When longtime Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings died unexpectedly Thursday at the age of 68, condolences poured in from across the world. Even Cummings' political opponents marked his passing with respectful remembrances and well-wishes for his family and friends.
This, of course, is the normal, sane thing to do. Even though Cummings was a fierce advocate for the liberal causes in which he believed, his opponents respected him enough as a human being to mourn his loss. So why couldn't liberals do the same when conservative mega-donor David Koch passed away less than two months ago?
"The Dan O'Donnell Show" searched for hours Thursday morning for verified Twitter users (not random accounts with only a handful of followers) celebrating Cummings' death the way verified accounts celebrated Koch's death in August and could not find a single one. By contrast, there were literally hundreds of verified accounts celebrating and mocking Koch's death.
Prominent conservatives, though, responded like this to Cummings' death:
Now contrast these sentiments with the nearly endless stream of hate and bile from verified Twitter liberals following Koch's death on August 23rd:
Bill Maher even celebrated Koch's death by exclaiming "f*** him. I'm glad he's dead and I hope the end was painful."
This, more than pretty much anything else, helps explain why politics in this country has become so toxic. Only one side apparently still sees its opponents as human beings worthy of being treated with any sort of dignity or respect.