Tough Hyde
The flip side of discovering that yesterday’s heroes are frauds and cheats (hello, Sens. Kennedy and Kerry) is that yesterday’s villains are men of honor and ideals.
He was a pro-life lion and fierce advocate for a strong national defense. May he rest in peace. Via The Hill:
Former Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) died Wednesday night at the age of 83, according to political sources.
Hyde, one of the GOP leaders in the House impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton, had been recovering from heart surgery performed six months ago. He served 16 terms in Congress before retiring in 2006.
Back in the day, I probably couldn’t have named a pubic enemy any higher than Henry Hyde (with the possible exceptions of Phil Gramm and Alphonse D’Amato). Now I look on his stands on abortion, impeachment, and national defense and think: whether I agree with them completely or not, thank God somebody had such moral certainty.
It is the nature of most liberal politics (and not a few conservatives) to vilify opponents. Henry Hyde was not just wrong, to my way of thinking, he was evil. I am chastened every day to learn how wrong I was. Henry Hyde was neither wrong nor evil. He was principled. To a liberal, that’s almost as bad.
PS: I never warmed up to D’Amato, but I am more open to Gramm’s arrogant Texan charm. “I have more guns than I need, but less guns than I want,” is a statement of values more concrete and self-assured than “I was before the war before I was against it,” and other leftist creeds.