Just a little (semi)-personal note
Just about everyone who knows me well knows that I’m a WWII buff and have a very soft spot for veterans of that war. So this really touched me. I thought some other Bears and readers, who don’t read the Washington Post regularly and would otherwise miss seeing this, might enjoy this little reason to smile.
Yes it is good to see that there was sufficient flexibility shown by the U.S. Park Police to allow for the group to complete their mission, so to speak.
The article doesn’t make clear why it is that two Republican politicos were commenting on the episode. “Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he believed the Park Service opened the gates. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) said the congressmen did it. Rep. Steven M. Palazzo (R-Miss.) said the barricades just seemed to part.” Were they on site when the confrontation occurred? If so, why so? Why is their two cents even worth including in the article? The group being elderly and from the deep south I’d guess that many voted for the Republicans that brought this whole affair to the absurd place that it is now at. Worse yet they probably blame Obama and the Dems. for their plight. Three Republicans just happened to be there at the moment for what turns into a public relations opportunity?
And yes Beverly, I’m that much of a cynic about American politics and the electorate that is responsible for all of its failings.
Please, Jack. The vets are FROM Mississippi, where two of the three Republican congressmen are from. The Mississippi Gulf Coast honor flights is one of several groups around the country that arranges chartered flights for groups of WWII vets that flies the vets to Washington to see the memorial. The flights accommodate medical equipment, numerous wheelchairs, etc. This project started shortly after the memorial opened about 10 years ago. Obviously, by the time it opened, all surviving vets were elderly.
The person arranging this trip obviously contacted members of the Mississippi congressional delegation, apparently two of whom managed to have the memorial quietly opened to them today. The third congressman mentioned, who is from Michigan, might be chair of some committee having to do with the federal monuments or Washington security or some such. Or he might just have been walking by. Obviously, there were news photographers assigned to take pictures of closed Washington monuments, showing them barricaded, and one of them caught this.
I’m happy to see that the story and the pic have now gone “viral” and is being reported by most major news organizations.
This is not a story that helps house Republicans, who are causing the shutdown in the first place. And this is not a gift horse that should not be looked at in the mouth.