Congress voted to give its highest award to the Capitol and Washington DC police for their efforts to stop the rioters on January 6th from entering the Capitol building and attacking members of Congress. The ceremony was held yesterday and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy were in line to shake the hands of the recipients.
But the officers as well as the family of a police officer who died, clearly still angry at how Republican leaders made excuses for Donald Trump’s incitement of the violence, ignored their outstretched hands and walked right past them.
McConnell, the Senate minority leader, was caught on video with his hand outstretched, waiting in line for handshakes that never came as senior officers and Sicknick’s parents warmly greeted the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer.
The relatives and officers in uniform then walked straight past the Republican duo, barely looking at them.
“They’re just two-faced. I’m just tired of them standing there and saying how wonderful the Capitol police is, and they turn around and … go down to Mar-a-Lago and kiss [Trump’s] ring,” Sicknick’s mother, Gladys Sicknick, said, according to a tweet by CNN congressional reporter Daniella Diaz.
“It just hurts.”
Sicknick’s brother, Ken, was also forthright. “They have no idea what integrity is. They can’t stand up for what’s right and wrong,” he said.
I can’t stop watching this video of McConnell getting snubbed. 🍿pic.twitter.com/7V5C7EEeAD
— Jo 🌻 (@JoJoFromJerz) December 6, 2022
They people made it clear that they had decided together in advance that they were not going to shake their hands.
So good to watch!https://t.co/wRdNgUewFa
— Buhle Khanyile (@bwk4r) December 6, 2022
It would be funnier and more satisfying if I thought for a second either one of them gave even a tiny shit what any of those people think.
sonofrojblake, even though it’s not called that, it’s a loss of face nonetheless.
“loss of face” is only a thing in cultures which place value on “face”. And you’re kidding yourself and nobody else if you think, post-Trump, that the USA, and in particular politics and rich people in the USA, is such a culture. Things which in other countries and cultures would be a source of shame are proudly trumpeted by USAians as badges of honour.
That is, every culture that has ever existed or shall ever exist.
(It’s a monkey thing)
John, you seem to be under the impression the snub will make a difference to the public images of McConnell and McCarthy. How so?
Because it’s in the news: https://www.google.com/search?q=McConnell+and+McCarthy
(It’s even on this blog!)
Yes, and the impact of that is…?
Oh, right. The endless, pointless questioning.
Again (for the final time): “it’s a loss of face”.
@sonofrojblake
So if you had the opportunity, you would shake their hands ?
Sometimes we do things that we want to do and we have to do -- it doesnt matter if it made a difference or not to these cowards
@Holms
Which drop fills the bucket ?
Apparently, two questions is “endless” and asking John to explain how this constitutes loss of face is “pointless”. I think I may agree with the latter.
Very funny to see this from the blog’s own nitpicker-in-chief.
Deepak, does the skipped handshake even constitute a drop in a bucket? I would suggest the diminished public standing came from McConnell and McCarthy’s support of the coup attempt.
@ Holms
It’s a projections thing. Morales can’t conceive of a person not craving external validation because he’s never personally experienced it.
[meta]
https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2022/09/12/walking-away-from-endless-arguments/
@Holms
Why couldn’t it be both ? In a way they are 2 different things -- The handshake is a common lay person snubbing a person in power. It has meaning to them , but it also speaks to some of us.
I believe you have cause and effect switched. The cause of lost respect for them was their providing cover for the coup attempt; the snubbed handshake is the effect.