Robert Kaiser, an associate editor of The Washington Post, and a former managing editor (second banana) from 1991 to 1998, bubbled over with praise in a Sunday book review for ultraliberal Rep. Henry Waxman. The headline was "Moustache of Justice."
Kaiser compared Waxman to baseball star Ted Williams and biblical hero King David, and offered his heartfelt "gratitude to the voters of Beverly Hills and nearby areas who keep returning this ornery fellow to the House to challenge entrenched special interests."
The book’s title is simply The Waxman Report, authored by Waxman and Joshua Green (the reporter who exposed Bill Bennett’s gambling habit). Kaiser began with a flourish:
Henry Waxman is to Congress what Ted Williams was to baseball -- a natural. As you read this nicely proportioned, fast- paced book, you realize that Waxman was born to be a member of the House, ideally the chairman of an important committee. He's just five-feet-five, he's woefully short of hair, he's neither charming nor funny, but none of that has mattered. Waxman has been one of the most effective members of Congress for 35 years.
A few sentences later, Waxman is David slaying Goliath:
This is the voice of David, whose career has featured the slaying of one Goliath after another. That is the theme of this book, which in fact does not explain "how Congress really works," but rather tells engaging stories about how Henry Waxman has made Congress work, sometimes, for the causes he has embraced.
One of those causes was AIDS, and Kaiser paints a picture of "homophobic" conservatives opposing teenagers who acquired AIDS through a transfusion:
Waxman's personal accomplishments are impressive. With symbolic support from Ryan White, a 13-year-old who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion, Waxman pushed federal aid for victims of the disease through Congress, over ferocious, homophobic opposition from conservative members.
If that sounds like a caricature of reality, you would be right. As even liberal reporters Chris Bull and John Gallagher explained in their book Perfect Enemies,
With the exception of funding for sexually explicit AIDS prevention measures, which were often blocked by congressional conservatives, the lobbyists coaxed large outlays of federal funding to combat the disease, especially in the 1987 Ryan White Care Act, which provided billions of dollars in aid to cities hard hit.
Conservatives like Sen. Jesse Helms were active in seeking to prevent explicit promotion of homosexuality from getting federal funding through the fast-flowing spigot of AIDS funding. That did not mean conservatives opposed funding for AIDS sufferers.
Kaiser concluded:
"The Waxman Report" explains, at least, how Congress can work, and it is fun to read. You finish it with gratitude to the voters of Beverly Hills and nearby areas who keep returning this ornery fellow to the House to challenge entrenched special interests. More Henry Waxmans on both sides of the aisle would give us a much better Congress than the one we've got.
Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times also loved the book in a July 1 review: "If your plans for the long Independence Day weekend incline toward thoughts on the state of the nation, skip all the patriotic kitsch and read this book." But Rutten couldn’t help but get kitschy about liberalism:
Most of all, there's a persuasive declaration of faith in that particular brand of liberalism that the late Arthur Schlesinger called "the politics of remedy." As Waxman puts it, "In Boyle Heights, everyone thought of government as an institution that helped people."
As this heartfelt, important little book will remind its readers, there's a lot to be said for the faith of our fathers.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Give me a break and Oh
July 5, 2009 - 19:30 ET by bigtimerGive me a break and Oh puhleeze...!
Duct-tape time....if you're out of that....barf-bags will have to do.
Simply unbelievable.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
bt, I have stopped using duct tape and barf bags.
July 5, 2009 - 22:13 ET by R D HelmLOL-I have moved up to 6-mil thick contractor-sized cleanup bags.
-Dave
"Obama's health care 'reform' plan is to blow up the building in order to fix a leak in the roof." - Herman Cain
Dave... Hey...whatever
July 5, 2009 - 22:21 ET by bigtimerDave...
Hey...whatever works!
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Henry Waxman is really Bat Boy
July 5, 2009 - 22:41 ET by jefflebowskiAngry White Dude has scientific and photographic proof showing once and for all that Henry Waxman is the adult Bat Boy found in West Virginia caves. Here is the article:
http://angrywhitedud...
Is that why...
July 6, 2009 - 09:27 ET by heldmywThey call him "Nose-feratu"?
"Challenge
July 5, 2009 - 19:33 ET by UpNorthentrenched special interests"? The mustache never met a special interest he couldn't get in bed with!! "Give us a much better congress than the one we've got"? No, not at all, it would give us a congress much worse than the one we have now, and that would really take some doing.
UN... Nostrilitus hasn't
July 5, 2009 - 19:43 ET by bigtimerUN...
