Tuesday, February 22, 2011

A loony tiger can't change its stripes

Which is nuttier? Invoking Star Trek analogies on the floor of Congress or sending photos of oneself in a tiger costume to one's employees?

Apparently the latter, according to the staff of a certain US House member from Oregon.

An Oregon congressman said Tuesday that it was "unprofessional and inappropriate" to send pictures of himself wearing a tiger costume to staff members.

Democratic U.S. Rep. David Wu said Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that the photos were taken while he was "joshing around" with his children in October just before Halloween.

One photo shows Wu wearing an orange and black striped tiger outfit with pointy ears and striped mittens. Portland newspapers reported that campaign staffers pleaded with Wu to seek psychiatric help in the final week before the November election, but he refused.


Ah, but this isn't the first time Rep. Wu has exhibited utterly strange behavior.

In one of the more bizarre speeches in Congressional history, Wu used a Star Trek analogy in January 2007 to criticize the Bush administration and its decision to invade Iraq four years earlier.




Nary a word then from Wu's staff regarding psychiatric help. Of course, former Ohio Congressman James Traficant regularly closed his speeches with the phrase "Beam me up."

I guess such loony citations have become standard fare in the US House to the point where it barely garners acknowledgement.

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2 comments:

StarBittrune said...

I take exception to the suggestion that it's looney to make Star Trek analogies. Granted, Rep. Wu's metaphors are highly illogical. His characterization of Pres. Bush is much more Andorian than Klingon, and I'm sure his rant did not energize his colleagues.

Like most liberal Democrats, he sees any war under a Republican administration as a Kobayashi Maru or a violation of the Prime Directive at best, and he'll rave like someone overdosing on cordrazine. But resistance is futile if you try to cut entitlement spending. After all, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Somewhere along the way, Rep. Wu drank the Scalosian water and is bringing his career to a speedy end. He should set course for the private sector, where I'm sure he will live long and prosper.

Now the tiger suit thing, that's nutty.

P.S. Someday I might run for the MN State House just so I can argue with Rep. Phyllis KHANNNNN!!!

Brad Carlson said...

The audio clip of Wu's Star Trek reference with theme music included.