Okay, so I lied. Joe Scarborough’s public midlife crisis is only the second-worst thing you’ll see this week. The worst is this video of Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, describing her “talking stick.”
Oh, where to start. I suppose it’d be most useful to begin with Politico’s background on the Maine senator’s negotiations gimmick [emphasis added]:
[Sens. Chris Coons, D-Conn., and Angus King, I-Maine] were part of a group of at least two dozen senators who began meeting late last week in the office of Sen. Susan Collins to broker a deal to stave off a shutdown — much like the effort that the Maine Republican led in 2013.
To try and keep the peace, Collins wouldn’t let any senator in the room talk unless they were holding a “talking stick” — which one aide later said was a Maasai leadership stick that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., gave Collins a few years ago. At one point, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee forcefully tossed the stick toward Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia after Warner interrupted him, nearly shattering a glass elephant belonging to Collins, according to two people briefed on the throw. After that incident, Collins suggested using a small rubber ball, and Alexander also brought his own basketball “because it’d be safer than a stick,” an aide said.
Next, let’s look at Sen. Collins’ appearance Tuesday on CNN:
Look, I’m not trying to be a downer. Good on the senator for trying to come up with ways to keep negotiations rolling smoothly. Honestly, though, how old are these people?
Is it naïve to believe our elected officials should be able to make it through tough or unpleasant discussions without the use of gimmicks or toys?
Hot Air’s Allahpundit says it better than I when he writes, “As innocuous as this is, I wonder how many people who watched the segment on CNN this morning sit through endless meetings day after day at work and manage to communicate civilly with others without needing a gimmick to reduce the rancor and make sure everyone present can he heard. It’s called ‘being an adult.’”
“You would think,” he added, “The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body (giggle) could swing it. Exit question: An anarchic parliament run by children really should use a conch instead, no?”
