Can you imagine the conniption fit the Republicans would be throwing if Democrats had acted the way Republicans are now when the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, their version of medicare "reform" and plenty of other measures were passed using the evil, totalitarian method of reconciliation?
Remember all the Republican fuss about upperdown votes? Yet this Republican congress has far eclipsed all previous records for use of the filibuster, and just about every other form of obstructionism possible.
I guess it's OK if you're a Republican.
If you have ever had or been around young children, you know that their earliest ideas around justice center on whether they get what they want or not. Having to go to bed on time, having to take a bath, or not getting a cookie before dinner may be seen as gross injustices.
Some people never really grow out of this phase. Apparently many of them grow up to be Republicans.
The rampant sexual scandals among Republicans, far exceeding what has happened on the other side of the aisle, just offer another example of this core immaturity and selfishness. No one is exempt from human frailty, but on the whole Democrats are held and hold themselves to a higher standard, despite supposedly being more "liberal" in their views and personal actions. (Of course, being liberal is really more about honoring and valuing the rights and freedoms of other people, not just of yourself. The idea that liberalism is about selfish hedonism is a fiction of the right wing, actually projecting their own tendencies onto those they oppose.)
If any Democrat did what Vitter did, would he or she still be in office? Of course not.
Republicans are apparently allowed to hold the craziest of views with impunity. 57% of them believe Obama is a Muslim? (Not that that would be inherently bad--it's just a view that is out of touch with reality.) 45% are birthers who can't believe he was born in the United States? Democrats at least try to live in the real world, but apparently it's OK to live in a fantasy world if you are a Republican.
And now there is this wave of hostility, violence, shouted threats, lies, sore loserhood, and general ugliness and incivility from the right wing, not only from the teabaggers, but also from Republican leaders. Can you imagine how Republicans would be howling if Democrats acted this way?
For years, the whole Democratic Party was tarred by the image of peace activists spitting on soldiers returning from Vietnam. Now right-wingers are spitting on elected members of Congress, and the Republican leadership barely shrugs. Bricks and death threats abound, and Republican leaders can't see or won't admit their role in fomenting violence by their over-the-top rhetoric.
And here's the real irony: As Democrats, the policies we work for would benefit nearly all of the angry tea partiers and most Republicans who think health reform and other progressive policies are some form of Nazi communism (never mind the self-contradiction). For us, justice does not extend only to ourselves; it is about the common good, and fairness and opportunity even for those we politically oppose.
Don't give up, because until the day the Republican party grows up and reforms itself (something I truly pray will happen some day), we need Democrats in office, even as flawed as Democrats can be. Fight for better Democrats, but don't forget that letting today's Republican party back in power would be like handing the car keys to a five-year-old. We must not let that happen.