I was at a soccer game last night. DC United was playing the Chicago Fire for a spot in the Championships. I was in the strange position of rooting for my new team, against the team of my hometown. After the first five minutes, when Chicago dominated the offense, I was a little worried that DC was not playing very well, and we would most likely lose the game. The Chicago players were huge, at least five of their midfielders were over six feet, and they all looked like they had spent hours on the weight bench. In comparison, DC's players looked beat up, tired, and defeated, even at the beginning of the game. Chicago was all over the field, and seemed to be playing by a different set of rules. They were hitting hard, they knocked one of our key players out of the game in the first three minutes, ( I didn't see the play, I was in the beer line) they were grabbing onto our jerseys, using hands and elbows in ways that are not allowed, and the ref was not calling many fouls. In addition to this, our defense was sluggish and slow, and at the half, DC was down by three goals.
I know you're thinking that this is going to be another one of my sports analogies, and you're right.
So the second half starts, and the DC offense starts looking pretty perky. They are getting downfield, penetrating deep into the box (don't you just love sports talk? do you blame me for making these sorts of analogies?) and it looks as if maybe the game is not a total write-off after all. But the Chicago guys are still playing by their own rules, pushing and tripping and the body contact looked more like American football than soccer. One of our guys was fouled a couple of feet away from the net, and went sprawling into the grass face first. He got to his feet, and said something to the Chicagoan who had made him eat dirt, and was given a red card and ejected from the game.
It would seem to me that pushing and shoving and physical contact would be reasons to call foul, and that name calling or something obscene (in Spanish even, foul words never sound as bad when they're in Spanish) would be not quite as illegal But our guy was given a red card and ejected from the game and we had to play the rest of the half with 10 players while they had 11 and were already up by three goals. The Chicagoans continued to play rough, one player even kicked on of our guys in the face, and no foul was called.
It was the 85th minute, and there was no way DC was ever going to win, so I thought to myself, why not give these guys back some of what they gave us? And while you're at it, why not try to take the dirty ref down too? There's a saying in Chicago, "If You Can't Beat Em.....Beat the Shit Out of Them."
Which makes me think of the Democrats out numbered as fate would have it, out-funded, and facing a bunch of guys who play dirty and also have the advantage of having no referee. If we're going to lose anyway, why not go out fighting? Why not oppose this morning's nomination with everything we've got? Why not pull out all the stops and force the Republicans to go for the nukes, the bending of the rules always seems to come back to haunt them doesn't it? The Democrats should make some noise, because if they don't, the last branch of government will be handed over to these guys who make up thier own rules, and we will have a lifetime appointee and the rule of theocracy to deal with for the next 25 years. If we force the Republicans to go for the nukes, it will make the public more aware of the lengths they are willing to go to in order to bend the rules in their favor.
It's time for the Democrats to get rough. Let's start throwing elbows.
