragging on them the whole time about what maggots they are. Make them realize that they are mortals like the rest of us. They are just attention whores. But I know THAT will never happen.
I honestly believe that any of us would do just as good a job as they do. Even MikeB (though that is a close call as he is already a lawyer… its only one step from lawyer to politician). But we don’t choose that life. I’d put my brain up against any of them.. well.. except for Condi.. that girl ROXXORZ.. concert pianist at 3yo.. DAMN
But I can’t even walk into a grocery store without anti-anxiety medication. So I’ll never be a politician.
So I guess that’s my long way of saying that the type of people who are willing to put up with the incredibly intrusive life of being in politics are naturally the ones that abuse it. And they need a wake up call. Because.. like Paris Hilton.. they just don’t think what they are doing is wrong. The rules don’t apply to them. And we need to make sure that they do.
My three year-old has better manners than these buttinskis!!!!!!!!!
Nobody mentioned Patrick Kennedy holding up the family tradition of late-night automotive incompetence. Thank God he had no passengers, and wasn’t on a bridge that night. Didn’t Lil’ Pat try to lord it over the officers that responded to that? “I have a very important vote in the House at 2:30am, don’t you know who I am?”
Yes, Patrick. We know who you are.
Get over yourself.
ajmontana
Quick … help me find that “reset” button … a fresh start sounds good because this game has gotten old and stale …
Several years ago Nevada had a term limit proposition on the ballot. It passed by a huge margin. In the same election, voters elected a Congresswoman to her 7th term. Go figure!
Term limits, and take away the pensions. If we have to do it by Constitutional amendment, I agree, then let’s do it. One term for a senator and two terms for a representative. How do we start? We might find out that the two party system develops into multiple parties pretty quickly after we make this happen.
Jackass. What was his stand on Immigration again?
Remember, we need to find out who is doing the initial reporting. If the Crypt got it off the AP or something, I’d be suspect of alot of it, especially the yelling and screaming part.
I dunno. We just saw the passing of a some meaningful stretch of time since Ted Kennedy killed his girlfriend while he was married by driving her into the water, watching her drown and not reporting the incident for 12 hours, and that “fellow” is still in office (imagine if that happened today with a Republican!). Yes, we need to clean house and use some heavy disinfectant afterwards, but this isn’t something I see as anything to get worked up about in the larger picture.
The election of ‘08 is fast upon us, and while we need to watch the character of our elected offcials to be sure, there is little enough time to deal with the big picture. As the immigration near-fiasco just showed, we really need to stay focused on the big picture.
Well, one thing you can say for Shays is that, according what I read (at the DU a couple nights ago, believe it or not!) was that he quickly appologized, and didn’t go off the reservation like McKinney, blaming everyone else, throwing out charges of racism, slurring the cop, etc.
It doesn’t excuse his holier then thou attitude, but at least he owned up to his mistake.
I always thought that a 18 year term limit was in order for congress. this way, he/she can do 3 terms in the house, then, if they can get elected to the senate, serve out 2 terms there.
I would also add in that Congress and the President AND the Supreme Court are not immune to the laws they pass.. Especially anything that had to do with taxes and health care.