Olympia Snowe Is the Wicked Witch, and She Should Be Melted
The above sentiment comes from Erick Erickson at RedState. Now, before I quote what he says, I want to point out the difference, for me as a strong liberal, between a conservative blogger with whom I completely and unequivocally disagree on this issue (and most others!), but who is nevertheless in possession of his sanity. There are actually many such, but I’m going to let Ed Morrissey stand in for the others. Here is what Ed has to say about Olympia Snowe’s decision to vote for the Baucus bill:
Charles Grassley predicted that the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee would stick together on the final panel vote on the Baucus health-care overhaul plan. Unfortunately, he didn’t reckon on colleague Olympia Snowe’s desire to make “history,” which apparently trumps fiscal responsibility and common sense. Snowe will vote to pass the non-bill, giving Democrats some much-needed political cover:
Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe says she will vote for a Democratic health care bill, breaking with her party on President Barack Obama’s top legislative priority.
The Maine senator kept virtually all of Washington guessing how she would vote until she announced it late in the Senate Finance Committee debate Tuesday. Until then, she told reporters, she had not even let Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in on her secret. She told her colleagues: “When history calls, history calls,” even though she had some criticism of the bill.
History? Certainly, we don’t often see Congressional committees passing summaries instead of writing legislation, so that’s one for the history books. We also don’t often see Congress passing trillion-dollar bills in a rush, although to be fair, they managed to do it earlier with Porkulus — a bill on which Snowe also helped make “history”. Unfortunately, we see Snowe often crossing over on critical votes, so that’s neither history nor a surprise.
This does give Democrats momentum on the floor. Snowe’s approving vote makes it tougher for Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson to buck their caucus and oppose it. Joe Lieberman’s opposition may make that a little easier, and a negative CBO score when the language gets written may push Snowe back into opposition. It’s more likely, though, that the CBO won’t score it in time to make a difference in the floor vote on cloture.
Now, see, this is someone I could most likely sit down and have a Diet Coke or a cup of coffee with. We’d argue about politics, sure — but I think I’d like Ed in person, and he’d probably like me (I can be pretty charming in person!). I often find myself infuriated by Ed’s opinions (and I’m sure vice versa), but he doesn’t scare me.
Olympia Snowe has sold out the country. Having been banished to our world after Aslan chased her out of Narnia, Snowe is intent on corrupting this place too.
So we should melt her.
What melts snow? Rock salt.
I’m going to ship this 5 pound bag of rock salt to her office in Maine. It’s only $3.00. You should join me.
It is a visible demonstration of our contempt for her. First she votes for the stimulus. Now this.
It’s time to melt Snowe. ORDER YOUR BAG HERE.
Just to reassure the more literal among us, I do realize that this idea of Erickson’s is in reality harmless, that Olympia Snowe is not really made out of snow, and cannot actually be melted.
What frightens me is the imagery and the language. Snowe has “sold out” the United States. She is an evil character in a novel who doesn’t belong in our world and is corrupting it. She is a wicked witch like the one in The Wizard of Oz, and although we can’t really melt her out of existence, it’s fun to act it out as if we can. The power of these literary allusions, and the extremeness of the language, is extraordinary. I’m sure Olympia Snowe will get a good laugh out of seeing bags of rock salt at her office door — the action being taken here is essentially meaningless. But the violent emotion and extreme thought pattern behind the symbolic theatrical stunt is not meaningless. And I think it should give us some pause.
One thing I can say for certain. Not only would I never dream of conversing over coffee with Erickson — I would not want to live within 100 miles of him.
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18 Responses to “Olympia Snowe Is the Wicked Witch, and She Should Be Melted”
You're making much sense here.
Apparently sending rock salt and citing C.S. Lewis is dangerous, while Chris Matthews musing about killing Rush Limbaugh is not.
Senator Snowe is one of the few people in DC who could make former President Bush look intelligent. Her vote was not needed for passage but she was so short sighted that she failed to realize she now becomes the scapegoat for the future failures and problems of nationalized healthcare. The Democrats can blame Sen. Snowe for any failures because they had to change their proposals in order to win her vote. Sen. Snowe is also so inarticulate and so stupid that she is inable to really explain why she made the pointless vote.
As predicted…although I did not expect it to be so quickly and “eloquently” verbalized by one of our commenters
I used to read Ed Morrissey at his Captain's Quarters blog and was disappointed when he went to Hot Air as their token reasonable person. While he still writes well, the comments over there are usually enough to keep me away. The only time I ever go to RedState is when Kathy links to them – why bother, you know what they are going to say before they write it.
I have a lot of respect for Snowe as someone that is willing to search for a middle ground. I think the GOP doesn't realize this is probably the best they can expect from a senator from Maine. Her constituency will not support a far-right agenda. Forcing her out will only put a more liberal senator in her place.
Some true moderate words, from a true moderate (I believe).
Thanks DG
I agree about the comments at Hot Air (I just never read them at all) but the blog itself is IMO probably the best mainstream right wing blog. Ed still writes well consistently and Allahpundit really isn't an extremist at all (he is a lot more sarcastic in his tone, but even that is done pretty well.)
I was concerned about Ed Morrissey moving there because I really hadn't read Hot Air prior to that time and knew it by reputation only as a blog owned by Michelle Malkin. My opinion of her is that she too is a decent writer, and I really don't have a problem with some of her posts- but taken as a whole she's one of those partisans who spends most of her time showing how bad the 'other guys' are instead of focusing on issues and ideas- and I find that tiring at best and harmful at worst (because anyone can show how bad the 'other side' is but it does nothing to prove that your own 'side' is any better.)
But after starting to read Hot Air I have been pleasantly surprised- for one thing, I realized that Malkin herself doesn't blog there and Morrissey and Allahpundit are a decent team. It's not as in depth or intellectual as a few other conservative blogs that I favor, but for general overview it's very worthwhile (again, I can't say the same for the comment section.)
Who said that someone joking about killing someone else was acceptable? Or are you merely taking exclusion of every single incident of that happening in this particular posting (Heaven forbid we somehow miss one!) as somehow endorsing it?
Senator Snowe is an “Acceptable [spayed or neutered] Republican” — b-a-a-a-a-a, nice and gentle and warm and fuzzy and never being so icky as to question the growth of the welfare state and the growth of the federal government. She's a nice, naive, gentle little Dorothy a model for “moderation” or “centrism.”
[gagging on the gooeyness]
I've got no problem with Senator Snowe, as long as she is representing the citizens of her State. If THEY want to dabble with the public option or Baucus Bill, then let them. It's what I've been saying all along If all Senators mimicked their constituents' wishes, the bill would be MUCH different and more acceptable to most. Not me, perhaps. But most.
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Well said, DaGoat. I agree w/o caveat.
“If THEY want to dabble with the public option or Baucus Bill, then let them.”
Actually, that re-raises the role the states and state governments should be thought of playing here, but…
Given what New England overall is like, including Maine, well –
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/20…
I don't always agree with Snowe, but I like people who will cross party lines for what they think is good for the nation, whether they be the RINOs attacked by the far right like Snowe, or whether they be Blue Dogs who come under the same fire from the far-left. I'll take an Olympia Snow or an Evan Bayh anyday over a Nancy Pelosi or a Jim Inhofe.
Rock salt can be very useful this time of year in Maine. Watch Snowe put it to good use, with a smile, and work it to her advantage with the voters of Maine.
Erik whom? From Red what? I doubt that there will be enough “rock salt” show up to cool an ice cream churn.
I hate to break it to you, Kathy, but you live within 100 miles of someone like Erickson.:)
(no, I don't know where you live)
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