Tough and Smart

Yesterday I bought a book at the place I go on Sundays—some call it a church, but given the sermon on the cognitive dissonance of Unitarians I think I’d better not call it a church. It’s just the UU. I bought Pat Bagley’s latest book, Clueless George Takes on Liberals.

This past summer, Pat Bagley spoke at our building that isn’t quite a church. Even my young daughter went to hear him. She has ambitions to write political graphical novels now.

My children read Pat Bagley’s books regularly (including I Spy a Nephite for a little local color). I hadn’t read the other two Clueless George books, Clueless George Goes to War and Clueless George Is Watching You, before they were sucked into the children’s collection, so I read this one quickly as people came in to sit in the pews.

This is George.
George likes to dress up.
George is the president.
George is a monkey.

This is Bertrand.
Bertrand studies hard.
Bertrand cares about people.
Bertrand always plays fair.
Bertrand is a liberal.
Bertrand is a jackass.

Clueless George invites Bertrand to a party, and George’s friends are all over Bertrand. Poor Bertrand. His mother told him to be polite, so he is. He is polite and silent. He doesn’t speak up, and The Man and Karl the Klown (“Wonk, Wonk.”) keep beating him as long as he takes it.

So, the question is, will Bertrand keep taking it?

Will Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, and Harry Reid be polite? Sure, they were polite this past week–even when the White House wasn’t polite. Will they continue to be silent, though? How could Pelosi already say she’s taking impeachment off the table? Howard Dean said in the weekly Democratic Radio Address that Democrats would be “tough and smart” on defense. I hope that goes for everything else, too. Wouldn’t that be nice to see everyone be tough and smart and no one be terribly and stupidly polite? I don’t particularly have any desire for them to be ridiculously inappropriate, but I want to see them call a criminal a criminal and a monkey a monkey.

2 Responses to “Tough and Smart”

1. Jenni Says:
   November 14th, 2006 at 3:05 pm

   Aha!

   We go to the same place on Sundays, I see.

2. admin Says:
   November 14th, 2006 at 7:46 pm

   You know, that doesn’t surprise me.

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