Is Kifowit’s trash talk any more crude than Trump-era Republican rhetoric?

Yes, Stephanie Kifowit, the state representative from Oswego who implied this week that one of her Republican colleagues ought to have his family infected with Legionnaire’s Disease, was rude and tacky in her comments.

KIFOWIT: Her moment of 'infamy?'

It was good to learn that after an entire day of trying to defend herself (claiming she was misinterpreted), she came out with an apology to the family of state Rep. Peter Breen – the legislator whose family was supposed to be infected and drop dead!

YET I HAVE to admit that hearing all the self-righteous GOP rhetoric condemning Kifowit for her trash talk was even more sickening than anything the representative said.

For these are often the same people who are so eager to defend their Republican colleagues, and President Donald Trump himself, every time they spew something stupid and crude.

Particularly with regards to the president, they try to claim his crude talk on oh so many issues is just The Donald being blunt-spoken and honest. Saying it the way it really is, they’ll try to claim.

It’s almost enough to make me think they deserve to be smacked about with Kifowit-style trash talk. In this era our society is now in, we’re going to have many people saying stupid things. We’re all going to be owed many apologies.

BREEN: Really a victim?

I ALSO HAVE no doubt that the next generation is going to look back on my own and wonder just how we all could have been pathetic enough to think that such behavior was acceptable.

Probably similar to how many of us in society these days look back on old segregationist attitudes and ponder just how anyone could ever have been so backward as to think such thoughts were civilized and proper.

All of this was triggered Tuesday by activity at the Statehouse in Springfield, where the big issue being discussed was a bill meant to raise the financial limits that exist for how much the families of seniors who lived at a veterans’ home in Quincy could sue the state to compensate them for the loss of a loved one.

Breen, a Lombard Republican, said he thinks there are too many questions, and that raising the limits (from $100,000 to $2 million) could be financially damaging to the state.

SCHNEIDER: A little too self-righteous!

THAT IS WHAT offended Kifowit to the point where she said how bad it would be if a “broth of Legionella” were to be put into the water supply of Breen’s family.

Kifowit initially tried defending herself by saying she meant her statement as a theoretical example, and not as a hard-and-fast outcome that she was wishing for. But she got buried under mounds of harsh rhetoric implying how cruel and heartless she was for even suggesting the death of a political colleague’s family.

“Kifowit should be ashamed of her remarks,” said state Republican Chairman Tim Schneider. “Since Rep. Kifowit has refused to apologize to Rep. Breen she should resign from office, as these remarks are unfit for someone serving public office.”

Of course, Kifowit later came up with an apology. When combined with the fact that Schneider’s own political influence these days is minimal (he couldn’t even win re-election earlier this month to his government post on the Cook County Board), it’s not likely that anybody is resigning from anything.

FOR IF WE truly expected resignations from political people every time they said or thought something stupid, we likely wouldn’t have any officials left to fill government posts.

TRUMP: How many apologies does he owe us?

It may be the ultimate truth about comprehending the ways of government and politics – it’s all a matter of trying to avoid saying something stupid. Then again, one’s idea of what is stupid or offensive all-too-often depends on one’s own partisan political leanings.

Going back to the example of our president, who has made so many rude and crude comments on so many issues that I’ve lost count, he’s not about to resign because of his mouth. His Republican colleagues in Congress enjoy the fact that Trump’s presence strengthens their own political status, so they’re not about to hold him accountable.

Which means that on a certain level, Kifowit probably deserves a bit of praise for the fact that she apologized for her bout of diarrhea of the mouth that she suffered from Tuesday.

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