It's the little things

I was watching a rerun of The Daily Show. The lead story was about the hearings about the firing of the U.S. attorneys featuring Monica Goodling. Sheila Jackson Lee, representing the great state of Texas' 18th Congressional district which includes the wonderful city of Houston*, instructed Ms. Goodling to be "cryptic and brief" with her answers. After reading Ms. Lee's biography, I can assume that she has intelligence, so is it too much to ask for a U.S. Representative to know the meaning of the words that she chooses? It's embarrassing when a person in a position of power misuses words.

This member of the governed has certain expectations that her representatives at least display the same level of education and intelligence as she. It makes my head hurt when those expectations are not met. All I have is a B.A. and I know what cryptic means and the correct context for using that word.

Ms. Goodling displayed the same level of brilliance in not understanding the concept of "immunity" and not understanding some basic concepts concerning law. She should have known some of this after graduating from a "law school".

Maybe, I'm being too hard on these women but I don't think I'm holding them to an unreasonable standard. My standards are not that high. I guess that's why I've become increasingly cynical about this government. I find frightening when in answer to the question about those chosen to govern me, "You think you could do a better job?", I can say yes with some degree of confidence.

*I'm not being sarcastic - Texas is a great state and like visiting Houston (I like it enough to suffer through driving around in it).