Washington at War: Political Animosity Reaches New, Personal Level

Photo Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Everybody knows that “politics ain’t beanbag,” as American humorist Finley Peter Dunne’s “Mr. Dooley” put it more than a century ago.

But the partisan animosity over the government shutdown has gotten unusually bitter and personal, even for Washington.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is quoted calling House Speaker John Boehner “a coward.” Mr. Boehner’s reported characterization of Democratic leaders in Congress – questioning the circumstances of their birth, to put it politely – is no less insulting.

In a piece about Reid, Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell headlined “Bad blood: Four feuding leaders,” Politico reports that “the relationship between the nation’s top political leaders is now brimming with acrimony, distrust, and pettiness at a perilous time for the country’s economy.”

“But the personal animus extends beyond the leaders,” this report notes. “Along with their bosses, aides to Boehner and Reid are in an undeclared war and neither is refusing to budge an inch.”