Friday, April 24, 2009

Come on, Red, the parallel was obvious.


Red Tory makes gentle mockery of one Scott Hennig thusly:

That’s right; the animated spokesbot persistently speaking out to any camera with an operating battery in it, supposedly on behalf of the little guy, the “average” taxpayer and the hardscrabble small businessman (or woman), appears to have gone pretty much on a smooth glide-path from the Halls of Academe (well, the home of the aptly-named “Butterdome” and leafy grounds of the University of Alberta anyway) to a well-appointed, air-conditioned sinecure located in the heart of Edmonton’s rather antiseptic corridor of hideous architectural travesties known as “the government district.”

Ah, but that doesn't begin to compare with Texas politician Phil Gramm, who takes sucking off the government tit to hilarious extremes, according to the late Molly Ivins:

Gramm, the great crusader against government spending, has spent his entire life on the government tit. He was born at a military hospital, raised on his father’s Army pay, went to private school at Georgia Military Academy on military insurance after his father died, paid for his college tuition with same, got a National Defense Fellowship to graduate school, taught at a state-supported school, and made generous use of his Senate expense account.

It is curious, is it not, how all these crusaders for fiscal restraint, smaller government and self-reliance somehow seem to survive quite nicely without ever getting, you know, real jobs. And if you want to know what that's like, I suggest asking Stephen Taylor. I'm sure he'd be delighted to explain it to you.

7 comments:

Red Tory said...

Good catch.

There's more than a few people that fall into the same category. Grover Norquist is another beltway parasite that comes immediately to mind.

Ti-Guy said...

It's really odd. I've worked in publicly-supported institutions all my life (except for temporary jobs I took as a student) and if I ever believed the economic model that supports public service was flawed, dangerous or unworkable, I'd do something else. But not these people...they'll happily be supported, lavishly in fact, by the very thing they go out of their way to malign.

On a related note, you should catch CBC Sunday Edition from April 12 that discusses how MBA's (and other professional administration degrees) have ruined everything.

Romantic Heretic said...

The best book I ever read on how to run a business made it very clear that under no circumstances do you hire an MBA.

Rev.Paperboy said...

What about Steverino his own bad self? Has he ever had a real job of consequence? Or has it all been "national taxpayers foundation" think tank stuff since he finished that masters degree?

sooey said...

Mike Harris, Tax-Fighter, come on down: the briefest of teaching careers due to unsavoury behaviour, on to school board trustee and eventual position in charge of the shredder (to get rid of the unsavoury behaviour details), MPP, Premier.

Red Tory said...

Sooey — Followed by a career of think-tank noodling and hired pontification.

sooey said...

I wonder what it's like for the legitimate think-tank noodlers and hired pontificators when ex-politicians start showing up for work? I mean, it must make them feel kind of... lesser...