Babel On, Babel Off: It's All About the Decorum

I know this is still old news, but I just had to post a follow-up to my earlier post on how Paul Hackett was pressured by the Democratic Party not to run for the Senate in Ohio.

After writing that post, I came across this article from February 14 in the New York Times. A little Valentines Day love-letter from the tools who run the Democratic Party. This was my favourite quote from the article:

Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes Senate races for the Cook Political Report, said that part of what made Democratic leaders nervous about Mr. Hackett was what had also made him so popular with voters.

"Hackett is seen by many as a straight talker, and he became an icon to the liberal bloggers because he says exactly what they have wished they would hear from a politician," Ms. Duffy said. "On the other hand, the Senate is still an exclusive club, and the party expects a certain level of decorum that Hackett has not always shown." [emphasis mine]

Excuse me? Decorum? “Exclusive Club”? This is the same club where Vice President Cheney told Senator Lahey to “go fuck himself” and where Senator Rick Santorum compares gay marriage to “man-on-dog sex”? (Too lazy and pissed off to look up the links myself; you can google them.)

And the kind of “straight talk” that upsets the Democrats? From the same article:

Mr. Hackett was widely criticized last year for using indecent language to describe President Bush. Last month, state Republicans attacked Mr. Hackett for saying their party had been hijacked by religious extremists who he said "aren't a whole lot different than Osama bin Laden."
Though Republicans called for an apology, Mr. Hackett repeated the mantra of his early campaign: "I said it. I meant it. I stand behind it."

Glad you stand by it. It’s true! As I’ve said for yeras, the only thing that stops the Religious Right from blowing up or shooting people in greater numbers than they already are (or did you forget about Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, and John Salvi?) is that they don’t feel completely humiliated and powerless and ignored the way Muslims do: hell, outside of Hollywood they hold all the reins of power these days.