Here in Hampton Roads, former used-car salesman turned used car salesman Congressperson Scott Rigell, a Republican, has run his mouth often touting his so-called "Bipartisan" credentials. He can't use the word enough, trying to paint him as some sort of principled statesman as opposed to a rabid, partisan bomb-thrower like a lot of his, ahem, colleagues have chosen to become.
To Rigell's credit, he voted against SOPA, and was one of only two Republicans to vote in the negative when asked to censure Attorney General Eric Holder.
But Rigell is still a Republican, still shills for disastrous policies like Balanced Budget Amendments, and still has all the smarm and charm you'd imagine from a guy who literally used to sell used cars for a living.
As the fiscal ant-hill non-negotiations have plodded forward, and as more and more Republican Representatives have come out waving the white flags on the tax hikes that President Obama seeks, I figured that there was a golden opportunity to send my Super Bipartisan Republican Congressman a nice note saying he should listen to people like Tom Coles and vote for the President's proposal to keep my taxes low, and to jack Warren Buffet's.
The response I got back was dripping with platitudes about how I 'noted' that 'Washington has become more partisan' (Pro tip: I did no such thing) and how Rep Rigell had spent time voting for 'bi-partisan' bills, and how he was part of 'bi-partisan committees' and what have you.
However, my jaw dropped just a little bit when I continued reading. Take a look at what his office sent me: (Ed note: My apologizes for the editing quality)
Not once, but twice, someone from Scott Rigell's House office sent me a reply with the word 'democrat' in it.
I worked with our democrat delegation...
...our democrat Senators...
What the actual fuck?
Now, before anyone tries to eviscerate me for saying that Rep Rigell personally wrote these words and sent them to me...yeah I'm sure an aide or some other low level staffer probably wrote it. I am highly doubtful that Rigell sat down at a computer and did it himself.
But is my outrage misplaced?
In an 'official' communique, responding through his 'Official' House of Representatives website, a reply was banged out to me, a constituent, that completely disregarded the dignity of not only capitalizing the official title of a member of the Democratic Party, but to use the word "democrat" which has been bandied around by the hyperconservative whack jobs like Rush Limbaugh and Allen West...because these men have 100% disdain for anyone coming from the Democratic Party, so much so that they can't even bring themselves to say the right damn word and to capitalize the fucking "D" that goes next to their name.
I am planning to send a copy of this letter back to Mr. Rigell's office, and demand an explanation. If Mr. Rigell cannot bother to treat his colleagues with the respect and dignity they've EARNED by being duly elected by the people they represent...then maybe Mr. Rigell should give up the responsibilities of being an elected official himself, hm?
...Or, at a bare minimum, maybe he needs to show that that kind of disrespect will not be tolerated by those who work for him.
For those who care, stay tuned.