Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Do as I say

And I'll do it too:

Leaders should practice what they preach. It sounds obvious, says Alan Deutschman, but too few ­leaders-in business or politics-actually do it. In "Walk the Walk," Mr. Deutschman, a consultant and ­former ­Fortune magazine writer, argues that ­leaders are most effective when they rely on the power of their ­example.

As the ­expansion of McDonald's was getting ­under way in the 1950s, for instance, Ray Kroc, the company's empire builder, listed ­cleanliness among the chain's three key values (along with service and quality). But he didn't just talk cleanliness; an earlyemployee of a ­Chicago-area ­McDonald's ­remembered him personally picking up trash around the ­restaurant and scraping up gum with a putty knife. ­Message: Cleanliness counts. And: If cleaning isn't beneath me, it isn't ­beneath you.
Not as I do:

A Westport lawmaker who voted to hike the state sales and alcohol taxes was spotted brazenly piling booze in his car - adorned with his State House license plate - in the parking lot of a tax-free New Hampshire liquor store, the Herald has learned.

Michael J. Rodrigues’ blue Ford Crown Victoria, emblazoned with his “House 29” Massachusetts license plate, was parked outside a Granite State liquor store on Interstate-95 South over the weekend, according to a witness who provided pictures to the Herald.
Extra funSay Anything blog: "If government-run health care is such a great idea, why won’t members of Congress enroll their own families?"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is the rightwing blogosphere's instant meme of the day. But it's not the ultimate tipoff that the Democrats know their own health care plan is a scam. It's much simpler than that... it's boilerplate Congressional arrogance.

Congress has also exempted itself from the Freedom of Information Act; it's exempted itself from the wage and discrimination practices banned by the Congressional Accountability Act; it's exempted its own robocalls from the "Do Not Call" phone list; it's exempted itself from the mandatory personnel cuts in the Reinventing Government Initiative; it's exempted itself from participating in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS); it's exempted itself from wage freezes and electronic filings of campaign finance forms and Washington D.C.'s gun-carrying laws and even possessing child pornography. In 2001, Congress voted to exempt themselves from the limits on Cuban cigars.

It's right to point out Congress' hypocrisy. But because it's business as usual, it's wrong to extrapolate away about the worthlessness of the health care proposals.

Brian said...

I love these trolls.

Context? What's that? said...

"Troll" = "Facts make my head hurt."

PLM said...

Reality is such a buzzkill for conservatives.