Slip slidin’
Singer-songwriter Paul Simon appeared with Democrats on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to push for an override of President Bush’s veto of children’s health care legislation, and Democratic leaders couldn’t wait to turn on the wit as they borrowed his lyrics.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kicked it off with: “Thank you, Paul Simon, for not letting America’s children go slip slidin’ away.” Ugh.
Then it was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid‘s turn. “Paul, I feel like I’ve got diamonds on the soles of my shoes,” he said. Sigh.
Unable to resist a reference to his own songwriting hobby, Sen. Orrin Hatch, the only Republican on hand, told the crowd, “The songwriter you came to hear was Paul Simon, not Orrin Hatch.”
When it came time for Simon to speak, the vertically challenged Rock and Roll Hall of Famer needed a step-stool to reach the microphone. “I usually bring my own podium,” he said.
Curiously absent from the event: children. Only a couple of the usual pint-sized political props were among the 70-odd people clustered around the podium.
