War words matter

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has claimed Democrats "car-bombed" legislation because they vacated the Statehouse Tuesday in protest of perceived "GOP power grabs." Republicans narrowly control the Statehouse for the first time in eight years, but 67 members must be on the House floor to provide a quorum to conduct legislative business. The first half of the 2005 legislative session concluded Wednesday with more than 100 bills marinating in the Statehouse.\nDaniels' intentional use of the phrase "car-bombed" to describe partisan politics is inappropriate, insensitive and certainly not "justified" as an Indianapolis Star staff editorial claims. The 48 Democrats who abandoned the House floor should not feel pressure to stand on the Statehouse steps and apologize to Hoosiers. Rather, Daniels should apologize to the 3,000-plus Indiana National Guard soldiers stationed in Middle East. \nThe governor could have described the Democrats' stonewalling technique as "disruptive," "damaging" or "destructive." Instead, he incorporated terror-speak into an otherwise understandable plea for legislative unity. \nThe American death toll in Iraq just clicked past 1,500 patriotic men and women, some dying in car bombings. Describing political bickering with highly charged language is disrespectful to American soldiers serving overseas in the midst of frequent car-bomb suicide attacks. \nMore than 120 Iraqi men, women and children were murdered in Hilla, Iraq, by a suicide "car bombing" at a busy intersection Feb. 28, according to The New York Times. \nThe article said "witnesses described a scene of horrific carnage, with huge pools of blood visible on the pavement and mangled bodies being loaded onto wooden handcarts."\nThis was certainly not the scene Tuesday on the Indiana Statehouse floor.\nHouse Speaker Rep. Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) told The Indianapolis Star Thursday, "I just don't think they understand the meaning of minority." \nBosma led a Republican walkout last spring in protest of then-House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer's (D-South Bend) refusal to allow debate about amending Indiana's constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Republicans also walked out on a Democratic majority in 2001 and 1998. Apparently, Bosma forgot definition of being in the minority. \nThe Democrats are reported to have reservations about two specific bills. The first would allow Daniels' inspector general prosecutorial powers; the second would demand voters show government-issued IDs at the polls.\nMany Hoosiers on campus voted for Daniels hoping he could tackle troubling state problems like depressed economic growth, a perceived brain-drain of intellectual capital and ensuring that no child is left behind in Indiana classrooms. Offensive partisan rhetoric will not get the job done for Hoosiers, and the tone certainly does not "support our troops"