Unlike Rep. Jim Moran and Sen. John Warner, Allen never met with us during his six years in office. Instead he would pawn us off on the youngest, least-experienced staffer available. I guess the big man was too busy pursuing his presidential ambitions and trying to get more Republicans into office. Or maybe he figured we wouldn't live long enough to vote his sorry ass out of office, in which case the joke's on him. (Now that we've booted one buffoonish self-styled cowboy, how can we get rid of the other?)
So at the personal level, my appearance this year was as much to celebrate Allen's departure as to lobby. We didn't get an audience with his gun-toting successor, Jim Webb, but he did rush by us in the corridor. And Warner, who's always had a soft spot for ALS, was gracious enough to duck out of the Capitol between votes to meet with us personally. I've never voted for him, but he's a good guy and a classic example of a critically endangered species: the moderate Republican.
My favorite part of the yearly gathering is the candlelight vigil, which was held Monday night at the Reichstag -- I mean the World War II -- Memorial. The speeches were pretty good, although two of the speakers coincidentally confused irony with coincidence. Which is ironic, considering that the words are essentially antonyms. (If you're the sort who conflates irony and coincidence, I should explain that antonyms are opposites.) I used to worry that irony was dying; now I'm more concerned that people don't know what it is in the first place. But that just makes it more fun for those who do.
Cavils aside, the vigil was, as always, a warm and touching event, and I was glad to be around for yet another one.
4 comments:
I was just having this discussion with a displaced New Yorker now resident in my Dupont apartment. He claims no one in DC understands irony. Can it be we've lost the ability to look in the mirror?
He should spend some time in California, where they confiscate it at the border (irony, not mirrors).
It is because the SAT was changed and there is no more antonym section. I find it hard to believe those two words were confused, education is not what it used to be... Irony is alive and well in NYC
Yes - Isn't it ironic.
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