It is depressing to me that I feel it necessary to write anything here at all, other than to post the video above.
Mullins decided to make a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing about personal animus between him and Teamsters chief Sean O’Brien. He read into the record tweeted insults by O’Brien, who had called the Oklahoma Republican a “moron” and “full of shit” among other juicy descriptors. This precipitated the disgusting display above, with Mullin daring O’Brien to a fistfight, “right here, right now,” and both men apparently preparing to due battle in the U.S. Capitol. “If you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults. We can finish it here,” Mullins said.
Luckily committee chair Bernie Sanders appeared to have some sense of honor and decorum, and ordered Mullin to stand down, saying, “You are a United States Senator! Sit down!” Mullin is a former professional MMA fighter, and apparently needed reminding.
This is what the nation ends up with when it elects celebrities and other unqualified candidates. Mullin should be censured. He should apologize to the Senate and his state. He should be voted out of office. No representative who demonstrates such a lack of understanding regarding the institution he serves, and the conduct, public and private, that the a U.S. Senator must display can be or should be trusted.
It doesn’t matter what the provocation was. Mullins’ behavior was no less disgusting than if he had urinated on Dick Durbin. This disgrace in even worse than Rep. Bowman setting off a false alarm to disrupt a House vote. Yes, that was illegal as well as unethical, but some unethical behavior is more damaging than crimes. “It’s very difficult to control the behavior of everybody who is in the building,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said. “I don’t view that as my responsibility.” Really? That’s part of the problem then. The American pubic is losing respect, faith and trust in our form of government, and the very elected officials who are allowing our institutions to rot around them don’t view the problem as their responsibility.
Another Republican Senator who symbolizes this existential problem for democracy is Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. He told the AP that no one should take the episode too seriously. “It’s a dynamic place,” Cramer said. “We don’t wear the white wigs anymore.”
Great. This great country is being governed by a critical mass of idiots, dolts, bullies and fools.
Now what?
Ethics Alarms 
Preston Brooks lives again. That said, I was going to post this on social media with my own opinion that I wished he had kicked the guy’s ass, just like a lot of us wish we could kick a lot of people’s asses who piss us off, and found myself telling myself “Steven, come on here, you’re a lawyer and a public employee, don’t be stupid.”
Bring MMA to Congress and charge pay-per-view to watch the resolution of differences.
Deficit Reduction Inovation!
I have to wonder whether there was just as much idiocy in Congress when I was a kid in the ‘fifties but there was little television coverage and the press covered for Congress’s idiocy. Does the name Wilbur Mills ring a bell?
And Fanny Fox! But Wilbur kept his shenanigans out of the Capitol, by all accounts (I knew a woman who worked in his office.)
I guess my point focuses on the “by all accounts” aspect. Can you imagine the language those guys used in negotiations and in their offices? And maybe even in public hearings that were just sparsely attended?
Isn’t the Todal Basin doesn’t count as part of the Capitol? Just curious.
MB
Good point. The tidal basin is doubtless a navigable waterway and therefore not part of the District. Only the Coasties had jurisdiction over Fanny Fox.
Jack,
I am curious why you believe this behavior is “ worse than Rep. Bowman setting off a false alarm to disrupt a House vote.”
While I absolutely agree that this is not acceptable behavior, I do not understand why you consider it to be more damaging to the House of Representatives than pulling a fire alarm, delaying a crucial vote, lying through his teeth, and expecting everyone to believe that a fire alarm and a door latch are identical to a former principal. I will also note that I had that question in mind BEFORE I realized that this idiot was a Republican.
However, if we aren’t going to stop this behavior, I support the suggestion from OhWhatFunItIt above. Given the fiscal knowledge of our government leaders, I believe creative deficit reduction may be in order and I’ll bet a lot of folks would help pay down the debt if we mixed the two sports. (Joking!)
It’s worse because Mullins’ actions 1) Took place in the Senate itself, while he was participating in a hearing, on TV 2) His actions involved threatened violence 3) Senators are an elite group that are supposed to be made of better fabric than House members 4) a lawyer who pulled a false alarm and lied about it would be suspended from the practice of law, maybe, but not for long, because the action was not in the act of practicing law. A lawyer who challenged a witness to a fight in the court room would be in far more serious trouble, because the misconduct took place in court.
Well, the Romans had their Coliseum and gladiators. Do you think they charged admission to go see the games?
As I recall the Romans used slaves for their gladiators and I think freedom was one of the possible rewards. We don’t have slaves, but what if we offered something like a Powerball jackpot of $10 or 25 or $50 million as the prize?
You wouldn’t even have to build a big stadium (although that could be an added premium) — you can stream the events as something like a pay-per-view service. Sell a bunch of advertising for the channel, in fact have multiple channels, maybe a premier league, feeder leagues, stuff like that.
Do it up right, we could end up with some significant money. As Everitt Dirkson used to say, a billion here a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.
================
The down side is that this is Washington. They raise $100 billion through the Gladiator Games, they’ll quickly go out and spend $200 billion.
The Caning of Charles Sumner is probably the most famous act of violence in Congress but it wasn’t all that rare in the 19th century for violence and threats of violence to erupt.
I read a book recently: “The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War” by Joanne B. Freeman that focuses on the honor duels that were thrown down quite regularly. We do not want to revisit that time period in the 21st century.
It’s the responsibility of leaders of both parties to put a stop to this before it escalates. It sets a terrible example for citizens when even members of Congress can’t be civil to each other.
