February 10, 2009, - 2:00 pm
What Would Lincoln Do?: Celebrating Eternal Welfare Queen John Dingell; Anti-Israel Rep. Doesn’t Live Up to the Daddy My Grandpa Knew
By Debbie Schlussel
**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****
While auto company jobs continue to get slashed, the big story in the Detroit area is, unfortunately, the long-running career of America’s longest public welfare recipient–John Dingell. The man gets paid $140K a year by American taxpayers, but hasn’t had a real job since his 20s. But, sadly, unlike so many other people in Michigan who actually produced something for a living, his job has yet to get slashed.
Dingell–one of the most anti-Israel and pan-terrorist Congressmen (remember when he said Hezbollah isn’t a terrorist group, despite its murder of over 300 Americans?) has been on the public dole for well over a half-century. As of this week, he’s now the longest serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives in history? Why is this cause to celebrate?
I raised this same question back in 2005, when President Bush hosted a luncheon in honor of Dingell’s 50th year in Congress.
It’s ironic that in this era where everything about Abraham Lincoln is hip again, one of the most important aspects of Lincoln isn’t: term limits. When I worked for Republican Congressman Philip M. Crane, he asked me to research Abraham Lincoln and term limits, and I spent a lot of time on it. In fact, Lincoln believed so strongly in term limits that he self-limited his terms in the legislature.
After serving four terms in the Illinois House, Lincoln declined to be renominated and left of his own accord. After one term in Congress, he also practiced self-term-limiting and declined to be renominated. In those days, even officeholders had some class. They weren’t pigs. They were true citizen legislators who served a few terms and then went back to live under the laws they made.
These days, we celebrate welfare queen John Dingell. No, America’s fattest cat welfare queen is not the mythical stereotype of a Black woman in a Cadillac driving to pick up her welfare check. It’s a fat, bald White guy in his seventies who doesn’t know when to quit.
The celebration of Dingell’s “history”-making is ironic, too. Today’s Detroit Newsistan has a ridiculous, pandering, entire “news” section dedicated to John Dingell. It’s as if the Newsistan became Dingell’s “Glamour Shots” for the day.
My favorite part of the section is the article, “Son Strives to Measure Up to Father’s Public Service” (not linking to it b/c I don’t give traffic to the Newsistan unless absolutely necessary). But John Dingell, Jr. doesn’t even come close to living up to John Dingell, Sr.–who was a friend of my late grandfather, Irving Wolf Schlussel.
Dingell has one of the most anti-Israel and pan-terrorist voting records in the House. His father was the complete opposite. From my 2005 column on Dingell’s father and my grandfather:
[T]he Dingell apple falls far from the tree. Dingell’s father, John Dingell, Sr., who preceded him in Congress, was very pro-Israel. So was the entire Michigan Democratic Party–which today is the domicile of the Islamofascists.
Below is an article from The Detroit Times, from November or December of 1948, not long after Israel became a State. It is about a pro-Israel dinner hosted by my late grandfather, Irving W. Schlussel, a lawyer, Detroit Jewish Community Council President, and President of the Jewish National Fund (which reclaims swamp and rocky land in Israel and plants trees on it). John Dingell, Sr. is one of the honorees, and he is pictured in the photo with my grandfather. Dingell, Sr. was inscribed in the JNF’s “Golden Book” for his support for Israel. His statement (some of which is unfortunately cut off in the only copy in my possession) is very pro-Israel. Today, he is probably turning over in his grave, at the disgusting actions and statements of his terror-apologist son.
Also, below, is another article from The Detroit Times from 1951. It is about a dinner, also hosted by my grandfather, Irving Schlussel.The dinner was in honor of then-Michigan Governor G. Mennen “Soapy” Williams and Lt. Governor (later U.S. Senator) Phil Hart. Although he is not mentioned in the article or pictured in the photo, John Dingell Sr. was in attendance, because, again, he was a strong supporter of Israel, unlike his terror-apologist son, who has been in office 50-years too long. At this dinner, the Williams-Hart Forest in Israel was established.
Celebrating that an out-of-touch, anti-Israel welfare queen who refuses to “take sides” against a terrorist group that murdered hundreds of Marines, is still in office is mind-boggling. That’s not an achievement. It’s a travesty. No-one, except Hezbollah, should be celebrating that this guy served in Congress the longest.
The Detroit Newsistan headline calls John Dingell a “Crusader.” But let’s just call him what he really is: a hack.
John Dingell, Jr.’s retirement is several decades overdue.
**** UPDATE: Braunstein Speaks also writes about Dingell’s “history-making” career of longevity in Congressional ineptitude. He writes aobut the Dingell family dynasty and compares it to the domination of the Kennedys in American politics. Braunstein and I agree: America is not a nation of royalty. Time to end the dynasties. Read Paul Braunstein’s piece on Dingell-ling.
Term limits have made the state legislature of Michigan largely nonfunctional. That alone is enough to oppose them.
[SH: WOW, YOU BUY INTO THE ANTI-TERM LIMITS PROPAGANDA THAT EASILY? TERM LIMITS HAVE WORKED VERY WELL HERE. THE ONLY ONES WHO DON’T LIKE IT ARE LOBBYISTS AND SPECIAL INTERESTS, WHO CAN’T EASILY AND PERMANENTLY BUY SOMEONE OFF, AND THE OFFICEHOLDERS WHO CAN’T BUILD A CAREER ON THE TAXPAYER’S DIME. IF ONLY TERM LIMITS DID MAKE THE MICHIGAN LEGISLATURE NONFUNCTIONAL, THAT WOULD BE GREAT. BUT IT STILL WORKS. DS]
stormhit on February 10, 2009 at 4:22 pm