Non-bellicose Betty

Kudos once again to Herald reporter Beth Reinhard, who's produced as fine a profile of Betty Castor as the one she wrote about Peter two weeks ago. Headlined "Castor sees civility as ticket to success," it tells you everything you need to know about why Peter should be Florida's next Democratic senator.

Not that I have anything against civility. On the contrary, I think we could all use much more of it. Especially in politics, which the Bush campaign has -- again -- turned into an open cesspool of lies, obfuscation and character assassination. It's just that ... well, I'll let Betty's husband, Sam Bell, explain what I mean.

''She looks for solutions instead of being bellicose,'' he tells Betty in the article. "That's something that's going to be very important when she goes to Washington and is working with the fraternity that is the U.S. Senate.''

Someone should explain to Sam that the Senate today is indeed a fraternity. And its name is Beta Beta Beta, for bellicose, belligerent and, in honor of fraternity president Bill Frist, bitchy.

Nothing against Betty, who we all agree is a nice lady, but she would have about as much influence in the Senate as the homecoming queen at an Animal House keg party.

Betty doesn't rock the boat, concludes Beth. She follows the rules. And that's exactly what we don't need from a Democratic senator dealing with Frist, Rick Santorum and their fellow Republican thugs.

Remember, these are the guys who held open a Senate vote for three hours, instead of the customary 15 to 20 minutes, to get their phony Medicare prescription bill passed. These are the guys who are trying to get the most hateful, intolerant federal judges approved since the days of slavery, and accusing Democrats of being "obstructionists" for trying to keep that from happening. These are the guys who won't even allow Democrats to participate in the meetings bills are written in. And Betty "Crocker" Castor is going bake cupcakes, serve tea and restore civility?

Don't get me wrong. I like and respect Betty. (She climbed Mount Kilamanjaro, for crying out loud. You gotta respect that.) And she's compiled a commendable record of public service -- even if, as Beth points out, "During her tenure as state education commissioner, teacher salaries increased but school spending did not rise substantially; some test scores declined; the state's dropout rate was one of the worst in the nation."

I just think we need someone tougher in the cage with those beasts. Someone who, after 12 years in the House, is familiar with their power lust and barbaric "values." Someone whose idea of fun in high school was wrestling sweaty, muscle-bound neanderthals to the mat. And whose policy on political conflict isn't ''I have tried not to engage my opponents because it's not to my advantage to do that,'' as Betty is quoted in Beth's article.

Someone like Peter Deutsch. Whose boat is always rocking.

Comments

[Ampersand]

You know, it's a bit silly of you to portray your opponant as too weak for practical politics when polls show she's winning. What does it say about Peter Deutsch if the cookie-baking wimp you describe is able to kick his butt all over the polls?

I hope Peter Deutsch wins. But if he doesn't, part of the reason is that his opponent is, in fact, a tough and cagey politician, not the lightweight you're claiming she is. She might well be more effective than Deutsch in the Senate - just as she has, so far, appeared to be more effective than Deutsch in the race for the Senate.