Are we sure we don’t want to bring back duels in Congress? This WOULD be an alternative to term limits. OK, I’m kidding. However, since he is my senator, I am willing to sacrifice Mullins to this new endeavor to boost the ratings of CSPAN.
Boy did I misread that! Sheesh. I thought it was the “Caning of Chuck Schumer.”
jvb
What really bothers me about this incident is how it’s being portrayed across the board. This is being simplified down to something like “O’Brian called Mullin a few bad names and Mullin lost his shit and challenged him to a fight in a Congressional hearing” well folks that’s not exactly the whole story, it’s a whitewash. Watch the video.
Fact: O’Brian is the actual provocateur in this one. O’Brian is the one that challenged Mullin to a fight in a veiled physical threat. This fact is being swept under the rug and ignored by far, far too many people.
Mullin publicly confronted O’Brian in the hearing, read the insults, and read the veiled threat of physical violence into record. Mullin, no weenie he, confronted the common hood, aka street thug, in front of God and everyone. You don’t launching into veiled physical threats against members of Congress and get it swept under a rug, bullying thugs like this need to be publicly confronted, humiliated for their threatening language, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law when appropriate; that said, Mullins did take it too far in the hearing and it turned into a tit-for-tat circus side show.
In my opinion; Senator Sanders should have immediately paused the hearing after Mullins read the veiled threat, verified the evidence that Mullin was reading, immediately ejected O’Brian from the hearing for the threatening language and then forwarded the evidence to the Department of Justice to investigate the threats on a member of Congress from O’Brian. That’s what a real leader would have done, but not Sanders, he’s partisan hack and he tried to sweep it under the rug. Threats of physical violence should always be taken seriously and not swept under the rug. Sweeping anti-Republican hate like this under the rug cannot continue, it’s going to turn out badly.
By the way; the street thug O’Brian was a witness called by the Democratic Party, it’s signature significant that they would call this piece of shit to testify. These are the people the Democratic Party are in bed with.
No one was completely right in this circus side show; however, I think confronting this witness about his threatening language towards a member of Congress was fully appropriate, it just went too damn far and that’s the fault of everyone involved, Mullins, O’Brian & Sanders.
All this hate as got to stop.
Steve: O’Brien doesn’t matter. The Senate matters. The image matters. The party matters. The role models matter. O’Brien’s a thug—big surprise. It takes two to tango, and it was completely within his power to act professionally and maintain the dignity of his office and the Senate. Mullins is 100% in the wrong, and 100% at fault for the ugly spectacle. This was in the same category as Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, except that the Oscars participants aren’t elected US officials.
It should be simplified, because all the excuses and details are static.
Jack wrote, “it was completely within his power to act professionally and maintain the dignity of his office and the Senate.”
I agree and that’s exactly why I wrote “Mullins did take it too far in the hearing and it turned into a tit-for-tat circus side show.”
Jack wrote, “It takes two to tango…” ,”…Mullins is 100% in the wrong, and 100% at fault for the ugly spectacle.”
These two phrases are in literal conflict with each other; if it takes two to tango then the blame cannot logically be completely one sided.
I think this is one of those few times that we’re going to disagree.
No dice. I’m perfectly ok with what he said, although I do not know if I would be ok with them actually throwing down and fighting like on the Jerry Springer show. It’s a really dangerous path to go down, with potentially fatal consequences. Twice in my life I’ve had to be stopped from potentially killing someone who disrespected me (ambushing someone who threatened me and breaking his skull with a tire iron, caving a disrespectful secretary’s head in with a large document stapler), and it’s better in the long run that I was. Still, I can’t completely shake the thought that if you provoke someone and you get hurt or killed, it’s on you for provoking it, and if someone provokes you, you have carte blanche to hurt or kill them.
Hey, loudmouth and terror sympathizing lawmaker George Galloway in the UK has been gone after twice for his incendiary and hateful rhetoric. The first time he was campaigning from the top of an open bus and a someone threw a rubber stress ball at him, hit him in the head, and knocked him right out. The second time someone who was Jewish confronted him in the street, called him out for the anti-Semite he was, hit him in the mouth, and broke his jaw. Believe me, there are more than a few loudmouth politicians here who would change their tunes if they knew members of the public would go after them physically. Maxine Waters said to do it, and her followers did it, so I think now it’s time to do the same.
Steve-O-in-NJ wrote, “Believe me, there are more than a few loudmouth politicians here who would change their tunes if they knew members of the public would go after them physically. Maxine Waters said to do it, and her followers did it, so I think now it’s time to do the same.”
Let me see if I’m understanding this correctly; are you actually advocating for citizens, like O’Brian, to physically go after politicians to bust their perceived safety bubble and figuratively or physically beat them into submission?
Aren’t politicians supposed to stick to their guns regardless of irate citizens that would resort to unethical and immoral tactics to intimidate them?
If all, or a majority of, our politicians are intimidated by irate citizens that frighten them then our representative democracy is truly lost and our politics will cave into the group with the scariest activists.
Entahhh…the dlagon!
Thank the Seventeenth Amendment for the declining quality and decorum of United States Senators.
My second thought was that perhaps Mullin was afraid the Senate was being upstaged by the House clown show featuring Tim Burchett and Kevin McCarthy.
As a Mullin constituent, this will unfortunately play well to his electoral base. They will see him “standing up to the bully” and cheer him on. In Oklahoma, he’s seen more as “the small business man who is not a politician and is standing up to Washington” (he took over a Plumbing business from his father, among other things). He handily beat TW Shannon who was a well spoken banker and more “traditional” candidate. For better or worse, this is what the people of OK wanted and voted for.