Locker room talk

What's not in dispute is the facts of the matter. In the middle of a vote on the floor of the House, two members ran into each other on the steps of the Capital. One of them, Rep. Ted Yoho, from Florida, appears to have been livid about the other's remarks during a debate on the violence on the streets of New York. "The other" is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), who represents an area of NYC that is rife with crime. On the floor of the House AOC had said, she says, that a rise in petty crime in places like her district may well be occurring because of hard economic times. Obviously, Yoho disagreed. 

Two others were within earshot. One of them was a representative and friend of Yoho, a man with a name of soft heft in American history, Rep. Roger Williams. A reporter from The Hill was there too, sadly for Yoho. Four people heard exactly what Yoho said, but his buddy with the famous name says he wasn't tuned it at the moment--he was thinking about an issue going on in his district. 

It's not hard to guess what happened. Once Yoho heard that a reporter had picked up what he'd said (he called her a "f_____g bitch"), Yoho realized that he'd better do something about a regretful moment in his life that was sure defame to him. He apologized from the floor of the House, something that doesn't happen every day.

He didn't admit to what he said, just that he shouldn't have said it, then ended with some a good solid shot of self-glorification. 

I will commit to each of you that I will conduct myself from a place of passion and understanding that policy and political disagreement be vigorously debated with the knowledge that we approach the problems facing our nation with the betterment with the country in mind and the people we serve. I cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family and my country.

There's a bit of contrition in that, but more than a few doses of self-aggrandizement.

AOC took exception to what amounted to his personal apology and came to the floor yesterday to offer what might well be the most powerful single speech uttered there throughout the entire term. 

If you haven't listened in, you should. But it's withering. I don't know where Rep. Ted Yoho is this morning, but wherever he is he must be licking his wounds. Her sermon will take you some nine minutes, but it's worth it.

I won't say every, but certainly a lot of men know exactly what she's talking about. Me too. It's even got a name "locker-room talk," which is how Trump's admirers excused his obscene jerkiness on the Accent Hollywood tape. Trump knows very well what she's talking about. Millions do. 

That's why the speech was so powerful. AOC took her own dehumanization and lifted an attitude as widely held as racism--sexism--to a height from which no one in this nation could look away. 

Several years ago now, some network aired a show titled "Men Behaving Badly." Never saw it, so I shouldn't talk about it, but what Rep. Ted Yoho did a few days ago on the steps of the Capital, AND what he did in his flaccid apology to AOC, was demonstrate exactly what that line means. 

It's almost impossible for most men not to feel the wounds Ted Soho has to be feeling this morning. The man's a vet. I'm guessing he wouldn't treat a dog the way he treated her, even a female dog. If you don't feel the pain this morning, wonderful; but AOC's remarkable criticism was amazing because every word of it was true.