How Quickly We Forget

Remember just a couple of weeks ago when a sick individual opened fire on the Republican Congressional baseball practice? I won't repeat the details of that tragedy. That's not the point of this post. In short, this deranged gunman opened fire on the Republicans because he was upset with their policies and the way they were governing. His solution was to try to eliminate those legislators he disagreed with. Not at the ballot box, but with an assault rifle.

The country united in support of the wounded Congressmen and police officers. Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress came out with statements of unity. There were numerous speeches and pleas to turn down the volume on the incendiary rhetoric from both sides of the aisle. The thinking was that the mean spirited and disrespectful statements by politicians were influencing the public. That rhetoric was evolving into violence by those zealots on the fringes or with mental illnesses.

It is interesting to note that while President Trump decried the shooting, he never suggested trying a more respectful tone of political discourse. Now we know why. His inflammatory tweets and statements never stopped. In fact, his recent tweets against the media in general, Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, in particular, have sunk to new lows. 

Now I don't expect a childish bully like Trump to suddenly become civil. I would have expected, or at least hoped, many more of the Republicans to condemn him.

Then again, I have not noticed any change in the rhetoric coming out of Congress, both sides, since the shooting. The pleas for a kinder and gentler legislature have faded. It looked to me that about 72 hours was the complete life cycle of the call for civility.

This is just another example of our politicians spouting empty phrases and wringing their hands in public. As soon as the issue gets off the front page, everybody goes back to business as usual. Even a shooting involving members of Congress doesn't make any difference.

How quickly we forget or to put it another way, it's the same old shit.

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