If Not Now, When?
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President Barack Obama wipes his eye as he speaks soon after about the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Not much needs to be said, but Mike Lupica nails it in a scathing reply to Pols after it became clear that an assault rifle ban won't be included in pending gun legislation:
“If Sandy Hook Elementary doesn’t make every member of Congress take a stand against assault weapons in this country, then what does? How many small coffins do we need the next time?”
The part that continues to annoy me about stories like these is the continued dysfunction of the US Senate that George Packer so eloquently covered in the New Yorker article "The Empty Chamber." I have no problem with Senators voting "No" on bills, or amendments, or cabinet appointees, or judge appointees, etc. They have the right to vote their conscience. But their JOB is to take votes. And it's endlessly frustrating that members of Congress can so effortlessly slither their way out of taking tough votes.
