When I was a little boy, television was new and exciting. Where I lived, there were just two channels, and then three, that came on early morning and shut down late at night with the National Anthem.
I was not allowed to watch TV until 5:30 on weekdays, which is when “The Howdy Doody Show” came on – “Say, keeyids! What time is it?”
I did not see all 2,342 episodes that began in 1948. But the ones I saw I remember with great fondness. Years later, I even got to interview the host, Buffalo Bob.
Probably my favorite part was when Clarabell, the mischievous clown who spoke only with a horn, was sneaking up on Buffalo Bob with a seltzer bottle.
The kids in the Peanut Gallery were all shouting warnings at the adult host, who seemed unaware of the plot unfolding behind his back.
“What’s that, kids?” he’d say. “I don't see anything,” as the clown drew near. The children were jumping up and down and yelling at the top of their toddler lungs. But Bob remained oblivious to the danger edging closer and closer as we watched.
Of course, Bob’s hearing returned just as he turned and Clarabell got him straight in the face. Everyone cheered and laughed so hard.
It’s a classic bit of theater straight out of vaudeville and the circus, where the audience sees something the actors pretend to miss. A guaranteed hit every single time. It was probably part of Greek theater millennia ago.
I thought of Clarabell and Buffalo Bob often in recent days as Americans in the Peanut Gallery watched as the latest tawdry, serial accusations of sexual assault emerged in Washington against two sitting congressmen, who were forced to resign.
And everyone in the Swamp, who’d worked closely and reported on the pair for years and even promoted them, expressed shock and dismay at the awful behavior of the men, who’d allegedly been doing their deeds forever.
“I don’t see anything.”
I mean, c’mon, people. Please! How freaking dumb do you think we are? (Ans: Very damn dumb.)
Being elected to Congress or anything is supposed to be an honor and responsibility conveyed by fellow citizens, not a privilege pass to abuse the position.
Congress already lives with just about the lowest approval rating in history. Is that O.K. as those clowns cash the $174,000 paychecks every year and reap the other perqs and benies that we collectively finance?
Kids on youth sports teams all over the country are routinely calling out teammates who aren’t carrying their load. You’d think adults on Capitol Hill could do the same on colleagues misbehaving. Or should.
And D.C. media allegedly covering these folks? Maybe they should take an enforceable oath of office vowing to live up to the constitutional protections the Founding Fathers granted them to serve as government watchdogs, not lapdogs for one side.
They sure blew that responsibility during the dark Biden years. I live hundreds of miles from Washington by choice, and I could detect the stench of that crowd’s decay and corruption better than the reporters and editors protecting their sacred liberal narratives in the same rooms.
“I don’t see anything.”
But the D.C. media’s eyesight and hearing returned just in time to snag lucrative book contracts afterwards to reveal the inside mess of the White House senior-care facility that they knew all along.
My HotAir colleague Ed Morrissey labels this “narrative maintenance.”
Remember the Steele Dossier’s disgusting details on Donald Trump that they bought and shared hook, line, and sinker until they couldn’t because it was a Hillary Clinton hit job? Or the damning content of Hunter Biden’s laptop that was Russian disinformation until it wasn’t?
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who somehow has amassed a fortune estimated in excess of $240 million on her maximum congressional salary of $223,500, was a key promoter of fellow California Congressman Eric Swalwell throughout his 13-year House career.
She gave him favorable assignments, including guiding Trump impeachments. Through all this time, though, she claims she never heard anything about Swalwell’s alleged misbehaviors, which now include sexual misconduct charges from five women, including two accusations of rape, non-consensual touching, and sending nude photos.
Pelosi said that abandoning his leading bid for the Democrat gubernatorial nomination in the June 2 primary (and resigning from Congress) was a smart decision. As if he really had a choice.
It’s also a decision, of course, that helps distance the scandal from Pelosi and the Democrat party, which was a leading proponent of the so-called #MeToo movement against sexual abuse, harassment, and rape. And is working so hard to avoid the lessons of its far-left agenda administered in 2024.
In 2020, Pelosi dismissed FBI concerns about the married Swalwell’s relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence agent. “I don’t have any concerns about Mr. Swalwell,” the 39-year House veteran declared.
"Do you now regret that endorsement?" media could ask. But they won't.
The credibility of the wily politician who became the first female House speaker in history, engineered numerous party victories and impressive fundraising for years, is up to each listener. These days, people seem to believe what they want to believe, regardless.
But the so-called whisper campaign about Swalwell’s indiscretions is years-long. Politico California has produced an impressive, lengthy, and detailed account of the long-running, dogged efforts by online influencers to document the alleged Swalwell incidents and find counseling help for the victims.
You can collect all the online whispers you want. But the crucial element to securing actual political consequences is still to acquire the validation of megaphone coverage from major news organizations.
They succeeded last week when CNN began publishing its own findings.
That’s when Swalwell’s once-convincing denials and political career began crumbling.
An hour after his congressional resignation, Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales also resigned after admitting an affair with a staffer who later committed suicide.
Karl Rove, a Washington veteran and Gonzales supporter, wrote:
Both men’s actions sprang, at least in part, from a perverted sense of personal power. That isn’t new. Congress has had plenty of wayward members and scandals, sexual and otherwise. America has survived them.
But these latest incidents come just when Americans hate politics to a nearly unprecedented degree. These politicians deepened distrust at precisely the moment when voters are desperate for leaders—someone, anywhere—to act with integrity and build up trust.
I agree. The Swamp name for Washington has stuck because the national capital’s association with the first president’s honorable, courageous, and upright leadership and career-setting historic precedents has been superseded by modern grime.
It has been overcome by an ongoing modern litany of moral offenses and dishonesty by too many there, including a president receiving oral sex in the Oval Office.
Or Benghazi. Four Americans died there. President Obama was absent. No security or backup. Yet Admiral Mike Mullen's accountability review could find no one to fault.
And while I believe Americans understand that we are all subject to human frailties and error, my experiences suggest they do find one trait especially heinous. And that trait is hypocrisy, feigning shock and disapproval over behaviors they knew about as if they are above such things.
Or would have us believe that.
