The post on Sheila Jackson Lee most recent outburst of ignorance demands this follow-up post. I wouldn’t pick on this silly woman over the same incident if she had just put a paper bag over her head and laid low as a normal person would do, but then why would I expect her to do anything appropriate, ever?

First, in the original post I didn’t focus on her audience, which was raided in the comments. I didn’t because what she said about the moon (it is mostly gas and emits “unique light and energy”) and the rest of her gibberish was equally damning in any context: it would have been inexcusable if she were talking to herself. Or a lamp post. However, giving some more though to this debacle, I realize that spouting false astronomical facts to students (of Booker T. Washington High School in Houston, named after a renowned black educator who must have been spinning in his grave) was infinitely worse than if she had been talking to adults, the majority of whom, I hope, would have known she was talking nonsense. She was there to educate young minds, and instead she handicapped them. Despicable.

I also didn’t focus on the fact that Jackson Lee used to be on the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee. Wow. That’s like putting George Santos on the House ethics committee. Nancy Pelosi put Lee there. Not only was she unqualified, but she obviously didn’t learn a thing.

But what really required me to post again on this disheartening example of how unfit to govern us so many of the arrogant fools sent to Washington by civically irresponsible voters are was the Congresswoman’s statement after her disgrace. She said,

“Obviously I misspoke and meant to say the sun, but as usual, Republicans are focused on stupid things instead of stuff that really matters. What can I say, though, foolish thinkers lust for stupidity! They should be focusing on issues like prenatal care, building more affordable housing, and more reduction of student loan debt as President Joe Biden is. Also, I care more about these children who would not have experienced the eclipse in this enthusiastic manner. And, I care more about protecting the rights of women and children than engaging in this kind of senseless dialogue!”

Well.

1. She is lying. She did not “misspeak.” She didn’t mix up a couple of words, she went on and on in detail describing the moon in scientifically absurd terms. Nobody does that unless they do not have a clue what they are talking about. I have said many stupid things in my life, but I never have said something that stupid, because I’m not that stupid. There are people that stupid, but they, obviously, should not be in positions of power, and definitely should not be elected to Congress. Her claim that she misspoke reminded me (again) of an old Bob and Ray skit (no, I can’t find it online) they did on late night TV where Bob Elliot played an interviewer of a longshoreman (Ray Goulding) who had just published a thousand page history of the U.S. The interviewer protested that the book was “riddled with errors.” “Here, for example,” the increasingly perplexed interviewer sputtered, “you say that Abraham Lincoln was born in 1943 in Bailey’s Mistake, Maine!” The longshoreman shrugged, saying”Yeah, well, it was long book with a lot of stuff in it. You can’t expect me to get everything exactly right!” That’s Sheila.

2. She defaults to the “Republican pounce” dodge. But the truth is that it “really matters” that we have completely incompetent, arrogant dummies like Jackson Lee making laws and approving budgets and policies. What could matter more? Her statement literally means, “Big deal! So I don’t know what I’m talking about, and present a role model to these children of someone how will pretend to know something when I don’t and can’t even bother to do a good job faking it. “

3. The rest is a master class in deflection and rationalizations. She trots out a stunning nineteen of the latter: 1. The Golden Rationalization, or “Everybody does it”, 8. The Trivial Trap  (“No harm no foul!”), 13. The Saint’s Excuse: “It’s for a good cause,” 19. The Perfection Diversion: “Nobody’s Perfect!” or “Everybody makes mistakes!,” 20. The “Just one mistake!” Fantasy, 22. The Comparative Virtue Excuse: “There are worse things,” 27. The Victim’s Distortion, 33. The Management Shrug: “Don’t sweat the small stuff!,” 38. The Miscreant’s Mulligan or “Give him/her/them/me a break!,” 46. Zola’s Rejection, or “Don’t point fingers!,” 48. Ethics Jiu Jitsu, or “Haters Gonna Hate!,” 50. The Apathy Defense, or “Nobody Cares,” 50A.  Narcissist Ethics , or “I don’t care,” 55. The Scooby Doo Deflection, or “I should have gotten away with it!,” 57. The Universal Trump, or “Think of the children!,” 58. The Golden Rule Mutation, or “I’m all right with it!,” 61.  The Paranoid’s Blindness, or “It’s not me, it’s you,” 63. Yoo’s Rationalization or “It isn’t what it is,” and 64A. Bluto’s Mistake or “I said I was sorry!”