Who gave the House Republicans the pencil?

One of New York's greatest buildings, Cass Gilbert's U.S. Custom House, is now home to the Museum of the American Indian.

by Ken

It's one of New York's greatest buildings, the Beaux Arts former U.S. Custom House (1902-07) designed by Cass Gilbert, standing proudly below and overlooking historic Bowling Green, near the southern tip of Manhattan -- and now home to the Museum of the American Indian (and also a Citi Bike bike-sharing depot). I was thinking it would be a snap to pick up a copy of the printed schedule for Open House New York, which as I mentioned last night is supposed to be available for pickup at select locations around town. The Custom House, er, museum, is just a short walk from my office.

It actually occurred to me before I had a chance to do that walk that I should probably try to check -- online or somewhere -- to make sure that the museum isn't affected by the shutdown. But I reasoned it through in my head that there wasn't likely to be any federal connection.

As I approached the building, wondering yet again at both its imposing mass and its extraordinary decoration and detailing, I noticed the usual complement of visitors sitting on its welcoming staircase, and threaded my way through them up those stairs. It wasn't till I was near the top that I looked up and noticed that the massive entry door was shut tight. I backed down the stairs a ways and this time looked at the sign: "All Smithsonian museums are closed today due to the government shutdown." Oh, that's right -- isn't it? -- that the Museum of the American Indian is now a Smithsonian outpost.

Not the biggest of deals, of course, but my closest encounter to date with the shutdown. Other Americans are experiencing it more personally, obviously. But I wonder whether enough Americans are experiencing it personally enough to produce the backlash widely predicted against the Republicans. Because I don't think the country is the same country it was at the time of the last U.S. government shutdown, which was before we were officially taken off the reality standard.

Of course in a way it all goes back to Reagan, who introduced to Americans as a national agenda that reality was no longer, you know, real, but whatever made you feel best. His heir-in-confusion George W. "Chimpy the Prez" took this idea the logical step farther and made it national policy. Surely we all remember the Rove-themed sneering at the "reality-based community"?

But the point at which I noticed that we had officially gone off the reality standard was the 2008 presidential campaign of Young Johnny McCranky, who gave us the idea that you could run an entire national campaign without ever once telling the truth about anything. And he still got that 47 or so percent of the vote, not all that much less than his opponent. I wondered at the time whether we should be facing the future with much confidence when that much of the country was endorsing a campaign of utter delusion.

The rise of the Teabaggers was one answer to that question, peddling lies and delusions and general meanness of spirit. This is what America has become.

I'm put in mind of the Mary Tyler Moore Show in which the WJM news producer Lou Grant (Ed Asner) decides to introduce editorials to the evening newscast, and empty-suit anchorman Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), as always terrified by the prospect of any turf incursion, tosses the script written by newswriter Murray (Gavin MacLeod) and burbles his own imbecilic gibberish. Lou storms into the newsroom spluttering, and Murray tells him not to look at him, that he didn't write it. Ted wrote it himself.

If anything more berserk, Lou splutters, "Who gave him the pencil?"


Who gave Ted Baxter the pencil? Could it be the same person who has now given one to the House Republicans?

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