The liberal blogosphere and online squawkers chattered for weeks about ousted Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave’s decidedly unclassy exit from politics.
Musgrave, as you’ll recall, lost to Betsy Markey in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in one of the ugliest, down-and-dirty contests we’ve seen in quite awhile.
Immediately afterward, she “disappeared.” Even though her silence was the long-awaited answer to years of Democrats’ prayers, it nonetheless didn’t sit well.
A drumbeat of discontent began: She hasn’t officially conceded. She hasn’t thanked her staff. She hasn’t even thanked her supporters.
CNN reporters giggled on air about it; Newsweek declared her a “sore loser.”
Knowing Musgrave, and knowing that she was better than that, we even called her out on the editorial page. “It’s understandable to be upset, even embarrassed,” we wrote. “But we expect at least a modicum of civility from our elected officials.”
Then, last week, she spoke.
And those online squawkers immediately smacked her upside the head with a two-by-four.
In an op-ed sent to Colorado newspapers, Musgrave wrote: “I have the greatest respect for our system that gives the right to the people to change their leaders and the direction of their government. . . . Now is the time to put the last election behind us and do what is best for our nation, not what is popular or what is best for a political party. . . . Our newly elected leaders face great obstacles, and my prayers will be with all of them.”
Amen.
Yet, within hours of her column being posted on , Musgrave was called a “horrible, deceiving woman,” “scum,” a “hateful bigot,” an “embarrassment to Colorado,” a “mad cow” and “bad rubbish.”
Her detractors had taken the quasi-olive branch she extended, albeit a few weeks late, sharpened it and poked it right back in her eye.
Merry Christmas to you, too.
Musgrave could have elevated the discourse by making a gracious, John McCain-like call to Markey. But as noted by former Senate President John Andrews, a friend of Musgrave’s, no opponent has ever called Musgrave to concede a race that she won.
It’s not typically how the game is played at that level.
Considering that Musgrave was the first entrenched member of the U.S. House to be ousted by Colorado voters in decades, it can be argued she needed to concede the seat in Congress moreso than the election results.
She should have. It was the right thing to do.
But that’s not what this is about, and in the end it wouldn’t have quelled any firestorm.
Musgrave ticked off the wrong people by trying to cement her idea of traditional marriage into the Constitution, and they spent millions to tear her down, to dehumanize her.
It worked. People now have a visceral, hateful reaction to Musgrave on sight — issues be damned. It was rarely gay marriage that she was attacked for in TV ads. Instead, it was personal. Ill-fitting pink dresses and claims she didn’t support the troops.
That’s what this is about. The politics of personal destruction. And now that she’s gone, they’re still poking at the body, as if it’s not human.
Thus, one of nastiest chapters in Colorado political history comes to an end.
Musgrave told me last week she’s not sure what she’ll do next. I’d head for the mountains and enjoy the silence. But she’s still concerned about public policy and has some fight left in her.
“I have a great life,” she said. “I’m gonna be fine.”
She may be fine, but the political discourse in this state is not.
Dan Haley can be reached at dhaley@denverpost.com.
