Washington Metro News

With Tax Day behind us, and with it the Tea Party rallies across the country, the question is, What's next for the one-year-old Tea Party ?
 
Tea Party protesters in Washington made clear they weren't interested in establishment Republicans showing up, and no House or Senate GOP leaders were invited. The movement isn't really organized, and isn't coalescing around a substantial number of third-party candidates. Those who split off haven't done so well. Who represents the Tea Party, and what role will its supporters play in this fall's elections?

Please note the headline is only a trick to get a Redskins lamentation past the editor of this political blog … (It worked. — Ed.)

The Washington Redskins won four games last year. By the end of the season, it was painfully obvious that they were many years away from contending for a Super Bowl. Some writers, players and fans quickly forgot all about that and instantly proclaimed the Skins contenders again when they acquired Donovan McNabb earlier this week. Do not let yourself be talked into believing Donovan McNabb can turn the Redskins into a playoff contender. The trade is not a sign of progress the Redskins are making, but a sign of their continued dysfunction.

I'm still trying to sort out the significance of those racist and homophobic actions by those Tea Party demonstrators at the Capitol this weekend. Or if there was any significance.

Instead of tea and biscuits, we got a serving of tea and bigots. And once they hurled their vile rants and expectorants — yes, one frenzied slug even spat on an African-American congressman — they became irrelevant to the healthcare debate.

Those who have lived inside the Beltway for a while know that just a couple years back, taxicabs here operated in a "zone" system. The District was divided into these sections and your fare was based on how creative your driver was in getting you from one point to another. Most of official Washington was in Zone 1.

Which brings us to the latest storm over the healthcare legislation and the gasps of outrage from Republicans because congressional Democrats are trying to grease passage with a clever parliamentary maneuver called a "self-executing" vote on the legislation. What it amounts to is one vote on the bill, not two.

"Sorry, guys.”

“We apologize."

"Sorry.” By now we're sorry we ever heard the word. From Tiger to Toyota to even D.C. City Councilman, former Mayor and nonstop delinquent Marion Barry, they're all "sorry."

You haven't seen infighting until you watch psychotherapists and argue over the DSM. That's the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ... call it "Psychobabble for Professionals.” With all the bickering over an updated version, these people could definitely use some counseling.

It could be called a "raging" controversy, but the experts want to change "Raging" to "Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Dysphoria.” A bad temper is a disorder. Can't wait to see the pharmaceutical ads for that one.

For obvious reasons, I have snow on my mind.

In between snow emergencies, I was walking to work yesterday down Pennsylvania Avenue, when I hit a predictably bad stretch of sidewalk. Except for one thing. This stretch of sidewalk was right in front of Chevy Chase Bank. For some reason, they didn’t bother to shovel their snow.

No heart attack from digging out. That was a good thing, but there was little to do but spend the weekend mostly hunkered down inside. There were no newspapers, no delivery, but who missed them? We could read them just as easily online. And then, those of us who didn't lose power had plenty of TV to help pass the time.

As the anchors and frozen reporters repeated ad nauseam what we already knew, that it sucked outside, it would not have been much of a surprise to see a crawl at the top or bottom of the screen informing that the meeting of the Global Warming Action Group had been canceled. But the weather coverage was just one of the highlights.

There's a great scene in the movie “Airplane” where the passengers, in response to a request to assume the crash position, go into complete panic mode.

That reminds me of what usually happens at the first signs of a “snow emergency” in Washington. People flock to the stores, buying food they don’t need, toilet paper they couldn’t possibly use over a weekend and a variety of others things that they probably already have in their house somewhere, which they bought during the previous snow panic.

All those who are focusing on the Tea Party movement with all its fervor for rattling the Washington cage this weekend are missing the really important event that was the main focus in D.C.

Of course that would be the big "P" party. For "Panda," of course. It too was a movement and it also involved a cage. This P party, along with a second one in Atlanta, was not just a sad farewell, but one hell of a metaphor.