CIVILITY FALLS BY THE WAYSIDE

C-SPAN usually isn't known for "interesting" television, but the past couple of days saw some truly interesting sights and a couple of especially funny moments on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

However, it was a sad couple of days for the institution, during which the basic rules of civility seemed to simply fall by the wayside as the House debated the GOP budget cutting plan and a resolution to call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq (a Republican stunt). Tempers flared and words became personal. In one particularly funny moment, however, Congressman Marion Berry (D - AR) referred to my local representative Adam Putnam (R - Bartow) as a "Howdy Doody-looking nimrod" during the heat of the debate. Putnam was managing the debate for the GOP side for the budget cut proposal which passed by a razor-thin margin early Friday morning. UPDATE / Sunday, 11/20 9:00 AM ET: If you want to see for yourself just how correct Congressman Berry is, check out this link at FLA Politics. Thanks, Mike!

And, in an especially disturbing incident, reaction to the call from Congressman Jack Murtha (D - PA) to withdraw troops from Iraq was swift and personal. Here is a man who served his nation in the United States Marine Corps for nearly four decades. A Purple Heart recipient in Vietnam, well respected by members on both sides of the aisle. A "hawk", who has bucked his party more often than not in areas of defence and the current effort in Iraq/Afghanistan. After his news conference Thursday, Republicans openly questioned his patriotism, character, and linked him to movie producer Michael Moore, a vocal liberal opponent of the current military operations.

It got to the point a couple of times when I believed we would see a South Korean Parliment kinda scene, where fisticuffs occasionally break out during especially heated debate. Not really, but it looked like our elected representatives were acting more like schoolchildren not getting their way than responsible adults debating the finer points of policy and seeking some middle ground. Maybe during the Thanksgiving recess their constitutents will encourage them to play fair and bring down the noise.