Your Monday motivation: Bend it like Grayson

I've decided I'm going to make a concerted effort to bring more Alan Grayson goodness to the rest of America--he really is too wonderful a politician, writer, human being, and all-around wit to keep to ourselves here in the Sunshine (finally!) State.

This weekend, former half-governor Palin descended on Orlando, which city is just a couple of hours from my door and smack in the middle of Grayson country. No, we couldn't hear the screeching all the way out here on the coast (heh) but there's plenty of YouTube footage of her speech, should you wish to subject your eardrums and sensibilities to it. Unsurprisingly, Palin rudely slammed Congressman Grayson, a Democrat who was elected by the very district--a largely conservative one, by the way--in which she currently spoke, tossing out lines like, "What can you say about Alan Grayson? Piper is with me tonight, so I won't say anything about Alan Grayson that can't be said around children. [Good one, Sarah!] But thank you, Florida, for allowing candidates in a contested primary to duke it out over ideas and principles and values, all with the same goal, and that is unseating those who have such a disconnect from the people of America. That's what the goal is here in this race against Alan Grayson."

But over in the leftmost corner, in the non-shrinking violet trunks, one of the few politicians blessed with both wit and the will to use same, Alan GraaaAAAaaayson:

In response to Palin's attack on Rep Grayson, Grayson actually complimented Palin. Grayson praised Palin for having a hand large enough to fit Grayson's entire name on it. He thanked Palin for alleviating the growing shortage of platitudes in Central Florida. Grayson added that Palin deserved credit for getting through the entire hour-long program without quitting. Grayson also said that Palin really had mastered Palin's imitation of Tina Fey imitating Palin. Grayson observed that Palin is the most-intelligent leader that the Republican Party has produced since George W. Bush.

But enough with the pie-fighting, though. We know better than to be distracted by it (we do know better, don't we? Please say Yes.) There are more than enough Big Issues to which we must turn our attention. War profiteering, for example, and its less-than-upstanding players and the Caymans accounts that love them. Now, here in the States, this would seem to be yesterday's news, at least it would seem so judging by the paucity of coverage on American networks (not here, though--come on, you know I'm never getting over that noise, not as long as otherwise perfectly logical people keep insisting we can't afford to provide Americans with health care). Over in England, though, the BBC is just getting started. And of course, they're talking to Alan Grayson, since he's been banging the accountability drum for a while now. Watch this and ask your own Congresscritters where the hell THEY stand on the billions (and billions and billions) of tax dollars that have gone missing, that were, in short, lost down what the BBC calls "the back of a very big sofa in the desert".



Keep at it, Congressman Grayson. Please. We've got your back here in sunshine-land.