More Tasteless Comments; Golf Analyst Wants "Pelosi Shot, Reid Strangled'

There have some real nasty comments in the public forum lately, and CBS Sports golf analyst David Feherty comes close to the top.

Feherty apologized to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for a tasteless and morbid joke published in a Dallas magazine under his name.

Feherty was among five Dallas residents who wrote for "D Magazine" on former President George W. Bush moving to Dallas.

From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this, though: despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Osama bin Laden, there’s a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death.

"This passage was a metaphor meant to describe how American troops felt about our 43rd president," Feherty said in a statement. "In retrospect, it was inappropriate and unacceptable, and has clearly insulted Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid, and for that, I apologize. As for our troops, they know I will continue to do as much as I can for them both at home and abroad."

Once again, and this bears repeating. This type of "humor" has no place in politics. It's pretty gutless to write something like this or to make similar comments. This country, if nothing else, that resoundingly voiced a need for change in the way we operate and how we conduct our public debates. Have a political point to make? Make it. But try for once to stay on point and not wish death or disease on your opponent.

It Was Reid Who First Asked McCain to Come to Washington

There is a lot of spin coming from the Democrats today that Sen. John McCain injected presidential politics into the bailout negotiations, causing them to stall. But ironically, if people can remember as far back as Monday, it was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid himself who called for McCain to help out.

Reid told Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday night that the White House must gain support from Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain if it hopes to ensure bipartisan backing for the bailout plan, according to multiple media reports, most of which cited Democratic sources.

And Erin P. Billings and John Stanton of Roll Call wrote on Wednesday:

McCain holds the key to such a bipartisan vote, according to Reid, because Republicans are likely to defer to his position on a bill that holds political peril. McCain on Tuesday night joined Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in lending qualified support for the $700 billion package, but it remains unclear whether his backing is strong enough and timely enough to persuade the Congressional rank and file.

Other key Democrats also wanted McCain involved in the process.

"I think if you look at the Republican side, at the McCain campaign and the leadership, I'm not convinced they are working to get their side to the table," Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said on Monday. "But the week is young." Casey is a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

But as soon as McCain announced he would come to Washington (on his own, not because of a phone call from the president), Reid did a political about face and criticized the move that he advocated just hours earlier.

“If we lose progress on this because of one person, that’s John McCain,” Reid said. “He’s standing in the way.”

And in another press conference, Reid said, "It appears to me that John McCain is trying to divert attention from his failing campaign. Coming back here is not going to add to the process.” Reid said the Senate is “doing just fine” without McCain.
“We should not have presidential politics entering here.”

Before the white House meeting, Reid gave a terse one-word answer when asked by a reporter what he thought would come out of the meeting. “Nothing,” Reid replied.

So, who's playing presidential politics here?