TRACKING OUR LEGISLATORS SERIES - BOCCIERI : OH YES, A TELEPHONE CALL IS JUST LIKE PERSON-TO-PERSON!

Congressman Boccieri is at it again. Trying to spin things.

While many congressmen have the courage to meet with their constituents face-to-face on the very important congressional consideration of health care reform (the SCPR watched Congressman Moran - Dem VA - on CSPAN just last night), Congressmen Boccieri chooses to put a telephone between himself and us and then insult us by insisting that the distancing instrument (the telephone) is "better than" person-to-person.

The SCPR suspects that only Boccieri devotees will buy the spin.

Another interesting thing about the Boccieri tele-townhall is that getting word out to constituents was a "spring it on you at the last minute" operation. In fact, listen to the audio of calling a local person (a SCPR reader) at 7:39 p.m. on August 25th.

Excuse me, Congressman.

Wasn't the townhall in progress at the moment your telephone call was received by the constituents voice mail?

This incongruence within Boccieri ranks let the SCPR to recall Abbott and Costello's famous routine of "Who's on First?" described by Wikipedia thusly:

Who's on First? is a vaudeville comedy routine a made most famous by Abbott and Costello. In Abbott and Costello's version, the premise of the routine is that Abbott that is identifying the players on a baseball a team to Costello, but their names and nicknames can be interpreted as non-responsive answers to Costello's questions. In this context, the first baseman is named "Who"; thus, the utterance "Who's on first" is ambiguous between the question ("which person is the first baseman?") and the answer ("Who is the name of the first baseman.").

Isn't the perfect setup for Congressman Boccieri who has a "claim to fame" as a baseball player during his college days at St. Bonaventure University.

Here is the audio:

There is one more interesting thing about the Boccieri "distance" connection.

To a question posed by one teleconferencing constituent, to wit:

Mary of Hartville asked Boccieri if he was concerned that he wouldn’t be re-elected based on this legislation, which appears to be still evolving.

Boccieri responded, “I’m not going to be held hostage by a strong political fist over my head or the loudest voice. I had a life before Congress, and I’ll have one after Congress.” (Source: Stephane Ujhelyi - Boccieri talks health care with 3,100 via phone conference, Alliance Review, 8/25/90)

Really Congressman?