Dual Standards

Imagine Barny Fife challenging Andy Taylor to a fight and after being pressed relentlessly Andy finally agrees. As Andy stands there with his hands at his sides, Barny is leaping around erratically swinging his fists but completely missing him. Finally, Andy takes one fist and raps Barny on the nose whereupon Barny runs off complaining about Andy's underhanded, low-down, cheap-shot methods.

In our congress the rhetoric of the Democrats continues to scream along at a fevered pitch. The name calling and comparisons to humanities worst monsters are daily fare. Finally a Republican with the excitement and energy of a lumbering brown bear grunts out some rebuttal like "over the top" or "reprehensible" and the Democrats scream like a stuck pig and cry foul.

The sad thing is that mainstream media outlets just go along with it as if it is normal and correct. It is as if the Mayberry townspeople surround Barny and give dirtly looks over their shoulder at Andy the "bully".