Hendrik Hertzberg has a great About Town entry in the New Yorker talking about Jean Schmidt, who recently gained notoriety for her slam against Jack Murtha, the esteemed hawkish Democrat who has emerged as an advocate for an accellerated withdrawal from Iraq.
When Ms. Schmidt was sworn in as a Member of the House of Representatives from the Second District of Ohio on September 6th, she was permitted to address her new colleagues for one minute. I thought her comments were appropriate and well considered:
"Honorable people can certainly agree to disagree. However, here today I accept a second oath. I pledge to walk in the shoes of my colleagues and refrain from name-calling or the questioning of character. It is easy to quickly sink to the lowest form of political debate. Harsh words often lead to headlines, but walking this path is not a victimless crime. This great House pays the price.
So, at this moment, I begin my tenure in this Chamber, uncertain of what history will say of my tenure here."
And then, just a little bit later, she gains fame for slighting a decorated war veteran as being a "coward." As Jon Stewart noted Wednesday night on the Daily Show, I guess this means the shelf life of idealism in Congress is about... well... 3 months.
I wonder if, in her shoes, I would do any better.