Capitol Ideas/Mitch Snyder's Sendoff
Bethell, Tom
CAPITOL IDEAS MITCH SNYDER'S SENDOFF by Tom Bethell F or the "Farewell Celebration of as though requesting release from its Emergency Preparedness and various provided with passes so that they...
...Mitch...
...The note has not with its microphone forest...
...A few months later the Washington Post alleged that Stallings had engaged in sexual encounters with at least one altar boy...
...Their leadership is armed against each and every charge of corruption by the potential retort of racism, so crippling to most white Americans with a college degree...
...Before hanging unionized and gadget laden...
...Damn that note...
...Fennelly would only the trenches were the stagehands and Mitch would expect nothing less of and at large for the occasion, during say: "It was a private struggle that I will the workhorses of the media hierarchy, those gathered in his honor...
...Jesse Jackson was making last-minute notes...
...Sheen inspired the reflection that, just possibly, the bandwagon of Protest is ridden by the mediocre...
...Then there were the net- check out the crowd gathering in Tax Base in Missouri...
...He wanted to share with us a "wonderful" poem by Daniel Berrigan (but it turned out to be not so wonderful...
...more words from Cher, a well- cide note "that focused on his failed ancillary hardware and backup equip- there waiting to go on stage, feeling known actress and pop singer...
...Toiling in side...
...The Black Power Structure resisted funding the shelter but now were horning in on the photo-op...
...dollars...
...This does not augur well for the future of the city because, at the moment, the 70 percent black population is almost out of control...
...The series also showed the church hierarchy as timidly reluctant to discipline Stallings, no doubt fearful of being accused of racism...
...Mitch, she remarked, "blamed Hollywood for what he was because he watched so many movi..s...
...He met Jane Fonda...
...This work .1(in the first new edition since 1805) is a comprehensive narrative of the Revolution through the ratification of the Constitution in 1787-88...
...was all being done for their benefit, shelter, a program had been tastefully and several others on the program remember...
...Mitch was one penitentiary at Danbury in the 1970s, On the back page of the program themselves in explanatory roles into person not worried about that...
...The funeral procession made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue an hour later: a plain pine box in a horse-drawn hearse, a riderless white horse out front, symbolizing a fallen hero...
...She was right about that...
...Please send me a copy of your current catalogue...
...Jesse Jackson was right to draw attention to Mitch's "style," and the Washington Post's Style section did him proud, with two stories, one drawing attention to Mitch's "uneasy alliance" with the media...
...and still romance with Fennelly," according to ment...
...But that's the way it's supposed to be...
...but we can't say that, you understand . . . ) In front of the shelter, a crowd of a couple of thousand had gathered—more "curious bystanders on their lunch break," I should have thought, than the "mourners" of the New York Times's account...
...All orders must be prepaid in U.S...
...I'd rather concentrate on how he lived, not on how he died," the mayor was saying...
...Behind for this authentic, card-carrying home-whom "Bishop" George A. Stallings piece suit, fashionably loose-fitting and the chairs the big guns were arrayed— less person, certified as such by the late would give the invocation...
...This was to be Mitch's hour, and Marion Barry, Jr., mayor of the city been published...
...The Imani Temple choir was singing "We're climbing up the rough side of the mountain," Carol Fennelly was cheerfully clapping in time (relieved to be rid of the Accuser, one wondered...
...McGill-Jackson...
...Foreword, bibliography, editor's note, preface to the 1st edition, index...
...She told the New York Times reporter later that "he had requested most of the speakers who attended" the event...
...On the front page was a pic- would have words to say, but they are 0 utside the main shelter entrance, one would come through, proudly ture of Mitch gazing affectionately at not famous enough to mention...
...Deborah society . . . ). terview with Fennelly, Snyder "planned tator's Washington correspondent...
...M ayor Barry was on next, Carol first reminding us that "people in high places didn't want us here," that the property developers had wanted the building and were on the verge of getting it when Mitch went on his hunger strike...
...Occasionally a disheveled printed...
...Now he was dressed as a cardinal outside the homeless shelter, in mutual embrace with the mayor of the city, himself on trial in federal court...
...We can't say love thy rich neighbor or love thy influential neighbor," she said, engaging in the kind of moral histrionics that Mitch would have approved of...
...The cameras were rolling and the performance began...
...Mitch and I had our differences," said Barry...
...Martin Sheen seemed a little out of his league...
...We men get out here WO NEW TITLES FROM LIBERTY FUND "Every revolutionary scholar and every serious library can now acquire both of the greatest contemporary histories of the American Revolution...
...Inside there was an Carol Fennelly, nearly the wife and off with yellow plastic tape, and made make way there Martin Sheen, down on Order of Service...
...Tirade," the man said...
...Joyce Appleby, University of California ercy Otis Warren was the most formidable woman intellectual in eighteenth-century America...
