Wednesday, August 11, 2010

You Won't Have Alan Mollohan to Kick Around Anymore


Alan Mollohan, twenty-eight year congressman from West Virginia's First Dictrict, has decided to not go quietly into that electoral good night.
In a season littered with the carcasses of Democratic politicians done in by ethics issues, Congressman Mollohan has decided to go onto the offensive with a letter. He states that he is trying to explain, but ends up describing that old "vast right wing conspiracy" that Hillary Clinton loved to cite. Of course this vast right wing conspiracy includes the New York Times. He lashes out at Chris Wakim and Mike Oliverio merely for doing what aspiring politicians always do, use their opponents' weaknesses. Mollohan certainly did not hesitate to go on the attack against them. According to Hoppy Kercheval, he only left out "the Trilateral Commission" and " the Easter Bunny."
Guilty or not guilty, this is not how a gazillion term congressman wants to end his career. Were I a Mollohan supporter, I would tell him to look at the story of George Washington and his Farewell Address. Washington initially wrote a frustrated essay on his enemies and their conspiracies against him. Old friend Alexander Hamilton encouraged him to lose the anger and write a statesmanlike piece that dwelt on themes of hope and constructive criticism. Mollohan could have gone this route and sealed his legacy. Instead he wrote a piece that Republicans and Oliverio supporters could shrug off as daft and defensive.

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