民主黨人患了SARS
Back in the 1950s the Demo-cratic Party was striving to expand the modern welfare state that had been founded during the administra-tion of President Franklin Roosevelt 20 years earlier. Certain Republicans criticized GOP①legislators in Congress for being too willing not just to cooperate with Democrats, but to follow their lead. Critics derided such lawmakers as "me too" Republi-cans because whenever the Democrats announced that they wanted to create a new social pro-gram, these politicians allegedly replied, "Me too!"
According to Stuart Carlson, this situation has now been reversed. As Republicans lead the war effort in Washington and push to reduce taxes despite the impact of a tax cut on the budget deficit or social spending, many Americans wonder what has happened to the Democrats. Why are they not challenging the Republicans more boldly? Stuart Carlson depicts the Democratic Party as a nervous donkey holding up a sign that says "Me, too!"
Carlson has a diagnosis to offer: the Dems are suffering from "SARS" - only he means not a rampant form of pneumonia but the dreaded "Simpering Acquiescence to Republicans Syndrome". And Dr Carlson kindly posts a list of symptoms in his "health alert". Chi-nese readers will find all except the last self-explanatory. In English, public officials, corporate executives and the like are said to "cover their tails" when they take steps to avoid criticism. The idea is that a soldier is aware of what is happening in front of him, but much less so of what is approaching from the rear. He needs to pay attention to what lies in back of him if he wants to avoid surprise attacks.
Bold action always draws criticism. If legislators are always "covering their tails", then they're probably more worried about the consequences of acting than about the consequences of doing nothing. And what has doing nothing ever achieved in politics?
退回到上個(gè)世紀(jì)50年代，美國(guó)的民主黨曾竭力發(fā)展現(xiàn)代的福利國(guó)家體系，該體系是早在20年以前羅斯福總統(tǒng)執(zhí)政期間所創(chuàng)立的。當(dāng)時(shí)某些共和黨人批評(píng)國(guó)會(huì)中的共和黨議員不僅過分地與民主黨人合作，而且還聽他們領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。這些批評(píng)家們嘲笑這樣的議員是“Me too”(我也這樣想)共和黨人，因?yàn)橹灰裰鼽h人宣稱他們打算推出一種新的社會(huì)福利項(xiàng)目，據(jù)說這些政客們就會(huì)說“Me too”。
根據(jù)漫畫家斯圖爾特-卡爾森的觀點(diǎn)，這種情況如今顛倒過來了。當(dāng)共和黨人在華盛頓領(lǐng)導(dǎo)著對(duì)伊拉克的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)全局，而且推行著減稅政策時(shí)(盡管減稅對(duì)預(yù)算赤字和社會(huì)福利支出都造成了沖擊)，很多美國(guó)人在想，民主黨人都怎么了？為什么他們不能更大膽地向共和黨人的政策提出挑戰(zhàn)？卡爾森把民主黨描畫成一只神經(jīng)緊張的驢，它舉著一個(gè)牌子，上面寫著“Me, too！”
卡爾森還給出了診斷：民主黨人得了SARS--此處他可不是指當(dāng)今流行的非典型性肺炎，而是可怕的“對(duì)共和黨人賠笑默許綜合癥”(該短語的英文縮寫也是SARS)?？柹搬t(yī)生”還好心地在他的“健康警告”中列出了一系列“SARS”的癥狀。中國(guó)的讀者會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，除了最后一項(xiàng)這些癥狀都是一看便知的。下面就說說最后一項(xiàng)。在英語中，當(dāng)政府官員、公司總裁以及其他類似群體的人為了避免批評(píng)而采取某種措施時(shí)就會(huì)被說成是在“保護(hù)*”。這個(gè)短語的原意是士兵知道在他前方發(fā)生了什么，但對(duì)于后面有什么正在逼近就知道得少多了。若要避免遭到突然襲擊，就得留意后面。
勇敢的行為總會(huì)招致批評(píng)。如果議員們總是“保護(hù)*”，那么，就采取行動(dòng)與不采取行動(dòng)所產(chǎn)生的兩種后果而言，他們恐怕就會(huì)更憂慮前者了。但在政治上無聲無息又取得了什么呢？
健康警告！
SARS(對(duì)共和黨人賠笑默許綜合癥)繼續(xù)困擾國(guó)會(huì)山
癥狀如下:
★聲帶麻痹
★脊椎軟化到酸奶似的程度
★在被問及任何有關(guān)愛國(guó)主義的問題時(shí)都會(huì)大汗淋漓
★條件反射般地用枕頭或其它軟物保護(hù)*
Back in the 1950s the Demo-cratic Party was striving to expand the modern welfare state that had been founded during the administra-tion of President Franklin Roosevelt 20 years earlier. Certain Republicans criticized GOP①legislators in Congress for being too willing not just to cooperate with Democrats, but to follow their lead. Critics derided such lawmakers as "me too" Republi-cans because whenever the Democrats announced that they wanted to create a new social pro-gram, these politicians allegedly replied, "Me too!"
