Three-piece thugs

Opinion

There is a long list of right-wing Republican stuff that I really don’t get.

Like, why was it necessary for Gucci-shoed men from Western Pennsylvania’s largest law firms and brokerage houses to show up at a recent press conference and perform like hungry pit bulls.

The press conference was called by Republican State Treasurer Barbara Hafer to announce her endorsement of Democrat Ed Rendell, former Philadelphia mayor, for governor.

Not a pleasant development for the Pennsylvania Republican Party, which has more money than Bill Gates and control of all three branches of the state’s government. They have never had it so good, especially their lawyers.

So why is it necessary for them to scream profanities beginning with “B,” push and shove like they’re at a Penn State football game, menace attendees en route to the press conference and generally threaten the public safety? It was reminiscent of the scene broadcast from the Florida Board of Elections in 2000, when well-groomed thugs driving SUVs attacked workers counting the vote.

I thought all the kneecappers dropped out of school in the sixth grade, skimmed fins off the top, lacked a permanent address, worked from stools bolted to tile floors and only showed up on the police blotter. Aren’t these folks supposed to be educated, pulling down six- or seven-figure incomes, live in the “good neighborhoods,” work in deep-pile carpeted offices and glide across the society pages of the local press?

Are the professional colleges now only admitting students from the World Wrestling Federation or trash-talking NFL cornerbacks?

Then it turns out that the lawyer who was trying to swindle the heroic miners of Quequenessing, Pa., lives in my community. There goes the neighborhood.

It is no wonder that when I walk home from the bus stop after dark, I cross to the other side of the street when I see a group of men in three-piece suits carrying briefcases.

Denise Winebrenner Edwards is a member of the People’s Weekly World Editorial Board. She can be reached at dwinebr696@aol.com

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CONTRIBUTOR

Conn Hallinan

Conn Hallinan is a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus. A retired journalism professor, he previously was an editor of People's World when it was a West Coast publication.