Honest Abe Schock Says Farewell

Disgraced Congressman Aaron Schock (R, IL-18), who resigned to forestall an Office of Congressional Ethics investigation, compared himself to Abraham Lincoln in a farewell speech on the House floor on Thursday:

“Abraham Lincoln held this seat in Congress for one term. But few faced as many defeats in his personal business and public life as he did. His continual perseverance in the face of these trials, never giving up, is something all of us Americans should be inspired by, especially when going through a valley in life.”

Of course President Lincoln didn’t have the FBI and a grand jury investigating his possible misuse of campaign funds and taxpayer dollars.

Congressman Schock’s resignation is effective March 31st. He will be returning to his humble log cabin somewhere in the wilds of Illinois. Near a golf course, perhaps.

Related:

“Aaron Schock leaving Congress with $3.3M in campaign funds,” Chicago Tribune

“Ex-Schock aide dishes to FBI,” Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan, Politico

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The Conspirator: Wok n’ Roll Rebel

Mary Surratt: “You want rice with that?”

Robert Redford’s movie about the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, “The Conspirator,” will premiere in wide release this week. The film depicts historical events that are particularly meaningful for Washingtonians, since they all took place around here. 

The conspirators included Mary Surratt, the only woman among the ten who were tried for conspiring to kill the President. The Surratts had a farmhouse in Clinton, Maryland, which they used as a tavern. After her husband died, Mary Surratt rented it out and lived in the family’s house in the District, where she took in boarders. The DC house was where the conspirators met.

Today, you can visit the Surratt farmhouse, now a museum.  It’s near Andrews Air Force Base. And the Surratt boardinghouse? It’s at 604 H Street, NW. Try and visit at lunch time. It’s a Chinese restaurant called Wok n’ Roll.

 

See the movie, get a free tour of the Surratt House Museum Details here. And read the excellent book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson.

Image mashed-up by Mike Licht. T-Shirt from Ringleader Clothing.

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What Glenn Beck Means to DC

 

Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and thousands of their gun-totin’ pals from the National Rifle Association are coming to the Nation’s Capital on Saturday to commemorate their deeply held belief in something-or-other. The date, January 28th, is the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and the rally will be in the same place it was heard, the Lincoln Memorial. Perhaps the NRA will have T-shirts honoring Dr. King and President Lincoln, both assassinated by gunshot.

 But this weekend’s event means more than hijacked history, Tea Party antics,  and Glenn Beck’s self-promotion. To the people of Washington, the rally means closed streets, crowded subways, and paranoid Tea Party tourists. In short, just another weekend in Washington.

 

More:  

“Glenn Beck’s 8/28 rally: An instant guide,” The Week.

“Glenn Beck and Al Sharpton: The Rallies of 8/28,” Washington Post.

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here (look here, too). Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered a brief speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

If you missed the meeting, the PowerPoint is here.

 

Slides via Peter Norvig.

FindingDulcinea has an excellent post on the importance of this event.

More on PowerPoint here.

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