"He is now the second highest ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is a very important committee on the health care issue," Family Research Council head Tony Perkins introduced Congressman Roy Blunt (R-MO) before a crowd of roughly 2,000 at the Family Research Council Action's 2009 Values Voter Summit last Friday. Taking the podium, Blunt repaid the favor, enthusing, "I really appreciate Tony Perkins coming and introducing me himself. He is one of my great friends."
"This is an opportunity for us," Blunt told his predominantly white audience, "this is a time for us to be more of who we should be."
Congressman Blunt then went on to tell an anecdote which suggested that life in Washington, for GOP members today, is comparable to the lot of imperial British agents in India who had to contend with monkeys running amok on a golf course that the colonial occupiers had carved out of the verdant Indian jungle. There was a problem, the Missouri Representative explained; monkeys would come out of the jungle, grab golf balls, and throw them about. Amidst swelling laughter from his audience Roy Blunt narrated,
"I could go into great and long detail about how many things they did to try and eliminate the 'monkey problem.' But they never got it done, so finally this golf course and this golf course only, they passed a rule and the rule was - you have to play the ball where the monkey throws it. [audience laughter swells] And that is the rule in Washington all the time."
It seemed like a direct window into the psyche of the revanchist wing of the GOP; politics is a golf game and unruly Democrat "monkeys" have swarmed out of the jungle to disrupt the play. Since it is impractical to "eliminate" the monkeys, accommodations will have to be made. Republicans will now "play the ball where the monkey throws it."
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