Head Banging Against Table

So the conservative noise machine threw a hissy fit about Rep. Pete Stark's comments the other day that the President was sending troops to Iraq for his own personal amusement (hey, it's a theory, and it holds up better than "they had WMD"). They held a censure vote in the House today. It failed, but then like all good little boys, Stark apologized.

"I want to apologize to my colleagues, many of whom I have offended," Stark said. He also apologized to "the president and his family" and "the troops."

"I hope that with this apology, I return to being as insignificant as I should be," he finished in an emotional, breaking voice.

I'm puzzled. This sounds like someone with battered wife syndrome, eager to please his Republican masters and not fall out of their good graces again. Why is he apologizing for the manufactured outrage of others? Why does he declare himself to be "insiginifcant"?

Probably because the leadership in the House mau-maued him to death. This is what is done when anyone shows a modicum of fire in the Democratic Party. They are silenced by the squishes and the suits. This is exactly why the Party has such an image problem.

Pete Stark is accountable to his constituents, not the fake comity of the House or the imperiousness of the leadership. His apology connotes weakness, which has characterized the entire term of Congress in this session. How depressing.