...Hardcover $45.00 the set 0-86597-078-5 Paperback $15.00 the set 0-86597-081-5 LibertyClassics, 1990 ION HIS Y OF THE M ISE, PM OGRESS, AND TE 1 MINA ION OF THE, AMERICAN REVOLUTION INTERSPERSED WITH BIOGRAPHICAL, POLITICAL, AND MORAL OBSERVATIONS By Mercy Otis Warren Edited and annotated by Lester H. Cohen In Two Volumes "A modern edition of Warren's History edited by a leading authority on the historical literature of eighteenth-century America is indeed a publishing event...
...Fund, who provided the carnations...
...Jesse L. Jackson," following ing in aviator shades and a black two- rows of plastic folding chairs...
...Two "homeless" bums with Busch beer cans came by making a tremendous racket...
...Cardinal Stallings said that Mitch "embodied in his everyday existence what it means to be Emanuel, God with us," noting that he "gave his life for the many...
...Lance Banning, University of Kentucky HISTORY ORY OF THE AME ICAN REVOLU By David Ramsay Edited and annotated by Lester H. Cohen In Two Volumes avid Ramsay's History of the American Revolution appeared in 1789, during an enthusiastic celebration of nationhood...
...All this should be disconcerting to the Post, as I suspect it is...
...But they were only too happy to indulge the conceit that he was an THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1990 11...
...to make this a more caring and humane As the Post reporter paraphrased his inTom Bethell is The American Spec- Dodge Color, Inc...
...First was "Officiant: now in the widow's role, looked fetch- into a perfect little street theater with your knees Phillip Berrigan...
...Some of these print people have been behaving like hostages, ideological prisoners held against their will, but contriving to include little signals in the semi-official texts of their stories...
...He "had insulating tape to pay attention to sub- Washington compliment...
...426 and 395 pages...
...At one occasion, the guests included Valerie Harper, Eunice Shriver, Jack Valenti and members of Congress," noted the obit writer...
...Let me thank Mitch Snyder for honoring me," he said, adding: "He reminds me of Nehemiah in these modern times...
...That was reserved for Jesse, Barry, and the Cardinal...
...Fax Court...
...This is Mitch Snyder Day...
...then unlocked the inside door to Carol but they were too busy with heavy-duty ashamed of yourself...
...Hardcover $45.00 of the American Revolution Paperback $15.00 (Warren) Subtotal Please allow approximately 4 weeks for delivery...
...Phillip Berrigan, apostate Jesuit and planned for her to find him dangling stance, or to get the message...
...and Bishop Stallings of Imani Temple, wearing the purple robes of a cardinal, was embracing Mayor Barry with that ole clerical hug...
...Historians will read both works as sourcebooks for the revolutionaries' thinking...
...This Snyder was a no-good bum, getting a lot of free publicity for himself...
...the Mayor's Office of Authorized shelter dwellers had been to turn this challenge into yet another THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1990 9 public tirade about national priorities...
...He had become Bishop Stallings...
...Basically his heart was in the right place—he blamed society for individual failure, thereby drawing attention to his own moral superiority...
...The charges were neither denied nor addressed by Stallings, who refused to be interviewed by the Post...
...7440 North Shadeland Avenue, Department CC101 Indianapolis, IN 46250 10 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR SEPTEMBER 1990 and we get caught up in this struggle . . . and we get so weak sometimes we look for people to blame it on...
...Cher said she would like to be more eloquent and was "very emotionally unstable over this...
...Someone said it was the first time since Kennedy anyone had been so honored...
...CAPITOL IDEAS MITCH SNYDER'S SENDOFF by Tom Bethell F or the "Farewell Celebration of as though requesting release from its Emergency Preparedness and various provided with passes so that they could Our Beloved Brother," Mitch Sny- unimaginable mission," when he heard other notables of the Black Power come and go as they saw fit, just as der, 1943-1990, outside the Communi- the sad news about Mitch...
...Center stage was the podium guilty and inauthentic deep down in-more words from the Honorable the Washington Post...
...Dick Gregory was probably closer to the truth when he said, to Carol Fennelly: "Damn that note...
...Their ammunition, so effective against white politicians, seems to be harmless against blacks...
...Help...
...Name Address City Street/Zip Mail to: LIBERTY FUND, INC...
...Because Warren was deeply engaged in the political and moral issues of her day, her writing represents a treasure trove...
...Struggling in would be "Words from the Heart" ing up, hugging and clasping hands...
...Mitch...
...Members of the City Council, please stand," said M.C...
...layers of of days earlier, Chuck Conconi had Courthouse was only a short limo ride himself, Snyder locked the outside door cable and providers of battery power, eulogized him in the Washington Post away for Barry, on trial for drug con- to his bedroom at the homeless shelter, wearing T-shirts and load-bearing belts...
...Snyder "loved it," Carol Fen-camped out on a farmer's field and ty), B&B Washington's Caterer, Lee's phone to the producers at HQ...
...It presents the events and ideas of the American Revolution (from the outbreak of turbulence in the 1760s to the onset of Washington's administration) and an ardent Federalist defense of the Constitution of 1787...
...Let us hear a great round of applause...
...We have to praise him because he used our rhetoric...
...The In-Rev...
...a big space had been cordoned flourishing his pass: Stand back Cher, a homeless person...
...We can't stand this much longer...
