Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Rightwing Vultures Circle Around Rep. Briley (D-Nashville)


While rightwing bloggers and lawmakers in this red state salivate over Rep. Rob Briley's misfortune, Ken Whitehouse over at the Nashville Post provides a list of likely replacements for Briley should he resign.

I'm certain you guessed, dear reader, it's a list of men. But that's what you get when you live in a red state. And does anyone want to bet that all the men on the list just happen to be white?

But the resignation of Rob Briley (D-Nashville) is as yet a rightwing wet dream. If you saw the arrest video of Briley, you saw the anguish on his face and heard the tormented words about his divorce, about losing his children. He told the police to just go ahead and shoot him.

Make it easier on everybody,” Briley said. “Take me out to the (expletive) woods and shoot me in the (expletive) head.”

Although Briley complained that his hand was hurting, Briley refused medical treatment when Lucy offered. He also refused to take a blood alcohol content test, allegedly violating the state’s implied consent law.

A few moments later, Briley said he wanted the officers to “take me back to that closet, as dark as it could ever be” and again asked officers to “put a bullet in my head.”

In this depressing age of cynicism, politics is certainly not a nice or an easy job on the best of days, but when life hits you really hard and you really screw up because you're human, the job has got to really suck.

The rightwing vultures are circling. Briley's mug shot and arrest video are plastered, with glee, all over the rightwing blogs. I think they call that compassionate conservatism.

Dave Oatney likes the taste of Briley's blood. The blogger says Briley is "snotty," "hateful," "prudish," and "arrogant." Oatney has his own list. A list of conservative Democrats who are "decent human beings," unlike Rob Briley. This from a man who forgot to gaze into the mirror while judging Briley to be arrogant!

You won't be surprised to hear that Oatney's list of "decent human beings" is a list of men (white). The decent Oatney seems to especially like manly Democrats who aren't too arrogant to have a beer with him.

Yeah, Rob Briley messed up big time, but, um, he did not have sex with teen-age pages or tap his salacious foot in the bathroom while claiming to be a virtuous holier-than-thou family values guy.