My parents were polite people. Good manners were important to them, so I was raised to be polite. I was also raised to stand up for myself and what is right. My dad had the quaint belief that you could judge a man by his handshake. I don’t go that far but there’s nothing worse than what Lou called a “dead fish” handshake. The only time I saw my father refuse to shake hands was with someone who had done him wrong.

The Civility Police don’t exist but if they did, they would have disapproved of my dad’s actions. They live to tut-tut and judge. It happened again after a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony this week when the family of fallen January 6 police officer Brian Sicknick refused to shake hands with the Turtle and KMac.

Here’s the action in two Tweets:

During Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for Jan. 6 police, representatives of those receiving awards shake hands with Schumer then walk past McConnell and McCarthy. pic.twitter.com/YGjKXRGtiZ

— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) December 6, 2022

FLASH: Family of officer Brian Sicknick refuses to shake hands with Sen McConnell and Rep McCarthy at Congressional gold medal ceremony. Brian’s brother Ken Sicknick tells me why ====> pic.twitter.com/Y34CI8MCTi

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) December 6, 2022

I concur. You shouldn’t shake hands with hypocrites who enabled sedition and treason. They only thing they deserve is scorn and contempt.

This cartoon sums up my feelings on this matter:

The Gold Medal episode brought back reminders of the many scoldings served up by the Civility Police when the rudest president* in American history was in office.

Remember when Trump was booed at a baseball game? I got into a huge fight with an acquaintance on Twitter who insisted that it was wrong to boo a sitting Oval One. He claimed to be anti-Trump but didn’t agree that manners are a two-way street. I promptly invited this bozo to a block party. It was when I resolved to stop arguing with strangers on social media.

I’m not sure I would have yelled at Sarah Sanders if we were dining in the same restaurant but she was the rudest White House press secretary in recent memory so I would have been tempted. I pity the people of Arkansas. She’s their governor-elect. I wonder which term for the people of her state she uses: Arkansans or Arkansawyers. That’s new to me. Ya learn something new every day.

The Turtle and KMac are contemptible creeps. They deserve to be treated with derision and contempt. I wouldn’t shake hands with them either. I bet Mitch’s handshake is as oily and slimy as the man himself. KMac is clearly the sort of “dead fish” handshaker my father warned me about. Maybe there’s something to Lou’s “the handshake reveals the man” ethos after all. It may be retrograde but so are McConnell and McCarthy. May they rot in hell.

The last word goes to Kris Kristofferson:

Have I told you lately that Kris and I share a high school alma mater?