Nostrilitus hasn't met a lobbyist he couldn't get in bed with is about right...with the exception of the NRA...for starters right off the top of my head.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Robert Kaiser is the
July 5, 2009 - 19:42 ET by TERobert Kaiser is the Washington Post political activist/wishful thinking useful idiot, who on May 26, 2000, on the front page of the Washington Post, found and promoted six equally leftist "political scientists" who asserted that "Gore [would] win 53 to 60 percent of the [two-party] vote."
California dreaming
July 5, 2009 - 19:43 ET by pgrossjrone of the reasons it is hard to sympathize with California and its current plight is that its citizens continue to elect these cartoon figures to public office. And I am not just speaking of Henry's clownish appearance. Consider, Boxer, Pelosi and the always hilarious Maxine Waters. The State House and Governor make New Yorks current situation look nearly normal.
Seriously, they must import candidates from New Jersey of alternatively failed candidates for Detroit city council.
Wax Dummy
July 5, 2009 - 19:49 ET by Forbus"More Henry Waxmans"...there's a thought to help you go to sleep tonight.
It Has Come To Pass
July 5, 2009 - 19:52 ET by DoktorFrankenMy bird refuses to poop on the WaPo and even dead fish would rather be wrapped in anything else.
Now Entering the Twilight Zone
July 5, 2009 - 19:56 ET by sic721The signpost up ahead says,
Waxman's parents
heh heh heh, can't resist.
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within."-Cicero
Hey!!!
July 5, 2009 - 20:02 ET by DoktorFrankenWhere's Elly May???
Waxman and the nose on his face
July 5, 2009 - 19:59 ET by GoodieWaxman has been the most dangerous political figure for the distruction of the US. It is amazing that the MSM never will hold him accountable for not doing his job. He introduces destructive legislation while his state CA is in a spiral toward the Mexican Govt taken over CA.
O's last day 1-20-2012
Sources
July 5, 2009 - 20:09 ET by KC MulvilleYes, it happens everyday that an objective reporter goes overboard in praise for a power-mad committee chairman. Other reporters might use their squawking perch to obtain favors, but I'm sure this reporter was doing so out of pure admiration.
Riigghttttt.
You want to rethink that Kaiser?
July 5, 2009 - 21:05 ET by Red Jeep"Kaiser ... offered his heartfelt 'gratitude to the voters of
Beverly Hills and nearby areas who keep returning this ornery fellow to
the House to challenge entrenched special interests.'"
Voters had no choice in 2008. Henry ran unopposed. No one could vote the bum out. Redistricting many years ago assured Henry of a safe seat.
Waxman IS an entrenched
July 5, 2009 - 22:54 ET by NL207Waxman IS an entrenched special interest.
Waxman the hack!
July 5, 2009 - 21:55 ET by pbthinkerI've watched Henry Waxman for years and have always considered him little more than a partisan hack. He doesn't draft bipartisan legislation, he drafts legislation then lords over it and forces it down your throat. 300 pages at 3 a.m., no surprise when it comes to Waxman. Complaining because the Minority Leader actually wants to let someone know what's there, no unusual. Being proud of himself for pushing through a piece of crap like this, well that's Waxman.
Now, for the Washington Post to just love this guy, well we know what they think of publishing and have coffee klatches with the White House and reporters and editorial staff and lobbyist, in short it's not unusual.
The fact that Californians can re-elect this guy year after year just goes to prove why they're going down the tubes, they just keep electing those Democrats who've spent them into bankruptcy and send them to Congress to do the same to the whole country.
Just imagine when these voters realize that the Democrats of California haven't picked their pockets enough, now one of their own has just passed a plan for the federal government to do the same thing.
Election 2008-God's way of showing us that elections count.
Henry Waxman is doing nothing but rapidly accelerating...
July 5, 2009 - 22:15 ET by R D Helm...the destruction of America as we know it.
-Dave
"Obama's health care 'reform' plan is to blow up the building in order to fix a leak in the roof." - Herman Cain
→ Right on RD
July 5, 2009 - 22:26 ET by Cool ArrowBut he was a great sidekick on Beakman's World.
Ted Williams was a Republican. Only a total idiot...
July 5, 2009 - 22:30 ET by jawebster1would compare tall, dark (half Hispanic) and handsome Ted Williams with short, pasty and ugly Henry Waxman. Jim Webster
Yutt
July 5, 2009 - 22:48 ET by well99I would like to see him make that comment in a Boston bar.
