It Pays to Be a Man of the People

Regarding the Garrison Keillor/Martin Sabo hijacking of the charity event last Sunday, I fully disclose I was in attendance at the Orchestra Hall that night. Such are the requirements of being a part-time member of the cultural elite.

Aside from the content of Sabo's poem, I must say paying $30 for the ticket and watching a rusting party machine hack with zero personality get up to do a prolonged reading was enough to get the terror started early. Nice call by the sponsors of this show, who seemed to forget the small fact that the audience was there for *entertainment* purposes. What's up for next year, Mae Schunk reading out of the Burnsville white pages?

When Sabo started his plodding diatribe on how Republicans lie, cheat, and steal, only my sense of propriety in this civilized setting prevented me from responding in the manner this garbage called for. Although I did hear the most muffled hint of catcalling and booing (some of which came from the person in my seat). Ultimately Minnesota Nice prevailed in Orchestra Hall. Sabo got mild courtesy tittering at his nasty one-liners and the bitter old partisan hack got a polite round of applause the end.

Keillor then made a big deal about how Sabo was a "man of the people" and was going to live among us the peasants back in the Twin Cities in his retirement. Just don't expect to welcome back Marty at a Twins game this summer, this man of the people will have much better seats than you:

Keillor presented him with tickets for he and his wife to attend six Twins games, seated "just behind home plate."

The perfect gift for the man who has everything:

Today, a sitting lawmaker who retires at age 60 with 15 or 20 years of service will likely collect at least a million dollars in inflation-compensated lifetime pension benefits. Some will collect four or even five times that amount.

Follow that link above for the entire story about the appallingly generous benefits received by our public servants. Then shudder some more when thinking of the value of a Congressional pension once Keith Ellison retires in 30 years.