Let me finish with character… you know, having the courage of your convictions, to go with your guts when the wind is blowing against you.
Oh, how I wish I could see character in politics today.
What I see, what I hear through all the noise, is an auctioning of souls. I’m watching politicians saying what they’re supposed to say in order to win the backing of some wealthy bullying benefactor, someone who wants politicians to do what they tell them to do, do everything they tell them to do — a person we would have called back in the sixties – a pig.
That’s what I see.
All the people we used to call “pigs” want is what they wanted back in the Vietnam era: they want wars. You can bet on that one. And they want, of course, low taxes and the regulators off their backs. They want our young people to go to the wars they have on their bucket lists; they want old rich people not to have to worry about things like estate taxes.
I’d like to see some character out there, wouldn’t you?
Wouldn’t it be great for some of the Republican candidates to stand up to the money guys and say: “If you want a presidential nominee who will do what the Bushes did, go from war to war — look elsewhere.”
“If you want someone to make the rich richer, find yourself another patsy.”
Now that would be a case of character!
Chris Matthews