B-B-But Howard Dean said something mean!

Yesterday the Republican leader of the House Judiciary Committee, James Sensenbrenner, walked out on a committee hearing about the Patriot Act, took the gavel with him, and cut off everybody's mike, WHILE DEMOCRATS WERE TALKING.

I mean, you can still talk about how hurt you were and o-fend-ed by the DNC Chair's comments about Republicans, but when actions like this take place, can I not suggest that they speak louder than words?

The last resort of those who defend the indefensible is to avoid the conversation. Republicans like Sensenbrenner not only view Democrats with contempt, they view democracy with contempt. Shutting down open debate in the Congress is now par for the course. This won't raise a peep inside the Beltway, but you can bet the Sunday talk shows will pull a thousand "Can YOU defend Howard Dean's comments" Gotcha! questions to every Dem on their panel. Nobody will ask a Republican to defend James Sensenbrenner's actions. Here's the reason: Republicans would defend him by saying "Rep. Sensenbrenner is a great American, and he runs the Judiciary Committee with honor, and Democrats don't like him because he's so effective." And try as they might, compromised, mushy-middle Democrats WON'T EVER DO THAT. And because it's fun for Beltway kool kids to make their guests squirm, they will put the tough questions to those with the mushy middle. In short it makes for better television (at least they think so). And afterwards they can all laugh about it. And the status remains quo.