Supporting Charles Bishop for punching another person (even Lowell Barron) on the floor of the Alabama Senate is deplorable.  Bishop made Alabama an international laughing stock with the swing of his hand.  In our society we reward good behavior in order to encourage more of it and we punish bad behavior for a similar reason.  Given the response of many in our state it seems that we want to encourage more fisticuffs in our legislature.

As first noted by Dan at Between the Links, many Republicans recently gave Bishop a standing ovation at a fund raiser.  Bishop’s actions would probably get him fired from any employer other than the WWE, but in Alabama we give him a standing ovation.  That certainly sends an appropriate message to impressionable young kids.

Aside from the societal ills associated with approval of such behavior, I think the Republicans are making a huge error by closing ranks around Bishop.  As long as Bishop is around the Democrats will be able to effectively use “The Punch” to curry favor in the court of public opinion.  There may be hearings.  There is already an ethics investigation.  If there were the slightest chance that you might be cleared then I would suggest to weather the storm.  But what Bishop did was 100% wrong and there is no denying it.  Bishop has become a problem and will continue to be a problem as long as he is around.

The Republican party is supposed to be the party of law and order.  The Democrats are often portrayed as the party that wants to talk through problems and avoid any real punishment.  By supporting a man who assaulted someone on the floor of a state senate the Republicans cede the moral high ground and the perception that they are tough on crime.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 at 4:58 am and is filed under Alabama, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.