How Impolite. How Ungrateful.

Kevin McCarthy (secretly?) gave extreme amounts of video recordings from 1/6/21 to Tucker Carlson.  It's beyond my ability to guess why on earth McCarthy would have done that.  But Carlson and his lackeys pored over the tapes, and they extracted a couple of very short segments that seemed to show people who were not government officials milling around in the Capitol building.  And during those very short segments, it appeared as if none of these people was doing anything wrong (apart from the fact that they were there, unauthorized, and not part of a tour).  Carlson did admit that some people that day were "hooligans," but he suggested that most were just these well-behaved and curious visitors.

A year or so ago, someone else excusing the 1/6 events said the non-government intruders were basically...tourists.  And that person didn't say anyone was a "hooligan," or causing any trouble.

You kind of had to be in your own orbit not to recognize, and be overwhelmed by, the violence of the intrusion, and the destruction done that day.  Neither Carlson nor anyone else who offered to excuse this has explained how some people wound up dead.

But the question is this.  If all these intrigued, perhaps appreciative, people were there, immersing themselves in the splendor that is the US government in its Capitol, where were the electeds?  There must have been members of the House of Representatives and Senators in the building.  They had a big and important meeting scheduled that day.  The Vice President was in that building (he led the meeting), and he was shown being whisked away.  It's unclear if he knew about the "Hang Mike Pence" signs outside, but if he did, he must have misunderstood them to have been hostile, and to have meant there was any possibility of danger to him.  Pence might have not have realized that "Hang Mike Pence" is affectionate and appreciative, sort of like "Bless His Heart."   The President had just given a speech there, and was very close by, for hours.  Why were they all scurrying away, escorted by Capitol police?  Why didn't the President hurry right back, to bask among the crowd of people who were no doubt there to bask in his presence?  He was only a few minutes away.  He wasn't busy with anything else.  He was watching all of this unfold on TV.  Every one of these electeds should have come right down, to mingle with their constituents -- these visitors and tourists -- to thank them for the confidence they had in them, the support they showed by voting for them, and the income.  (They do cash the checks, right?)

In fact, all the Supreme Cout Justices could have popped over, too.  And even Tucker Carlson.  Maybe someone would have broken out wine and cheese, and passed hors d'oeuvres.  You don't get a gathering like that every day.

What's to fear from visitors and tourists?  Every government official from both major parties seemed to think this was a dangerous situation.  At least they acted as if they thought that.  And so did the Capitol police.  How could they all have so completely misunderstood?  I bet all those visitors and tourists were disappointed not to have had the opportunity to shake a hand or get an autograph.  Presumably, that's what they were there for.  Is that what happened?  Did they get frustrated because they didn't get to meet their heroes, every one of whom was skulking away, as if it wouldn't have been a pleasure and great fun to interact with the public?   They would have had all day: a quick vote to certify an election, the result of which was that the majority of voters got what they wanted (we love that!), and it's party time.  What a foolishly missed, and patriotic, opportunity for all.