On political non sequiturs, Saxby Chambliss et al

MIDWEEK ROUNDUP:

Non sequiturs are not uncommon in politics, even fashionable, but there was one that stood out for me following the report by a New Orleans newspaper that Gov. Bobby Jindal flies off to church on most Sundays in a state helicopter. A Hindu who converted to Catholicism, Jindal appears to be concentrating on extremely conservative churches in northern Louisiana while avoiding New Orleans for his Sunday "worship". Critics accuse him of politicking at taxpayer expense. And one national church leader, the Rev. Dr. Welton Gaddy, the president of the Interfaith Alliance, has challenged him to stop "politicizing" churches and to return the $45,000 taxpayer costs of his helicopter tours. But a Jindal aide countered the critics by noting that they are for same-sex marriage! Huh? Is that also a valid argument against the infield fly rule?

While we are rooting around down South, there arrives a warning from Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia that President Obama should be "humble" in his speech to Congress tonight. Chambliss, a right-wing Republican, has a way with words. Did he mean that a president with dark skin should not be uppity? Coming from a pol with Chambliss' deeply cultivated roots, the answer must be YES. Remember that this Medicare-eligible white southerner who vigorously opposes Obams' s health care plan, managed to worm into the Senate in 2002 by defeating incumbent Democrat Max Cleland, a decorated triple amputee Vietnam veteran by charging that Cleland was soft on homeland security.(Like so many of the uber-congressional hawks today, Chambliss managed to avoid military service, in his case, with a "bad knee".) Will the Civil War never end? Maybe Chambliss is trying to get a free shoeshine from Obama.

Circle the calendar: Sept. 26. That's the day Bud Norris, the mayor of Mt. Vernon, Wash, has designated as "Glenn Beck Day," complete with a key to the city. Beck is a native son, but fortunately for the city and the nation, they're not all like that. Beck, in case you have not been paying attention, has lost a pile of sponsors on Fox after describing President Obama as a racist who hates all white Americans. Protests has already occured against the mayor - with some signs urging the city to "change the locks." Six of the city's seven councilmen have opposed the idea and city business people are worried that Mt. Vernon will draw negative attention to it. Times have changed since we identified Mt. Vernon solely with the father of the country.

Saving the best for last: The washout of the so-called "reform" ticket in Tuesday's primary election in Akron prompts me to offer a slightly altered bit of hackneyed wisdom:

You can fool some of the people some of the time, but sometimes, not that many...