Group hug in Nashville

Apparently the Tennessee House held a group therapy session yesterday. Embattled Democrat Rob Briley, the guy who got drunk last fall and led police on a high-speed chase around the outskirts of Nashville, then when captured sang the tune "springtime for Hilter in Germany" in the back of the squad car (suggesting the officers were part of Bush's coming police state), owned up to his problem in front of his peers Thursday.

Now, there's nothing wrong with forgiveness. There's nothing wrong with being thankful for a process known as diversion that wiped the evading arrest charge off the map and allowed Mr. Briley to remain a publicly-paid politician when most Tennesseans would have had a felony rap. Hopefully the man will mend his ways, we are all sinners, after all.

But wow, some of our elected Reps are apparently bigger sinners than we knew:

Moore noted that Briley "shined a little light to all of us that every one of us in this room have our own little demons that we deal with."

Moore added, "Some of us are alcoholics. Some of us are thieves. Some of us are adulterers. Truth of the matter is we reflect society."

After the House let out, Rep. Charles Curtiss, D-Sparta, called Briley courageous. "He earned a lot of respect today. He's got a lot of issues in his life, but the reality of it is that all of us have issues in our lives. The press has not caught up with all of us yet."

Curtiss said he thought some of Moore's language was too strong. "I would never say there were thieves in there," Curtiss said.

"I don't think there are any criminals in here," Curtiss said. "But we're a cross-section of society. There are people in there that drink, people in there that beat their wives, people in there unfaithful to their wives. No question in my mind about that."

Well, that's comforting, eh? Since they're all admitted sinners does that mean they'll soon pass a law giving all Tennessee residents the same heartfelt lenience the next time one of us gets drunk, evades police and calls them fascists? Not a chanc...hey wait, maybe if we pretend to be illegals?!