Congressman Brad Sherman

August 5, 2009

Congressman Brad Sherman
5000 Van Nuys Boulevard #420
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

RE: Political speech

Congressman Sherman,

I just saw you on the Cavuto Show. You were chattering on how bad manners at a political event are somehow anti-American.

Today’s History and Political Science tutorial begins with a quote from 26 centuries ago.

“Free men speak with free tongues”

Further, it is in the nature of American politics for there to be plethora of brush back pitches and, every now and then, one in the ear.

Edmund Burke would not recognize my analogies but he would recognize and indentify with the sentiment.

John Adams gave us the Alien and Sedition Act. Would you like that to temper the passions at the Teabag gatherings about Health Care? 3 years after said Act we had the campaign of 1800. It was the dirtiest Presidential campaign ever. Nothing since has even approached it.

The Democratic Party and its handmaiden the New York Times acquiesced in calling Abraham Lincoln a “baboon”. Since they supported a negotiated settlement with the South would it be unfair of me to say that they both supported slavery?

Who, if anyone, benefited from the Palmer Raids?

HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee, was the creature of Democratic House. It was supported by a Democratic President. Whatever else it did we can stipulate that the presumption of innocence and due process – you went to law school, didn’t you? – were never high on its list of things to protect.

It is part of the warp and woof of American political DNA for people to shout and curse, to vent passionately, to push the edges of the envelope, and to exercise the rights “that are ours from beyond the stars”.

President Bush was regularly called a war criminal. He was compared to Adolph Hitler. The Republic survived.


The noble sentence begins with “Congress shall make no law…” The “penumbras” and their cousins, the wily “emanations”, give us the right to be a pain in the ass. Not just a pain in the ass but an obnoxiously nasty pain in the ass.

As my friend, the noted sportsman and restaurateur, the legendary Big Mike from Bayonne always says, “That’s why you never see anybody swimming to Cuba”.

Is it true that the White House has established an e-mail address so that Americans can rat out their neighbors? Anyone who does not offer complete obeisance to Lord Barack the Beneficent, and blessed be his name, would be liable to being tossed down the “slippery slope” of “chilling effects”. What has happened to the modern American Liberal tradition of not “Naming Names”? I guess it depends on whose name is being named.

Who thought we could learn from Hugo Chavez?




Kevin Smith



PS – I just accessed you website to get your address. Who says Elbridge Gerry is dead? The map of your district shows that he is alive and well, particularly when Democrats control the state legislature. Also, your performance qualifies you to earn the first honor in my power to bestow. You are named a

HORSE’S ASS OF THE WEEK.

Many benefits come with this high honor. It is expected that you will continue to earn them.