Saturday, May 03, 2008

De-caf edition of Idiot Politician of the Week

With the introduction of the Friday afternoon cocktail, pinch-hitting for the Jo Egelhoff on Thursdays, and column writing on Tuesdays, we’re moving the Idiot Politician of the Week to Saturdays. Lucky for us, the move snagged us a last-minute entry this week. On any given week, the idiot politicians are thicker than mosquitoes in July. This week we seem to already be in summer re-runs, and we’re only in May.

Badger Blogger has been tracking the idiotic behavior of State Representative Jason Fields (D-Milwaukee). Fields, you may recall, was arrested not that long ago for driving under the influence. What made it ironic was Fields’ participation in the effort to get Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk to run against then-incumbent Peg Lautenschlager in the Democratic Primary for State Attorney General. Fields avoided the “Idiot Politician of the Week” prize by promising to accept the consequences of his actions.

Fast-forward a few weeks, and Fields has suddenly found Alan Eisenberg. Fields entered a plea of “not guilty” and then claimed it was a miscommunication with his attorney. Meanwhile, Fields found himself in sympathy with someone from the Hmong community who was stopped for drunk driving and then decided to resist arrest. As Bruce at Badger Blogger put it so well, Fields decided to side with someone who was seen on video resisting arrest over the police officers that protect his neighborhood. But Fields knows his natural constituency: ethnic drunk drivers.

Speaking of public drinkers, I’d pick on Senator Hillary Clinton for not being able to get coffee from a coffee machine, but until I have my first cup of the day I’m pretty helpless myself. Besides, remember the good old days when you could just get a cup of coffee? When your choices were black, cream, sugar? No, but we are going to pick on the Senator for choosing a product that clearly exploits the poor campesinos in a way that’s harmful to the environment. After being befuddled by a coffee maker, the Senator should have announced loudly, “There’s no Fair-Trade, environmentally friendly, high-tariff coffee option on this machine! I bet this stuff got into the country because of NAFTA, which my opponent secretly supports!”

Back to Wisconsin, State Representative Don Pridemore (R) once again demonstrates a skin thin enough to be translucent. Rather than let the matter drop, the state representative again lashes out at the McBride-Bucher-WRTL-Robinson cabal determined to challenge him in a primary election all because he might be opposed to anonymous political speech. You see, it’s the Democrats driving him to paranoia. Meanwhile, he knows that McBride and her husband have stolen the frozen strawberries and if he’s given just a little more time he can prove it. There’s a duplicate key to his office. He knows that because of the WRTL robocalls to his district. But he’s outsmarted them, you see. Even if they’re anonymously whispering behind his back. And please ignore the ball bearings in his hand.

The runner-up Idiot Politician of the Week is Racine Mayor Gary Becker. Becker found himself the featured speaker at the May 1st rally for illegal aliens sponsored by the dubious Voces De La Frontera. Becker is obviously not nearly as clever as the mayor of Racine’s northern neighbor. Mayor Barrett showed up, shook a few hands, and um, er, had a “previous engagement” to attend rather than be seen supporting calls for general amnesty for every illegal alien. Nope, Becker stuck it out among the sombreros, Mexican flags and Spanish chants. You know, all those great indicators of how even illegal immigrants are assimilating into our culture.

But this week’s Idiot Politician of the Week is Baltimore City Councilman James Kraft. Kraft took the prize when he declared that the choice between paper and plastic at the grocery store is the choice between freedom and The Holocaust. (ht: Fred Dooley)
A broad slate of environmental proposals that would ban plastic bags from city grocery stores and add a 10-cent deposit for all types of bottles purchased in Baltimore came under fire Thursday at a citywide hearing.

The measures, sponsored by City Councilman James Kraft, include banning plastic bags and Styrofoam cups, and adding a 10-cent deposit for plastic and glass bottles of soda and beer — all part of an aggressive green agenda touted by Kraft, solidifying his reputation as the council’s environmental crusader.

Painting the proposed laws in broad strokes, Kraft likened his efforts as similar to confronting the threat of Nazi Germany prior to World War II.

“We don’t want to be criticized by future generations for not doing enough now as were those who dealt with the Germans then,” Kraft said at a hearing in the headquarters of the Living Classrooms in Fells Point.

Perhaps the councilman might consider breathing into a paper bag rather than mandating them at the grocery store. His penchant for hyperventilating may have already led to hypoxia, the resulting brain damage causing him to become our Idiot Politician of the Week. His prize will be delivered after we finish invading Poland.