...In the federal Courtland Milloy...
...who has challenged America to clothe the naked . . . and did so with grace and style and courage and determination...
...Jesse Jackson, to center stage: "We come to celebrate a life of service, a brother who has made all of us different, who has made all of us better...
...Carol Fennelly led the ensemble in a sixties protest song, then said that Mitch had "been at death's door so many times that we had many opportunities to plan this event...
...Berrigan had including Ridgewell's Caterer (they do clipboard-bearing attendants and cof- of his death," the Washington Post been protesting once more in Missouri, a lot of fashionable catering in the ci- fee-fetchers connected by cordless tele- reported...
...Enclosed is my check or money order made payable to Liberty Fund, Inc...
...A year ago he broke away from the Roman Catholic Church, taking half the congregation into his Imani Temple (see my column on him in the September 1989 TAS...
...And today is so identified by the Post...
...But this appeared to have no impact—his breakaway congregation wasn't buying it...
...Any citizen might read them as reminders of the values that the founding generation saw as indispensable if liberty was to endure...
...They came with the homeless Mitch Snyder at the time you a "sense of power...
...Berrigan had taught Mitch (con- there was an announcement from "the precious evening news slots—on cam- ternal Revenue Service was demanding victed of auto theft) the overriding entire CCNV family," thanking a num- era, of course, but with a nice backdrop $90,251 in payments from advocate of pleasure of civil disobedience—it gave ber of individuals and organizations, of stars and beggars...
...Jesse...
...She was bear- fifteen camera tripods, carrying a tre- Mitch Snyder himself...
...Hardcover $45.00 the set 0-86597-066-1 Paperback $15.00 the set 0-86597-069-6 LibertyClassics, 1989 Please send me: Quantity Ordered Title Edition Price Amount History of the American Hardcover $45.00 Revolution (Ramsay) Paperback $15.00 History of the Rise...
...He was on the Geraldo Rivera Show and many others...
...It is the first American national history written by an American revolutionary and printed in America...
...More words Structure within the nation's capital...
...She recalled marching with Mitch...
...work correspondents, hoping to insert Court Plaza...
...as having "a way of making you feel spiracy and perjury charges...
...blamed society as a whole for the failure of individuals to take responsibility for their lives...
...Foreword, bibliography, editor's note, list of abbreviations, index...
...though nothing was happening (this ty for Creative Non Violence homeless from another protestor, Dick Gregory...
...But not many other whites would have been considered worthy of the honor...
...Jesse praised Snyder as an "anonymous suffering servant," which would have surprised the much televised Conscience-Stirrer...
...The comparisons will prove as useful as the contrasts...
...Carol next introduced Martin Sheen, with a note of awe, as the one "who played Mitch in the CBS movie Samaritan...
...Make way Rev...
...Barry mopped his brow one more time...
...The ultimate There would be more words from Fennelly's adjoining bedroom...
...Then, in late April, the Post loaded up its big guns and fired a tremendous three-part broadside at the Reverend, including shocking details about homosexual misconduct in the rectory, Stallings's presence in gay bars a few hours before showing up in the pulpit, and so on...
...That was all part of the frisson of social excitement that Mitch engendered...
...On top of that, he was only too happy to expand the power of the state...
...Barry had a yellow carnation in his button hole and from time to time he mopped his brow...
...And nelly said of the IRS investigation...
...When the smoke from this broadside cleared, what had become of the Reverend...
...In the space of an hour, Mitch was also compared to: Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Jesus Christ, and Mother Teresa...
...alas, they were steered away from the stage...
...Snyder had left a sui- power, with nearby ammo dumps of American existence, not just standing Malibu...
...In mendous amount of film and fire- real life with the horrors of our all-from Martin Sheen, an actor from a word, coping...
...He whipped up the crowd: "Mitch...
...378 and 377 pages...
...He listening to a 1.2 megaton ICBM Flower and Card Shop, Inc., and Cal- stars in their own right, don't forget (on wanted a forum to discuss the priorities "humming and growling in its circuits, yin W. Rolark of the United Black location this morning, doing their bit of the government and our tax system...
...Joe Kennedy showed up, late, and he was given a front row seat, too...
...W hat a sketch this Stallings is...
...Although a strong proponent of the Revolution, Warren was hostile to the Constitution from an Antifederalist perspective...
...So that's who they were—parked onstage but not in the front row...
...A couple a recess in his own trial...
...Mitch had come a long way since his days with the Berrigan brothers at the Danbury penitentiary...
...Theirs Occasionally a star or two would all-purpose protestor, who had jetted at the end of an electrical cord," ac- was not to reason why, but to do what peep out from behind the wings, just to into town from the Whiteman Air Force cording to Washington Post columnist they were told...
...The Federal never speak of...
...outsider," and of course were unable to hold him in check when he went too far (showing up at social events in army fatigues and so on...
...Then there padded at the shoulders...
...Don't let him blame that on you...
...It was hot under the noonday sun...
...The point is that Mitch was a fashionable figure in Washington, albeit warily regarded by the city's establishment...
Vol. 23 • September 1990 • No. 9
