By John Kanelis / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com
If only this message could get to a former Texas congressman who retired at the beginning of the year and has been succeeded by a certifiable nut case.
I will post this rebuke anyway in the hope that Mac Thornberry sees what one of his former constituents thinks of the lunatic who took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Ronny Jackson, a Republican (of course), attended the Conservative Political Action Conference festivities this weekend in Dallas. He then promptly made a case — from my vantage point — for why he should be stripped of his medical license.
The doc decided to offer a “diagnosis” of President Biden that, shall we say, was unflattering in the extreme. He asserted — without ever examining the president — that Joe Biden suffers from cognitive decline; that he has dementia; that he is unfit for office.
Jackson is now the 13th Congressional District representative in Congress. He tweets what he calls his brains out daily. Then he shows up at these right-wing feeding frenzies and says patently untrue things about the commander in chief.
Why mention Mac Thornberry? Well, I know Thornberry pretty well. I covered him while I worked as editorial page editor of the Amarillo Globe-News from 1995 until 2012. He took office the same week I reported for duty in the Panhandle. Not one time did I ever see or hear Thornberry use the kind of incendiary language that pours forth from Ronny Jackson’s pie hole. Did I agree with Thornberry? No. I didn’t. My point is that Thornberry conducted himself with a certain quiet dignity that clearly is missing in the loon who succeeded him.
Ronny Jackson, the former Navy rear admiral, is appealing to the same rabid fanatical base that supports the disgraced 45th POTUS. What’s more, he is offering medical diagnoses without any basis for them. For that reason alone this nut job needs to surrender his medical license.
Mac … are you out there? Speak to us! Tell us that your successor — not the current president — is unfit for his job!
The days of serious deliberation; ideas and a bold vision for the future; compromise; hard work; paying one’s dues and earning the respect of colleagues- has given way to grandstanding; media darlings with ready soundbites: substance-free speeches and clowns trying to do comedy with their five minutes at their respective gatherings.
Rage sells and raises money. Pols now vie for their fifteen minutes of fame at FOX and CNN.
The more outlandish the better because crazy attracts viewers and advertising dollars.
Gone are the days of Combest working with Stenholm or Reagan and O’Neill having a beer after work.
‘ Where have you gone Abraham Lincoln – our nation turns it’s lonely eyes to you…’
I’d even add W working with Ted Kennedy on ed reform in that gallery of bipartisan efforts. Yeah, those days are gone. I hope not forever.