The last time I checked, the state motto for the greatish state of Missouri was Show Me. And that’s exactly what Josh Hawley did on January 6th, he showed not only the citizens of Missouri, but the world what a hypocritical chickenshit coward looks like in action.
When the J6 committee spotlighted in prime time Hawley first fist pumping in sympathy with the mob, and then running like a cat with a can tied behind his tail, they showed something he had passionately hoped would never become public. And when the networks showed the clip from a camera with audio of the audience in the room, their hearty, derisive hoots of laughter made his humiliation complete.
What Hawley did was the same thing that has been done with so many other GOP incumbents and candidates, Blind arrogance. If Hawley had simply walked across the top of the stairs and entered the building, and then been shown running for his life, who would have cared? Shit, I would have been running as fast as my pasty old legs would carry me.
But no. Hawley just had to mug for the assembled crowd, pumping his fist in the air, with a maliciously gleeful smile on his face. These were his people! And with that one motion, he cemented his position in history as a craven coward.
Which begs the natural question, What were you running from, Josh? After all, these are your people, they animated and became more aggressive after your little show. What did you have to fear from them? They would have welcomed you with open arms.
Earlier I said that Hawley was arrogant. I was being kind. In fact, Hawley has a PhD in stupid arrogance. The stupid shit is actually fundraising off of his own humiliation! In his ads he’s proudly swearing that he’ll Never run from Democrats! Which is insane. That would be like me taking a vicious pratfall in a hockey game, and then going back to the bench and telling my teammates, Yeah, that was an ugly mofo, but nobody on the other team could ever do me like that! News Flash! It doesn’t matter moron!, you humiliated yourself!
Here’s why I think this is important, and why it will have long term legs. The old axiom is that Memories are short in politics. Hell, for that matter, memories tend to be short in real life, as long as your name isn’t Trump. But it doesn’t always work that way.
Legendary Mexican boxer Roberto Duran had the nickname Hands of Stone. He was almost unstoppable. No matter what you did to him, he just kept pushing forward and hammering you. Until one night, late in his career, he came up against a young champion named Sugar Ray Leonard.
Leonard hammered him mercilessly. And when the bell rang for the last round, Duran stayed on his stool, waving a glove and saying Nada mas! Nada mas! The official Duran camp explanation was that Duran was suffering from stomach cramps from a case of the flu. Whatever. But in that one moment, for the rest of his life, Duran was no longer Hands of Stone, it was forever after Nada mas! Nada mas!
But there’s political history to back up my theory too. Anybody remember the Saturday Night Massacre?, when then President Richard Nixon tried to fire the Special Prosecutor in charge of the Watergate investigation? But everybody in the DOJ resigned rather than follow a clearly illegal order.
Then Nixon came upon his acting Solicitor General, Robert Bork. Bork toed the line, and fired the Special Prosecutor. The following uproar only led to Nixon allowing another Special Prosecutor. But more than a decade later, when Bork was nominated for a seat on the Supreme court, the Democrats blew a gasket, and Bork’s nomination went down in flames.
This is my point. Not very often, but every once in a while, an unexpected event takes place that defines a person for all time. JFK had it with Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. FDR had it with his iconic We have nothing to fear but fear itself. And with a simple, gleeful fist pump and a chickenshit run, Josh Hawley just branded himself for life. He’s going to be immortal after all.
I have to give Hawley this much credit. You have to work hard to stand out in the Trumpist crowd. For better or worse–okay, worse–his Great Skeddadle has killed his career as surely as the Obama era State of The Union rebuttal did Marco Rubio’s hope for the presidency.
Wasn’t Duran’s comment “no mas”?
That was the first Spanish I learned because it was all over the papers. BTW I am from Central Illinois.
Actually what got Bork borked was his arrogance and honestly answering the senators’ questions. It had less to do with the Saturday Night Massacre and more to do with his complete and uber-conservative (think Alito or Thomas on steroids) views. If the MSM, at the time, failed to honestly report his hearings and instead relied on the lazy talking points of the then GOP (who were whiners even then) for their stories, that’s on them.
As to Hawlin’ Ass Hawley, yeah he bought the ticket, now he has to take the ride.
Bork’s views were way the fuck out of the mainstream of both public and legal thought. And yes, he didn’t try to hide from the views he’d expressed. My feelings about Ted Kennedy have pretty much always run hot and cold but his takedown of Bork was the stuff of legend.
As for the Saturday Night Massacre, there’s a bit more to it that what you indicated and it did factor in a bit with his failed confirmation years later. He was one of the top three at DOJ, and together they all decided to resign. Bork, being low man of the three by agreement agreed to do the firing after his superiors had submitted their resignations and there’d been a bit of time to let journalists know. Then Bork did the deed (so to speak) but he reneged on the agreement – and stayed in place! THAT didn’t go over well at all in DC legal circles and as I said while it wasn’t the dominant factor everyone involved in his SCOTUS hearing knew the full story and that Bork was untrustworthy. It’s probably why he didn’t try to deflect much on his extreme positions or try to dissemble with “I will only decide cases before me on their merits” type of bullshit. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE all along the political spectrum knew how he’d rule (regardless of law or precedent) on all manner of issues that any SCOTUS must deal with!
Exactly…ARROGANCE
Hawley isn’t just toast. He’s burnt crispy black set off the smoke alarm toast!
Hawley’s face should be on a poster that reads:
Look At This Face, this is why Abortions Should Be Legal. His momma is an asshole for not aborting him in the first place. Probably inbred.
A few notes on Roberto Duran:
Roberto Duran is Panamanian. The “No Mas” fight was their second fight. Duran was WBC Welterweight champion after beating Leonard in “The Brawl in Montreal”. Mike Tyson has said that is his favorite fight, from someone who has seen over 10,000 fights and been in a few personally himself.
Duran had a severe weight cut 6 months after his victory in Montreal, ballooning up 40 pounds from partying with his countrymen and anyone else who liked to party. Duran never said “No Mas”, it was Howard Cosell that said it announcing. Duran after going through 8 rounds with Leonard’s new tactics of showboating said something like “I’m not going to fight this fucking clown no more”
He did redeem himself a few years later, but will always be married to “No Mas”.
Besides being as real as fools gold, let’s give him credit where it’s due…as Hannibal said, “love the suit”. Now, all we need is for someone to have him for dinner with a nice Chanti.