Civility and American Politics

Via TAPPED: this truly reads like an Onion article. Who would have a forum called Civility and American Politics and have John Boehner and Joe Lieberman as the panelists? I laughed my ass off when I read that. The Politico has some examples of the two elevating discourse.

The problem, he began, is the problem.

"There are some issues in and of themselves that will deeply trouble Americans,'' he said, "whether it's abortion, whether it's the war. ... These drive real passion."

To demonstrate, Boehner mustered some passion: "I firmly believe, as does the president -- and, for that matter, as does Joe -- that we have an enemy that's growing all over the world intent on killing Americans."

And just thinking about that enemy got him miffed at the Democrats. "My colleagues on the other side are looking at the next election, looking to public opinion polls," he said. "There are some things more important than the outcome of the next election."

That point galvanized Lieberman, no fan of opinion polls, Democratic primary voters or the next election. "We can't hold our finger in the air or read public opinion polls to tell us where to go,'' he said. "My God, if those who preceded us had done that, forget where we'd be today!"

Boehner and Lieberman go from talking about civility to attacking political opponents. What a show of civility.