New Canaan Rotary Club - January 8, 2009
The distinguished, but unknown, young gentleman in our midst turned out to be Roy Riggio's son-in-law. This was a great relief to our guest speaker, Christopher Shays, who was afraid Jim Himes had shown up.
Mr. Shays gave a candid assessment of his career and the Republican Party.
He said that the Republican Party had lost its way, from the glory days of the Contract with America, when it went down the impeachment route and forgot about the issues which meant something to most Americans.
Without mentioning Iraq at any time in his speech, Mr. Shays said he could have won reelection had he only "bad-mouthed" President Bush, something his advisers had told him to do. He went so far as to pose for photo-ops with the President on trips and at the State of Union Address in 2008, which is what passes for courage in Washington.
He was surprised by the election results, and admitted that he hadn't counted on the large Obama-inspired turnout of African American voters in Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford who would not split their ticket.
Asked by a Republican Rotarian (is there any other kind?) about the presence of RINO's in Congress, Mr. Shays became quite angry, and said that he hated that term. For those who don't watch Fox cable TV, RINO means Republican In Name Only. Shays said that this demeaned the efforts of individual Congressmen to come to an honest, independent assessment of the issues they must vote on.
He is not planning on running again. Some people think he should be nominated to become the next Peace Corps director, and assignment he admitted he would like to have. He was a member of the Peace Corps in the late 1960's.
This writer was happy to see Mr. Shays so well adjusted to his defeat, and hopes that, with his genuine good will, considered judgment, and manifest friendliness, he will find a role to play in government.
John Adams
posted by Jengel199 at 10:17 PM
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