Lol w99... ...or a Big
July 5, 2009 - 22:58 ET by bigtimerLol w99...
...or a Big Sky bar for that matter.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
BT
July 6, 2009 - 00:10 ET by well99He wouldnt last long.Even where I live there is alot of Red Sox fans.
What the heck is it about
July 6, 2009 - 00:04 ET by RR GOPWhat the heck is it about the Left Coast, New England and cities throughout the country in general that elect knuckleheads like this? Do they put something in the water? Do people in these places get more government handouts than elsewhere? What is it?
I get a kick out of the Libtards trying to portray guys like President Bush, Reagan, Nixon and others as hardcore, ultra-right, Nazi/Fascists.
Guys marching around in black shirts like Sir Oswald Moseley's little group would cause me great concern and I'm pretty far to the right by all accounts...plus, I took a test that says so! ;-)
But looking as objectively as possible, the extremists are truly on the Left. We don't have, and probably never have had any real ultra-right conservatives in our government. What we do have are moderate conservatives, RINOs and the like. They aren't ideological...they don't strike me as being all that patriotic or Christian. All they care about is getting rich and helping their buddies do the same.
On the other hand, I cannot recall Republicans being a pain in the American people's rear to the extent of the Leftists. Republicans don't generally dream up new 'programs' and such, but they do have an annoying knack of continuing Liberal programs when they're in power and have the uncanny ability to line up at the Taxation Trough when they get the chance, that is, when the Libtards clear the way. Guess they figure we won't notice...and most of the time we don't.
40 % of the earmarks that went through recently were spawned by Repubs. Disgraceful. The point being, we have no real conservative leadership and that's not the MSM's fault.
We may just have to suck it up and realize that what started with the influx of European Communist immigrants back in 1848 has made it so that they can indeed take over now.
Like I've said elsewhere, Conservatives of a hundred years ago would laugh at those of us that call ourselves Conservatives today. We've all been brainwashed by the Communists to some extent from childhood on up, and they've guilted us into accepting a lot of their BS because it sounds kinda like Christianity or what our Founding Fathers would have wanted.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).
I know I shouldn't
July 6, 2009 - 02:10 ET by kwbrownie2003I know I shouldn't criticize someone on their looks and should just stick to the issues, but man! This dude is one of the most aggressively ugly (as well as stupid) people in the universe.
Waxman will be remembered
July 6, 2009 - 02:33 ET by marvlWaxman will be remembered as the ugliest politician of all time. Indeed, I have my doubts that his father was from the planet earth. My theory is that his mother was abducted by aliens and impregnated on their mothership.
Comparing him to anything other than the back end of a horse is a total absurdity.
Re aliens
July 6, 2009 - 09:28 ET by slickwillie2001I watched Men in Black II last night, and I was thinking at the time that Waxman could have been one of the alien creatures. If he ever loses his safe seat, he has a big future in sci-fi movies. Imagine him in a role similar to Vincent D'Onofrio's in MIB I.
Waxman is one of many reasons California
July 6, 2009 - 08:31 ET by JIMMY1660is going down the tubes. Businesses leaving -many successful folks leaving due to high taxes and foolish issues. Good Job.High praise for failure. Typical Dimocrats BS
BHO- THE PROGRESSIVE PIRATE -Flies and rats now in the White House.
jessieH
July 6, 2009 - 10:08 ET by jessieHjessieH Waxman & Pelosi did such a wonderfull job destroying California, Kaiser would have them do the same to the rest of the country. Is that what WE want? What WE need to do is get rid of most of the congressmen, and some of the senate.
"These things must be done delicately"
July 6, 2009 - 18:13 ET by Redrowan2000My gut feeling is that if Ted Williams saw Waxman on fire and burning to a crisp he wouldn't waste his urine on him to put the wastrel out.
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Red
"These things must be done delicately"
July 6, 2009 - 18:13 ET by Redrowan2000My gut feeling is that if Ted Williams saw Waxman on fire and burning to a crisp he wouldn't waste his urine on him to put the wastrel out.
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Red
"These things must be done delicately"
July 6, 2009 - 18:13 ET by Redrowan2000My gut feeling is that if Ted Williams saw Waxman on fire and burning to a crisp he wouldn't waste his urine on him to put the wastrel out.
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Red
Waxman - Williams?
July 7, 2009 - 05:12 ET by GalvanicSo, Henry Waxman is to Congress what Ted Williams was to baseball?
Okay, then let's cut off his head and freeze it.