Once Upon a Time There Were Democrats I Liked

Once upon a time there were Democrats for whom I had some respect, even admiration. Once upon a time, the Democrats were not crazed by their loss of power and there were some good people like Scoop Jackson and Hubert Humphrey and even Adlai Stevenson. Once we could admire the feisty Harry Truman. Once upon a time there were people who condemned the reprehensible (Republican) Senator Joe McCarthy and they were right to do so.

Once upon a time, John F. Kennedy promised to the world that "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

Once we had Democrats who supported our troops in wartime.

Those were the days.

Now we have Senator Boxer challenging the Ohio vote (and attempting to disenfranchise the majority of voters in the Ohio elections). Now we have Senator Ted ("Chappaquiddick") Kennedy, who was tossed out of Harvard for cheating, raising moral issues with former Texas Supreme Court justice who worked his way up in the world in a manner that Mr. Kennedy will never comprehend. Now we have Senator Leahy who is such an insufferable ass that he provoked Vice-president Cheney into uttering an obscenity.

Rough politics is not new in America as anyone who has read history knows.

On May 22, 1856, the "world's greatest deliberative body" became a combat zone. In one of the most dramatic and deeply ominous moments in the Senate's entire history, a member of the House of Representatives entered the Senate chamber and savagely beat a senator into unconsciousness.

That Representative, Preston Brooks of Massachusetts, used a cane. Now the bludgeoning is done with awful verbal sniping played directly to the television camera. It's not necessarily an improvement.

Update: David over at Ohio Voter pretty much nails the Dems on their "red letter day."