Ashcroft s inquisitors on the Judiciary Committee were talking to their own private Buncombes, hoping to be heard, as no doubt they were. Bill Clinton s nominees from the fiercely pro-choice Donna Shalala on down received dignified treatment. I can think of no instance in which Republicans made mendacious charges resembling those leveled at Ashcroft even in the case of the really awful and unqualified Jocelyn Elders, whom Clinton ultimately bounced as surgeon general. In modern politics, wimpery and civility are sometimes barely distinguishable. The civil tend toward what resembles wimpery.
Civility involves, much of the time, the biting of tongues.
This is because one doesn t want to climb down to that level a pretty far drop, in all conscience. However, failing to climb down for a good roll in the gutter exacts a certain cost. And they got him. The Vardamans won long ago. Yet even today, Republicans somehow have a better knack than Democrats at retaining personal dignity, and a better grasp of the reasons why, in the Age of Clinton, dignity is indispensable.