According to Stuart Carlson, this situation has now been reversed. As Republicans lead the war effort in Washington and push to reduce taxes despite the impact of a tax cut on the budget deficit or social spending, many Americans wonder what has happened to the Democrats. Why are they not challenging the Republicans more boldly? Stuart Carlson depicts the Democratic Party as a nervous donkey holding up a sign that says "Me, too!"
Carlson has a diagnosis to offer: the Dems are suffering from "SARS" - only he means not a rampant form of pneumonia but the dreaded "Simpering Acquiescence to Republicans Syndrome". And Dr Carlson kindly posts a list of symptoms in his "health alert". Chi-nese readers will find all except the last self-explanatory. In English, public officials, corporate executives and the like are said to "cover their tails" when they take steps to avoid criticism. The idea is that a soldier is aware of what is happening in front of him, but much less so of what is approaching from the rear. He needs to pay attention to what lies in back of him if he wants to avoid surprise attacks.
Bold action always draws criticism. If legislators are always "covering their tails", then they're probably more worried about the consequences of acting than about the consequences of doing nothing. And what has doing nothing ever achieved in politics?
退回到上個(gè)世紀(jì)50年代，美國(guó)的民主黨曾竭力發(fā)展現(xiàn)代的福利國(guó)家體系，該體系是早在20年以前羅斯福總統(tǒng)執(zhí)政期間所創(chuàng)立的。當(dāng)時(shí)某些共和黨人批評(píng)國(guó)會(huì)中的共和黨議員不僅過分地與民主黨人合作，而且還聽他們領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。這些批評(píng)家們嘲笑這樣的議員是“Me too”(我也這樣想)共和黨人，因?yàn)橹灰裰鼽h人宣稱他們打算推出一種新的社會(huì)福利項(xiàng)目，據(jù)說這些政客們就會(huì)說“Me too”。
根據(jù)漫畫家斯圖爾特-卡爾森的觀點(diǎn)，這種情況如今顛倒過來了。當(dāng)共和黨人在華盛頓領(lǐng)導(dǎo)著對(duì)伊拉克的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)全局，而且推行著減稅政策時(shí)(盡管減稅對(duì)預(yù)算赤字和社會(huì)福利支出都造成了沖擊)，很多美國(guó)人在想，民主黨人都怎么了？為什么他們不能更大膽地向共和黨人的政策提出挑戰(zhàn)？卡爾森把民主黨描畫成一只神經(jīng)緊張的驢，它舉著一個(gè)牌子，上面寫著“Me, too！”
卡爾森還給出了診斷：民主黨人得了SARS--此處他可不是指當(dāng)今流行的非典型性肺炎，而是可怕的“對(duì)共和黨人賠笑默許綜合癥”(該短語的英文縮寫也是SARS)?？柹搬t(yī)生”還好心地在他的“健康警告”中列出了一系列“SARS”的癥狀。中國(guó)的讀者會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，除了最后一項(xiàng)這些癥狀都是一看便知的。下面就說說最后一項(xiàng)。在英語中，當(dāng)政府官員、公司總裁以及其他類似群體的人為了避免批評(píng)而采取某種措施時(shí)就會(huì)被說成是在“保護(hù)*”。這個(gè)短語的原意是士兵知道在他前方發(fā)生了什么，但對(duì)于后面有什么正在逼近就知道得少多了。若要避免遭到突然襲擊，就得留意后面。
勇敢的行為總會(huì)招致批評(píng)。如果議員們總是“保護(hù)*”，那么，就采取行動(dòng)與不采取行動(dòng)所產(chǎn)生的兩種后果而言，他們恐怕就會(huì)更憂慮前者了。但在政治上無聲無息又取得了什么呢？
健康警告！
SARS(對(duì)共和黨人賠笑默許綜合癥)繼續(xù)困擾國(guó)會(huì)山
癥狀如下:
★聲帶麻痹
★脊椎軟化到酸奶似的程度
★在被問及任何有關(guān)愛國(guó)主義的問題時(shí)都會(huì)大汗淋漓
★條件反射般地用枕頭或其它軟物保護(hù)*