News -> INDReporter FRI, MAY 28 9:47AM by Mary Tutwiler

Rep. Charlie Melancon breaks down

An emotional Charlie Melancon, who represents the south Louisiana coastal parishes impacted by the oil spill, addressed the U.S. House’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment yesterday during hearings about the spill.



Comments (11)add
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written by Oh the humanity , May 28, 2010 - 02:50 pm
Good move, Charlie. Tears = votes.
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written by Hugh Robertson , May 28, 2010 - 02:54 pm
I'm crying too. This is all just so sad. Best of luck to the people trying to get it under control.
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written by Plumpy , May 28, 2010 - 04:15 pm
Charlie is crying because. He just realized he can't beat Vitter..
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written by Unempirical Observer , May 28, 2010 - 05:10 pm
negative cynics....
breaking down when all the rules of professional decorum say its unacceptable, is in fact acceptable in light of the circumstance which gives his tears context.
It's a true expression of deep seated feelings...that at the end of the day, it isn't all just dollars and cents or a detached scientific study that told someone what decision to make...

Melancon did spontaneously I believe, exactly what Blanco did 7 years ago on the eve of the election...she received an unexpected question, which cut to the core of her identity as a person...
just as this event is apparently cutting to the core of who Charlie Melancon is.

Things like this help us as voters to be reminded of the humanity of the aloof distant political figure, that some of these good ol boys or even policy wonks are people just like us, and we kinda get suspect with people that can't, don't or won't show emotion.

Like Aileen Bennett said a while back in an article, show us something of yourself, share something special, don't be all bottled up.
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written by Farrow , May 28, 2010 - 07:00 pm
I live in Melancon's district, have met him by chance, and spoken with him; I don't always agree with his votes, but often I do, and I think he's a good man.
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written by ragin_cajun , May 28, 2010 - 07:28 pm
"and I think he's a good man".

I don't. Good men don't tear up and cry when things are hard. They set their jaw, steel their nerve, and do their job. this is yet another embarassing display from a Louisiana politician on the national stage in an hour of crisis. Charlie Melancon has no backbone, and a poor work ethic.
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written by Unempirical Observer , May 29, 2010 - 08:42 am
Ragin Cajun, for crying out loud, how out of touch with humanity are you? You really must be, to hasten to lambast Melancon for this display. It's not as though the man broke down into gushing tears weeping like a schoolboy assaulted by bullies.
It's good to remind everyone that people actually deeply care for some things, and that their response is not militant anger, but profound sadness. Life isn't all just about business and robotic professionalism.

I'm sure there are some things you too care deeply about, and in spite of your best efforts to control those emotions in a certain situation, they too would well up to the surface.

Have you had a chance to see the oil and the damage yet and to internally realize its consequences?

Other than Joseph Cao and our two senators, I've heard nothing from our other US Representatives. Maybe what's going on just doesn't jive with their or your worldview.

Melancon strikes me just as Bill Cassidy does, honest people, elected, whom I don't always agree with, but who puts aside pure-partisan wrangling when explaining their reasons for disagreeing on policy issues and searching for solutions that will work and not let cheaters game the system.

Meanwhile, RC, Have you read the Wizard of OZ?
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written by Soop , May 29, 2010 - 12:18 pm
FYI. Someone said this was a response to an unexpected question but Melancon was reading from a prepared text and you know that for certain because at one point he says he just wants to "submit...for the record" and then straightens out the papers. Congressmen often do that ... just submit the prepared remarks "for the record." Sometimes they read them aloud, sometimes they don't.
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written by HARDHAT , May 29, 2010 - 07:31 pm
FOR CRYIN OUT LOUD, real men may cry for the loss of a loved one!
Real men don't cry for an oil well blowout, i know charlie is not crying for all the shrimpers and crabbers who sell their catch at the dock and never file tax papers, in other plain words "Who never pay TAXES !
Anyway Men Don't " YA-YAN, & BOO-HOO ! Charlie sould do as those other concerned citizens, and go to the shores of the Gulf and clean-up the oil.
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written by Maid of Horror , June 01, 2010 - 02:25 pm
Melancon broke down years ago and he can't be fixed.
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written by ragin_cajun , June 01, 2010 - 06:07 pm
Unempirical Observer--

You and Charlie can go and get in "touch with humanity" together, "show something of yourselves", and "internally realize" the damage. Let's hope that there are people left who can still "do" instead of "feel".

"Let's stop rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell" :)
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