Well it’s not every day you get to make your congressman look like an ass in front of 100+ people. And today at Brandeis my congressman, Barney Frank (D-Newton, MA), gave me that chance! He was brought in by the Brandeis Israel Public Affairs Committee (BIPAC) and the Brandeis Democrats to speak about the situation in Iran. After explaining that military force would worsen the situation and that international sanctions were impossible because China and Russia would veto them in the Security Council the following dialogue between me and the esteemed congressman from Newton took place:
Me: so you've ruled out sanctions and military action in Iran. If you're President Frank tomorrow what solution do you propose?
Barney: I try to convince Russia and China to go along with sanctions
Me: In lieu of that what would u do b/c they're never going to go along with them and you know that.
Barney: We make it explicitly clear to Iran that if anything comes out of their nuclear capabilities that harms us or our allies it would have grave consequences for them.
Me: so you're saying we need to sit around till something happens.
Barney: well what's your plan? (Really good dodge there Mr. Congressman!)
Me: I'm not the congressman! (Applause and laughter)
Well at this point Barney looks like a fool so he retorts: Well there's nothing in the constitution that says citizens can't have ideas too.
Of course this isn’t an exact transcript but I believe it is pretty close because I wrote it up soon after. I’m trying to find out if someone recorded the speech so I can get the exact transcript but for now this is what we work with.
What struck me was how petty Barney came off. I called him on the fact that he offered no solutions and rather then fess up he would rather call me out and try to save face. To my defense I’m not the one who is up there criticizing everybody and everything. Unless you’re going to offer a viable solution, get off the damn stage!
The other thing that really struck me was his general tone with me, like I was lower then him. Last I checked you work for me Barney not the other way around! I doubt Barney would have ever taken the same tone with his boss if he ever worked a normal job. I wonder that if he would have known that I was a constituent would he have taken the same tone.
Side Rants
-School trudges on. Just a little over a week of class left and the work is pilling up! Next two weeks should be hell.
-Dani’s Summer Job Watch ’06: Welcome to the 2006 edition of Dani’s Summer Job Watch! Why does it seem that I never have an easy time finding summer work? So far my two big leads are: 1. working at my law TA’s firm downtown 2. selling trolley tour tickets downtown in a nice little colonial era get-up. Send me any leads if you have them!
About Me
- Dani B.
- Brookline, Massachusetts, United States
- Here is my life the short academic only version (which I guess really wasn't my life if you look at my grades!) Graduated Maimonides, went to Yesodei HaTorah, at Brandeis.
14 comments:
I'm surprised he reacted so badly. He should be used to getting screwed by young men, although usually not in public
Its about time....slacker.
wow dani you posted...psh psh.
i think you should sell T tour tickets in the colonial getup. id like a nice laugh when i come to boston.
*gasp*... u posted, are you feeling ok?
Pretty unimpressive on your part. When talking about sanctions and Russia and China you say "they're never going to go along with them and you know that." The proper response to your absolute knowledge of the future is: "Hey smart guy--what's going to happen with the stock market next week?"
It's pretty weak to attempt to discredit an argument by saying something is never going to happen and then demanding an alternative. But that's pretty much what passes for intellectual discourse these days, isn't it?
anonymous #2: I don't think it's a great leap to say that Russia and China aren't going to cozy up to the idea of sanctions anytime soon. I was asking the congressman what he would do in the case that they don't go along with them and I don't think that's such an unrealistic scenario barring any major events in the world.
p.s. next time have the beitzim to sign your name.
Actually, I think your little attack was just as petty.
Summary:
"what would you do in this situation?"
"x y and z"
"well x y and z will *never* happen. I am all knowing. Now what, smart guy?"
"well if you're all knowing, you tell me?"
"I'm not all knowing so there!"
Yup. Classy.
~bc you clearly didn't read the entire post.
I for one nominate Dani for dictator of the world...
China would go along with Sanctions because it's in their best interest to be on the US's good side (since we import so much of their shit) and Russia will since they've already pretty much said as much and would really like to get our help in monopolizing oil sales in the region (remember the pipeline dispute with Ukraine? If U.S. did not support Ukraine, Ukraine wouldn't have had the legs to stand on.)
I agree with the posts that you came across as pretty dismissive and uninformed in that exchange.
Actually, Anonymous #3 (or 2 or 1), China is at the point where they don't need to be cozying up to the US and actually would rather be acting in a manner contrary to US position to signal the strength of China. While the US slowly loses its power, China is right there looking to fill the vacuum.
And no, I do not have anything better to do that to respond to two week old political debates...
POST AGAIN
Barney Frank was petty?
Petty would have been Barney Frank calling you a pisher. Petty would be telling a commenter to have the beitzim to sign their name. Petty is posting a boast about how clever you are when in reality you were making an ass out of yourself. You don't have an easy glib solution either so unless you're going to offer a viable solution, stop posting in your damn blog.
Paying attention to what's happening with China, Iran, and the United States? Maybe Barney Frank is a little smarter than you think.
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