U.S. Congressman Joe Hoeffel, (D-PA)
Backward Through The Looking Glass
by Wayne Lutz
December 23rd, 2000
Aristotle Onassis had, on the Christina, a luxurious private bathroom adjoining his office. The door was a one-way mirror, which enabled him to observe unsuspecting visitors from the comfort of the throne. During a business meeting one afternoon Onassis excused himself and went to the bathroom. Once settled in, he looked up at the door and was horrified to see his own reflection staring back at him. A workman making minor repairs to the door earlier in the day had replaced the mirror the wrong way around.
Over the course of the Clinton years we've seen an increasing number of improperly installed mirrors in the minds of our Democratic leaders, it seems, leading to a surplusage of backward mental reflections. Rather than repairing the problem, these Democrats tend to repeatedly enthrone themselves before the wrong-way mirror, oblivious to their public exposure. Congressman Joseph Hoeffel, D-PA, recently offered an embarrassing example this wrong-way installation.
Quoted in The Record, Hoeffel, a second-term Democrat from the 13th congressional district in Pennsylvania, was apparently attempting to offer conciliatory reflections on the upcoming Bush administration. Instead he sat exposed before the mirror.
"Not much got done in Washington over the past two years, but the next two years could be better under President-elect George W. Bush even though Congress is more closely divided along party lines", says Hoeffel.
So far, so good.
"That's because the Democrats won't have the personal animosity toward Bush that Republicans had toward Clinton."
Huh?
"The power to block and frustrate is always a greater power than the ability to create and move forward", he said. "The biggest challenge Bush will have after taking office will likely come from conservatives within his own party, who tend to personalize political disputes and create intransigence".
"Intransigence, for those of you in the blue counties, means "stubbornness".
It is typical of liberals like Hoeffel to gaze into the looking-glass at Republican attitudes toward Clinton, the most corrupt president in our history, and see "personal animosity" reflected back.
Clinton is a president who reduced the Oval Office to a bordello, wagged his finger at the American people and lied through his teeth, lied under oath, used the power of the government to destroy the lives of his enemies, used the power of the IRS to harrass his critics, used the FBI to create an enemies list, has a dangerously distorted view of freedom, and has repeatedly demonstrated his utter lack of character and principles, sometimes to the detriment of our national security.
Yet, in an egregious display of wrong-way thinking, Hoeffel apparently believes that anyone who takes exception to the abhorrent conduct of this president is guilty of harboring "personal animosity" against him.
From the other side of the mirror, Hoeffel smugly informs us that the Democrats won't have that same "personal animosity toward Bush". This particular reflection has already been put to the lie, and Bush hasn't even been sworn in yet.
Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle has telegraphed his intention to obstruct. Terry McAuliffe, head of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), threw down the gauntlet:
"Let George W. Bush have a good week. Let him have a good inauguration. But we need to give these Republicans the same honeymoon they gave us: none."
Throughout the election saga the Democrats engaged in what even for them was an astonishing dislplay of rancor toward Bush and the Republicans, and there is no indication that they intend to forget it all and play nice once Bush is inaugurated.
But Congressman Joe Hoeffel continues to sit, blithely gazing the wrong way through his mirror.
"I think a lot of people realize that it has got to stop. It is not in the best interest of the country to have an endless cycle of recriminations, personal attacks and score settling".
Amen to that. Oh, wait. You meant the Republicans.
"It doesn't get us anywhere. The voters are frustrated and they're going to take it out on all of us if it doesn't stop".
I'm not so sure that the voters are all that frustrated, Mr. Hoeffel. I happen to think that the voters are smarter than that. I think that the voters can detect a mirror that has been installed backward.
So be aware when you cast your backward reflections through the looking-glass, Mr. Hoeffel, because if you only look up, you will see the American people glaring back at you
©2002 The Tocquevillian Magazine