ALSO SEE: The Democratic Opposition Should Look More Like Rep. Al Green

It turns out that decorum is an ancient Latin word for “chickenshit.”

On Thursday, the House of Representatives censured Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) for interrupting the president’s farrago of lies and fantasies the other night. Speaker Moses was really puffed up, especially when Democrats in the chamber began singing “We Shall Overcome,” and he had to pound his gavel to try and get them to stop. (Narrator: They didn’t.) Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, both of whom greeted former president Biden’s State of the Union like a matched set of howler monkeys, voted to censure Green without blinking, as did Rep. Joe Wilson, whose lasting fame is yelling, “You lie!” at President Obama. These were shameful turns of events, but they were nothing compared with the spectacular dive taken by the Democratic congressional elite.

The buggering out began in the Senate. CNN reported that Senate Democrats were disappointed by Green’s protest. That was a kind of signal to the House Democratic caucus that it was okay to hit the silk on one of its own. From CNN:

House Minority Leader Jeffries told CNN earlier Wednesday that the “overwhelming majority” of Democrats approached the speech with seriousness. When asked about Republicans wanting to censure Green and whether that’s appropriate, Jeffries said only: “I haven’t had that conversation with anyone.“ Democrats do not plan to whip members against the censure resolution, allowing lawmakers to vote how they want, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Remind me to cancel Jeffries’s reservation in my foxhole. Yeesh.

Ultimately, ten Democrats voted with the Republicans. They were:

1. Ami Bera of California


2. Ed Case of Hawaii


3. Jim Costa of California


4. Laura Gillen of New York


5. Jim Himes of Connecticut


6. Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania


7. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio


8. Jared Moskowitz of Florida


9. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington


10. Tom Suozzi of New York

Himes and Kaptur are genuine disappointments, and what a show pony Moskowitz has turned out to be. Himes compounded his surrender by giving to CNN this knives-to-a-gunfight explanation.

“I don’t mind being one of 10 Democrats who said, no, there’s a deeper principle at stake here, which is reverence for this institution,” Himes said after the vote, adding that lawmakers need to act “with the decorum and with the civility that says to the world that we are a serious country. I have no love for Donald Trump, but I do have reverence for the Office of the President,” he told CNN’s Pamela Brown.

I think a proper axiom for the moment is to treat the presidency with the exact amount of reverence for the office displayed by its current occupant. Which is to say as an ATM at a roadside rest stop in the Mojave. And for the benefit of readers not familiar with the Classics, decorum is an ancient Latin word for “chickenshit.”

For himself, God bless him, Green remains unbowed. It was he who began the singing in the chamber that so aggravated Speaker Moses. I was about to make a joke about preaching to the choir, but I realized that wasn’t so funny anymore.