An article in the Times this weekend literally caused me to wretch with nausea. Let me explain why.
But first, a little background.
A recent Google search revealed that the terms “Tea Party” + “Personal Accountability” yielded 91,800 responses.
91,800.
If one drank Tea Party Kool-Aid (now there’s a brand name waiting to be exploited), one would have to believe that the terms “Tea Party” and “Personal Accountability” were virtually synonymous.
Mark Mayfield drank the Tea Party Kool-Aid.
Mayfield was one of the vermin who conspired to photograph Senator Thad Cochran’s poor demented wife at the nursing home where she lives what remains of her life.
It was the sort of crime committed by deluded narcissists of every ideology.
After his well-deserved arrest, Mayfield continued to drink Tea Party, Kool-Aid, this time literally. Unable to deal with his issues of “personal accountability,” he embraced the tradition of hari-kari embraced by a different sort of tea drinkers.
According to the Times, a Tupelo Tea Party leader, one Grant Sowell, put it this way:
“This is an election, but an election shouldn’t cost a life,” .
Agreed.
An election shouldn’t cost a life…or what remains of the already tattered dignity of a poor demented old woman and her family.
Mayfield’s Tea Party lawyer, one Merrida Coxwell, put it thusly:
“Sadly, Mark may have taken his own life, but that lies at the feet of some other people…They will have to explain that.”
Say what?
The only rational explanation for a quote that ludicrous is that Coxwell meant that Mayfield himself wasn’t around to explain it himself.
But whose fault was that?
Those who uphold “Personal Accoutability” might put it differently:
“Sadly, or not, Mark took his own life, and that lies at the feet of no one but himself and perhaps those who encouraged his wretched and illegal conduct. He can’t explain that, but perhaps they can.”
That, my friends, is “Personal Accountability.”
Harsh, but inescapable.
To paraphrase a different dead Mayfield:
Markie’s dead
That's what I said
Let the man rap a plan; 'said he'd send him home
But his hope was a rope, and he should have known
It's hard to understand
There was love in this man
I'm sure all would agree
That his misery
Was Thad’s woman and things
Now Markie’s dead
That's what I said
Everybody's misused him
Ripped him off and abused him
Another honky playin'
Pushin' dope for the klan
A terrible blow, but that's how it go
A Markie’s on the corner now
If you wanna be a dummy, wow
Remember, Markie’s dead
We're all built up with progress
But sometimes I must confess
We can deal with rockets and dreams
But reality
What does it mean
Ain't nothing said
'Cause Markie’s dead
Why can't we brothers
Protect one another
No one's serious
And it makes me furious
Don't be snarked
Just think of Mark