Dick Shelby, Caught Like A Rat, Slinks Off Into The Dark

An old acquaintance of mine called today; I hadn't heard from him in a while. He was born a Democrat-- in the Bronx--an old line machine Democrat. His dad was a cog in the machine and wound up a judge. Had this acquaintance not been born into a Democratic family he would certainly be a Republican now. He's rich and doesn't like minorities, not even gays like himself! So instead of being a Republican he's a DLC devotee. I'm not certain what made him call me today. Possibly to just tell me how much he admires Harold Ford's politics, which he went on about at great length; or to say how thrilled he was that Moon's conservative son Mitch was elected mayor of New Orleans. "He can be bought and that's a good thing," he assured me. Or it could have been to tell me how much he dislikes "that crazy radical on MSNBC you probably like." (He meant Olbermann, who he claims is basically the same as Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly but on the left. He was offended when I suggested he gets all his ideas by being brainwashed by getting drunk and watching Fox.)

I watched Keith's show a few hours later. He doesn't sound remotely like Beck or O'Reilly; he deals with facts, not fringy propaganda. Interestingly, right after Keith's comments tonight on Richard Shelby, Shelby sheepishly withdrew his holds on some of President Obama's 70 nominees he's been holding hostage to more funds for his state. (Shelby is the second worst earmark abuser in the Senate, something I never heard any teabaggers crying about.) Anyway, he's that crazy radical on MSNBC explaining it tonight: