The Bully.

When I was young I use to fight like crazy with one of my brothers who was 3 years older than I was. By the time I was 10 we use to actually get into physical fights. Once he got into high school and I was in jr. high things calmed down and we were fine with each other. Luckily, we have been close all of our adult life, but back then he hated that I was the spoiled baby of the family and the only girl. We fought over everything and he never had a kind word to say to me.

One day in the midst of our angry years with each other a bully in the neighborhood went after me. I was a pretty tough cookie (I use to spar with my brothers who were golden gloves boxers and my Dad was a coach), but I was small and this guy was big, so I raced home on my bike to tell my oldest brother. But it was the one who loathed me that was standing in the driveway and he was the one I told first. Imagine my surprise when he seemed outraged. He wanted to know exactly who it was and where the guy was so he could go beat his a**. I stood there shocked as I watched my brother go get some of his friends to go find the bully. My brother may have always been angry with me, but when someone else was threatening me, then all that anger was forgotten and he went to fight for me.

I tell this story because it reminds of Republicans now in a way. We really are mad at each other in so many ways. We are angry at Bush for his immigration stance and his spending habits. We are angry that he doesn't stand up to the Democrats enough and he doesn't do a better and more frequent job of explaining the war in Iraq. We are angry at McCain for his campaign finance reform. We get angry at Republicans in Congress all the time for backing down on things and compromising with the Democrats. But we can't really fight among ourselves that much because there is a bully in the neighborhood and all he does is go after Bush. Day after day, minute after minute with unfair and below the belt hits. The relentless attacks on Bush just exhaust us. We can't get mad at him because we don't have time to. We are too busy gathering our friends and going after the bully going after Bush.

Isn't this how you guys who are Republican feel? I know I do. Unlike the episode with my brother and the bully, it's not a one time thing. It's an every day thing. It's not just constructive debate or disagreement. It's mean and it's ugly. We Republicans hardly have time to hash out our differences because we are constantly having to defend a President that is attacked unfairly almost on a daily basis. A President that never defends himself because he is quite busy running a country, keeping us safe, and fighting a war on terror. He doesn't care what his critics say, but we do.

So we fight the bully every day. Maybe one day we can work on the differences between us, but it doesn't look like that is going to be anytime soon.

Update: Speaking of Republican infighting...