Most of us who follow politics know that both the House and Senate chambers are usually quiet, staid places full of dignified representatives going about the people’s business with a combination of monotony and boredom.

But it wasn’t always so. A little more than 150 years ago, those two bodies were full of quarreling, angry men, many of whom came to the floor armed with pistols. There was a daily potential for real violence and Southern representatives were especially cognizant of any slight, any slander directed at their state or their “peculiar institution.” Fistfights on the House floor were not uncommon over the issue of slavery. In fact, it could fairly be said that the first blows in the American Civil War were struck between the people’s representatives in the lead up to the formal break in 1860.

The Senate was a little different. The high-born Senators were much less likely to engage in the rough and tumble of politics. They were expected to maintain a level of decorum in their debates according to long standing rules and traditions.

But even the Senate was not immune from the whirlwind that the issue of Kansas created. Should Kansas be admitted to the Union as a slave state or a free state? The issue held the attention of the nation during the spring of 1856 as Massachussetts Senator Charles Sumner rose and began to speak about slavery.

Politicians back then were something like the celebrities of today. In a time when politics was theater, politicans were expected to be entertainers, giving stemwinding speeches designed to rouse the passions of the listener.

Sumner didn’t disappoint. His speech alluded to slavery in the crudest, most sexually suggestive terms. This was no accident. One of the most horrifying aspects of slavery to the puritan-like citizens of New England was the “freedom of the slave quarters” granted to southern masters (and their house guests). Sumners words were designed to recall that horror and in the process condemn not only the institution of slavery, but those who practiced it:

But, before entering upon the argument, I must say something of a general character, particularly in response to what has fallen from Senators who have raised themselves to eminence on this floor in championship of human wrongs. I mean the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Butler), and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas), who, though unlike as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, yet, like this couple, sally forth together in the same adventure. I regret much to miss the elder Senator from his seat; but the cause, against which he has run a tilt, with such activity of animosity, demands that the opportunity of exposing him should not be lost; and it is for the cause that I speak. The Senator from South Carolina has read many books of chivalry, and believes himself a chivalrous knight, with sentimcuts of honor and courage. Of course he has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight I mean the harlot, Slavery. For her, his tongue is always profuse in words. Let her be impeached in character, or any proposition made to shut her out from the extension of her wantonness, and no extravagance of manner or hardihood of assertion is then too great for this Senator. The frenzy of Don Quixote, in behalf of his wench, Dulcinea del Toboso, is all surpassed.

By insulting Senator Andrew Butler, Sumner had opened a hornets nest. One of Butler’s kinsman from South Carolina, Preston Brooks, took offense at the Senator’s slander. Here’s the official Senate history of the incident that followed:

Representative Preston Brooks was Butler’s South Carolina kinsman. If he had believed Sumner to be a gentleman, he might have challenged him to a duel. Instead, he chose a light cane of the type used to discipline unruly dogs. Shortly after the Senate had adjourned for the day, Brooks entered the old chamber, where he found Sumner busily attaching his postal frank to copies of his “Crime Against Kansas” speech.

Moving quickly, Brooks slammed his metal-topped cane onto the unsuspecting Sumner’s head. As Brooks struck again and again, Sumner rose and lurched blindly about the chamber, futilely attempting to protect himself. After a very long minute, it ended.

Bleeding profusely, Sumner was carried away. Brooks walked calmly out of the chamber without being detained by the stunned onlookers. Overnight, both men became heroes in their respective regions.

The aftermath was shocking. Sumner (who never fully recovered his faculties after the beating) was lauded as a man who told it like it was. Brooks, in the meantime, became a hero throughout the south. People sent him canes by the score, some of them inscribed with “Hit Him Again.”

Brooks attacked Sumner for his blood libel against a kinsman. And now we have a similar blood libel made by my home state Senator Dick Durbin whose stupidity and arrogance I’ve written about here and here. Durbin’s libel was much more serious than a slap at someone’s family honor. His words comparing American interrogators to Nazi’s and the detention center at Guantanamo to death camps debase the government and people of the United States.

What’s worse, instead of apologizing, this embarassment to my home state has called on the United States to apologize for abandoning the Geneva Convention. It seems to have escaped this clueless moonbat that the Geneva protocols were written to protect soldiers in uniform. Since the only identifying feature of an al Qaeda foot soldier is the number of dead innocents left in his wake, the protocols would seem not to apply in his case.

This hasn’t stopped not only Durbin, but the jubilant Kossaks who now feel they have the President and his Iraq policy on the run. They are fairly bursting with hope that at last, they can do what they’ve been dreaming of for two years; repeat the success of their ideological ancestors of the 1960’s and cause the people of United States to lose faith in both the eventual victory in Iraq and the righteousness of our cause. It’s sickening.

Durbin has gotten what amounts to a caning in the last few days from the Shadow Media. I’ve detailed extensive reaction to the intial comments of the Senator here. Some additional thoughts follow.

Michelle Malkin:

What America needs is for President Bush himself to directly challenge Durbin on his treachery.

What President Bush should do is to call on Durbin to retract his remarks (not just apologize) and ask forgiveness from our troops and the American people.

Palmetto Pundit:

Oh, the humanity! It looks as if Sen. Durbin has joined the ranks of congressmen who are stuck on stupid. He either a) has no knowledge of history or b) he is making these sick comparisons out of hatred for the Bush Administration, or c) a combination of the two. Frankly, I couldn’t care less which one it is. All three are equally pitiful in my opinion.

Captian Ed:

It seems that the Democrats have, for the past four decades, ever been ready to smear the American military during a time of war—particularly with analogies to Nazis—to bolster their political fortunes at the nation’s expense. This hysterical and self-righteous namecalling turned out to be almost completely false in Viet Nam, but we learned that well after we ran out on our erstwhile allies in the South. They are even more ludicrous today, when the Durbins, Kerrys, and others have gotten so desperate for political attention that they now feel the need to toss out genocidal equivalences three at a time for what amounts to nothing more than humiliation techniques, invoking Nazis, Stalinists, and most egregiously the Khmer Rouge that their propaganda allowed to take power in the 1970s.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars:

“The senator was totally out of line for even thinking such thoughts, and we demand he apologize to every man and woman who has ever worn the uniform of our country, and to their families,” said John Furgess, the VFW’s commander-in-chief.
“Our soldiers put the needs of others first, just like generations of Americans before them,” said Furgess, a Vietnam veteran who retired as a colonel in the Tennessee Army National Guard.

“They answered the call to create our country, to save our Union, and to help free the world from tyranny. And in return, all they ever asked for was to be appreciated for who they are and what they do, and for the country to care for their minds and bodies if broken or care for their families should they die,” he said

Froggy Ruminations:

I want Durbin’s job, and I want it now. I’ll be damned if a US Senator is going to get away with comparing my comrades to the Gestapo, or Stalin’s thugs. To the people of the Great State of Illinois, none of you have a hair on you’re a$$ if you do not demand a recall of this piece of trash. This guy isn’t some benchwarmer nutjob either, he is in the Democratic leadership and as such he speaks for the rest of the 44 Senators in his caucus. If you are a Democrat US Senator and you do not have a statement of categorical disavowal of Durbin’s remarks and a plea for him to recant and apologize for them released to the press by close of business today, you are wrong.

That sounds like a great idea. Here’s Durbin’s email address and phone number:

Phone: (202) 224-2152 or (312) 353-4952

E-mail: dick@durbin.senate.gov

Let’s get busy.