Stick me up!

Watching the circus run in the House by ringmaster Boehner, I was reminded of the Mel Brooks movie, Blazing Saddles.

The basic plotline of the movie is that a bunch of villains want to get rid of the citizens of Rock Ridge so that the chief bad guy played by Harvey Korman can take over the town’s land through which the railroad wants a right of way.  Harvey sends in a gang of thugs which prompts the townsfolk to plead with the governor, played by Mel Brooks, to send a new sheriff to save their hides.

Harvey convinces Mel to pick Bart, played by the black actor Cleavon Little, a railroad worker about to be hanged, as the new sheriff in the hope that the blatantly racist townsfolk, all named Johnson,  will either abandon the town or lynch the new sheriff.

Arriving in town, Cleavon is confronted by an angry mob who he holds at bay as he points his own gun at his head and threatens to “kill the sheriff” if they don’t back off.  The seriously mentally disadvantaged townsfolk give up.

Speaker Boehner, a big fan of the movie, has apparently taken its message to heart as he hurtles through the corridors of Congress pointing a loaded gun at his own head hoping that this will bring his Tea Party inspired colleagues to heel.

What should have turned out to be a no-brainer for the party in charge has instead become a Punch and Judy show replete with pratfalls and nonsense.  I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t enjoying the performance. As an extra added attraction, Boehner has upped the ante by inviting the always delightful Bibi Netanyahu to rally the troops with stories of death and destruction while embarrassing the black guy in the Oval Office.

Boehner, during his extended time in the tanning booth, could and probably did conjure up a reasonable going forward scenario following the GOP’s crushing November victory.  Something like “we won’t shut down the government again…we’ll show the townsfolk that we can manage things…we’ll keep the heat on the black guy…we’ll take over the town in two years…and then we can do whatever we want.”

In other words, create a humble, helping and kindly diversion for two years and wait for the ultimate goal to be realized…replacing the black guy with a white one who looks and talks like a real American.  One who loves America.  Really.

Sort of like what Cleavon did in the movie. In order to misguide the villains, the sheriff creates a fake Rock Ridge, complete with replica dummies of the townsfolk. And to delay the villains arrival, he installs a toll booth on the road to the faux town that the villains need to get through. Arriving at the booth they stop and send someone back to “Get a shitload of dimes”, as the villains have neither the change to go through it, nor enough common sense to simply ride around it. Stupidity costs them as they are easily defeated just short of ultimate victory.

I can’t wait to see the sequel.