"Double secret probation" required for clashing pols?

Throwing around references to “Animal House” is probably “a really stupid and futile gesture” by both Bristol’s congressman and the state Republican Party chairman, but they’ve each relied on the comedy classic to take political potshots this week.
U.S. Rep. John Larson, the East Hartford Democrat whose 1st District includes Bristol, got the ball rolling Thursday when he said the nation should “consider holding the Republicans in double secret probation” for the decision by GOP lawmakers to walk out of the House Thursday rather than vote on a measure aimed at preventing illegal wiretaps.
“The political theater enacted by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle,” Larson said, “was akin to Otter and Boone leading the Deltas out of the student body at Faber College” during “Animal House.”
Firing back for the Republicans, state GOP Chairman Chris Healy told Larson, echoing one of he movie’s most famous lines, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
“Larson's own personal comportment at a time of national crisis makes him unsuited to characterize anyone else as drunken and slovenly frat boys,” said Healy, pointing to a 2001 Vanity Fair story that accused Larson of drinking and carousing on Capitol Hill shortly after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"While the rubble was still smoldering and America was still on high alert, John Larson was regaling staffers and lobbyist with his impersonation of Marlon Brando while the wine and music flowed," said Healy. "While everyone remembers 9-11, Larson hopes the people will forget the Battle of the Capitol Grille."Failing to find an appropriate “Animal House” line, Larson said simply he would not “take the bait of this kind of personal attack,” calling it “typical Chris Healy.”
“Innuendo and personal smears don't change the record. The public is on to it," Larson said.
Healy said that House Republicans walked off the floor in an effort to avoid voting on contempt of Congress citations that would hold the Bush Administration in general, and Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers in particular, accountable for their involvement in the firing of U.S. attorneys.
Larson said that by walking out, the Republican congressmen “abdicated their responsibility as members of this body to oversee the actions of the executive branch. It is both irresponsible and unconstitutional.”
“The Republicans’ stunt on the House floor,” Larson said, “is just another example of their rubber stamp of this administration’s disregard for the Constitution and our civil rights in the pursuit of its own political purposes.”
Bristol’s Art Mocabee, the GOP’s second vice chairman for the 1st District, said that he expects Congress “to take measures to protect our society , our family members and values, our businesses and our way of life” in face of a proven terrorist threat.
“ Those like Mr. Larson, who are calling for retreat, withdrawal and elimination of the safe guards in place just don't get it,” he said. “Mr. Larson needs to wake up.”
Mocabee said that Americans “can't afford members of Congress, or federal attorneys that don't have the backbone to stand up for a strong America. Perhaps if Mr. Larson was not so pre-occupied with his “Animal House”-like behavior and personal social agenda he would be able to pay more attention to our security and protection while he is in Washington.”

Here's a statement that Congressman John Larson, who represents Bristol, sent along this afternoon in response to state Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy's comments this morning:

"This is typical Chris Healy - just something you need to laugh at. We refuse to take the bait of this kind of personal attack.
On the substance, Democrats in the House of Representatives have done more with our one year in the majority, than Republicans did with their decade.
Despite the sort of Republican roadblocks and trickery we saw yesterday, we have made great headway towards holding the Bush Administration accountable and achieving our goals for the country. Republicans have become the party of obstruction. They blocked efforts to get our troops out of Iraq in a timely fashion. They blocked efforts to increase troop readiness, putting our men and women in uniform at great risk. They tried to block our efforts to perform our Constitutional duty of oversight. And, they even blocked efforts to provide health care coverage to poor children.
Despite all of that, we managed to pass the first increase in the minimum wage in a decade. We helped make college more affordable for students. We passed all of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission to secure our country. We gave our veterans the largest increase in benefits in the entire lifetime of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
And, most recently we passed one of the most progressive economic stimulus packages in our nation's history. After years of neglect by a Republican majority, Democrats are now working to heal the economy.
Innuendo and personal smears don't change the record. The public is on to it."

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