Orientals?!?

It's good to see that Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., is trying to talk down the outburst that got him into rhetorical trouble this week, because I'm still trying to figure out exactly what point he thinks he was trying to make.

What is it about town halls that Bost ...

Bost, it seems, is in the same category as Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., who has come under fire from local constituents of his DuPage County-based district for not really wanting to show up for "town hall" type gatherings.

BOST, WHO REPRESENTS Southern Illinois, tries offering up similar explanations as Roskam as to how such sessions usually turn into shouting matches and don't result in the spread of information.

But Bost managed to come up with colorful-enough coloquialisms to manage to get himself some national attention -- something that Roskam never managed to do for himself.

As Bost put it, "You know the cleansing that the Orientals used to do where you'd put one person out in front and 900 people yell at them? That's not what we need. We need to have meetings with people that are productive."

Huh?

BOST HAS SINCE said he had no malicious intent and "regrets" that his words distracted from the point he was trying to make -- one that I'd actually agree with. Those "town hall" forums rarely are worth anything, because in many cases they're so heavily staged by their organizers to create the impression of a discussion without anything actually being said.

Which, to me, makes it seem like pols such as Roskam and Bost are not competent enough to control their message, so they'd rather stay in circumstances where they could get away with saying nothing.

Perhaps they're merely following that old maxiom; "If you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all."

I'm sure Bost wants to think of this issue as resolved so we can now move on. But I'm still trying to figure out the point of his imagery -- and not only because I didn't think anybody still used the word "Orientals" instead of "Asians."

... and Roskam seem to despise?

DOES HE REALLY envision himself as having a batch of crazed zealots jabbering away at him in a language he can't comprehend and probably thinks is little more than jibberish?

Bost's aides have since said he was referrring to the moments during the Cultural Revolution of China in which non-Communists were subjected to harassment and intimidation as part of the effort by the Maoist government to erase societal traces of the opposition.

Does this make Bost some sort of ideal model, while his Southern Illinois constituents are the equivalent of the mindless Communists who were trying to brainwash those amongst themselves who hadn't yet fallen for the Cult of Chairman Mao?!?

I'd hate to think Bost thinks that little of the people he represents. It's probably just a poor choice of words from someone who's inclined to exaggerate and over-react to many things. Is he also the guy who yells and screams at the aide who managed to put the wrong mixture of creme and sugar in his coffee?

WE DO KNOW from Bost's days in the Illinois General Assembly that he is capable of outbursts. Remember back to 2011 when he was the state representative from Murphysboro who started shouting, screaming and throwing papers all over the place because he was upset that he was being asked to vote on a plan to overhaul state pensions and was going to have to rely on the analysis provided by Illinois House Republicans, rather than being able to read the bill himself.

"These damn bills that come out of here all the damn time, come out here at the last second," Bost shouted back then. Yes, you can find video of the moment on YouTube, if you care to look it up for yourself.

Bost was able to use the public attention he gained from that moment in Springfield to elevate himself to his present post on Capitol Hill. It may turn out that the nonsensical level of his latest rant will fly over the heads of many would-be voters. Some may even come out publicly and try to defend Bost; claiming any criticism of him is from overly-sensitive individuals.

Is there really something unique about Southern Illinois constituents?

Except, perhaps, for those who now are being compared to Communist zealots, when back last November they were amongst the few people in Illinois who solidly backed Donald J. Trump's presidential aspirations against Hillary Clinton. Any connection?

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