Tragedy Should Remind Us All: Politicians are People, too
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, January 8, 2011
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4 comments
The headline sentiment struck me as I was watching Arizona Governor Jan Brewer speak earlier today. I was struck how, at that moment, it wasn’t about labels or policy debate, but about Brewer speaking about a colleague from work who had been shot. It is a simple, human fact.
This fact is further underscored by this NYT piece about Giffords’ wedding: Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly .
As a husband, my heart goes out to Mark Kelly.
h/t: Ben Smith’s Twitter feed.
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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It’s nice that Jan Brewer is able to feel normal human emotions about a woman she knows and has worked with, It’s a tragedy — and all too typical of the right-wing mindset — that she is only able to feel those emotions about a woman she knows and has worked with. The 98 citizens of her state she has condemned to agonizing death because she refuses to fund the transplant system are of no concern to her whatsoever, just desert trash to be swept away.
That, too, is a simple, human fact.
I wonder what’s going through her husband’s mind? He’s the one with the dangerous job.
@Janis:
I had a similar thought.
Many sociopaths like those who end up in political office are quite good at pretending to experience real human emotion.