Opinion: Where does America find such sad excuses for elected leaders?
By David Von Drehle David Von Drehle Columnist focusing on national affairs and politics Email Bio Follow Columnist March 1 Like so many figures from the world of President Trump, his former lawyer Michael Cohen appears to have been recruited from a dinner theater production of “ Guys and Dolls .” He looks like maybe his nose stood a little too close to the wrong person’s fist. Like the kind of fella who thinks Paul “Paulie Suits” Manafort looks real sharp in his ostrich windbreaker .
As expected, Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee spent an entire day trying to expose Cohen as a liar. For example, they pointed out that he’s headed to prison for lying. They reproved, in very loud and angry tones, his lack of thoroughness in completing a government questionnaire. They even displayed a large photograph of Cohen labeled “Liar, liar, pants on fire!”In short, they tried everything to discredit Cohen’s charges — except disputing them. Racist, con man, cheat.
In safe districts, politics doesn’t work the way you were taught in grade school. Reasonable people don’t meet in the middle. Instead, the purists and activists in the dominant party choose a nominee, and that person steam-rolls to victory. Safe seats aren’t the evil design of one party or the other. They are the creation of a conspiracy of Insiders whose shared goal is to simplify the complexity of politics in a diverse nation. Making a seat safe for Republicans often entails the concentration of Democrats in their own safe seat nearby. For instance, Rep. Jim Jordan — chief groveler of the Cohen cross-examiners — holds an unthreatened district adjacent to an equally safe Democratic seat occupied by Rep.
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