Silly Season

Please take this as a well-meant warning. We are entering that time of the political cycle when all sorts of absurdities will be emanating from Capitol Hill, with associated effluvia.

The reason I’m warning you is that it’s quite possible you might die laughing if you don’t get sick first.

We’re now in that mad rush time in the two-year election cycle that really marks the last time before November that anything can get done on the Hill. The mad rush is in full swing between now and the beginning of July, at which point those of our esteemed representatives running for office start chowing down at every picnic they can get an invite to, picking up every baby within reach and uttering those cooing, soothing mews that invariably translate into “Send me back to Washington.”

This year, what I call the silly season will undoubtedly be even sillier than usual because there’s so much discontent around the country and our representatives feel it from their disgruntled constituents every time they go back to their home districts.

First, Republican representatives and senators in many parts of the country are verging on panic because President Bush is so widely unpopular in every single poll taken outside the confines of Crawford, Texas. That he has essentially been the Republican Party for five years makes it that much more difficult for them to distance themselves from him.

Second, gasoline prices that have accelerated faster than a Maserati really have our politicians going on all cylinders. So those folks on Capitol Hill, not to mention the White House, who have been super friendly to Big Oil are feeling the heat, so to speak.

And it was here that we got the first real belly laugh of the silly season. You remember that idea that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist floated for a $100 rebate check to practically every man, woman and child in the country, whether they drove or not.