Well, all I can say is this: It's about time. The New York Times ran a piece, "In Senate, Traditional Decorum Gives Way to New Discord." It could have titled it: "Years After Democrats Abandon Decorum For Demonization, Republicans Get Tough."
Thinking decorum would trump tough questions for a cakewalk in the Senate?
The willingness of Republicans, as the Times puts it, “to skewer one of their own” (that being Sen. Chuck Hagel, who has hardly been “one of their own” for some time now) is bemoaned by the fading leftist behemoth. Democrats have for years counted on Republicans being restrained by an exaggerated sense of propriety from pointing out, forcefully and compellingly, critical facts that usually make them look bad. Looks like those days might be coming to an end. The Times, however, is doing their best to bully Republicans back into submission, calling McCain’s questioning of Hagel a “rendezvous with rudeness;” the rest of us call it holding him accountable for past statements and actions.
That Sens. McCain, Inhofe, and others were willing to hold Hagel accountable for his appalling positions on Iran, Israel, the troop surge, and a number of others, indicates they might be willing to start showing up, with vigor, in the battle for the American people. (Too bad they didn't do a better job holding now-former Secretary Clinton accountable.)
An aside, but not a small point: It's a shame that new burst of insight did not lead more senators, McCain chief among them, to go along with Sens. Rand, Rubio, Cruz and 15 others to oppose the Obama administration's bizarre continuation of U.S. money and arms to Egypt, even as the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood takes over there. Anger is mounting in the streets of Egypt as pro-democracy protesters push back against the imposition of Sharia law--its restrictive measures and persecution of non-Muslims. Now would be a good moment to break from another tradition--supporting Islamist regimes what will eventually use our largesse against us.
