moriarty@fluke.UUCP (The Napoleon of Crime) (04/25/85)
As some of you may have read in your morning papers today, Senator Sam Ervin
died last night. I'm not much on eulogizing, or breast-beating, but I
always felt that this country was extremely lucky to have had Erwin where he
was during the 1970's. I was living in DC during that period, and it was a
relief to know that we had a *statesman* overlooking the Watergate hearings;
we've had damn few of them lately. And it seemed, from third-party
information we are provided by the media, that he was a good man. Enough
said.
On reading further into the Seattle Times obituary, I began to examine the
various praises and eulogies of those in the political arena. One
statement, however, stopped me dead in my tracks, and has raised my blood
pressure several points. Jesse Helms, one of the few politcos I would truly
term narrow-minded and cruel, was quoted as saying that Ervin was his
"mentor".
Mentor. I take this to mean that Jesse's views and ideals were shaped by
the late Senator. That his political code of ethics were patterned after
his colleague. That his behavior in public reflected the high standards
Ervin was famous for.
As Bill Cosby would say, "RIIIIIIIGHT!"
I find it difficult to stomach the allegation that a man who refers to the
AIDS epidemic among the homosexual community as a deserved plague from God,
feels that nuclear war is winnable, and alleges that we don't have enough
money to feed the poor but subsidies for the tobacco industry are essential,
got his guiding principles from one of the few role models to come out of
American politics in the last few years. It's a parting insult to Ervin's
memory, and a fairly obvious political sucking-up, but what can you expect
from such despicable human garbage?
If Helms is going to name mentors, I suggest that he proposes people a
little closer to his point-of-view and personality, like Jerry Falwell. Or
Adolph Eichmann.
"The voters have spoken, the bastards..."
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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