reality-based educator

Just like the preznit Randy "Duke" Cunningham so vigorously defended the last few years, former Congressman Cunningham, who resigned last week after pleading guilty to bribery, is nothing but a bully. From The Washington Post:

For those who have observed Duke Cunningham's behavior in Washington for 15 years, especially those who have felt his scorn, his remorseful exit from the House last week carried no surprises. Since his early days in Congress, Cunningham's behavior has been predictable: ad hominem attacks followed by tearful apologies.

In one now-famous incident, Cunningham and Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) got in a shoving match over sending troops to Bosnia. Moran confronted Cunningham, triggering a partisan melee among other members -- and Cunningham fled.

Moran found him crying in the cloakroom.

"I thought he had been bullying too many people for too long, and I told him so," Moran recalled. "He said he didn't mean to be so accusatory. . . . After that, he would bring me candy from California."

Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a California Republican, can no longer smooth over his bluster and lapses in judgment with a See's Candies party assortment. The eight-term congressman and decorated Navy pilot resigned his seat Monday after tearfully confessing to accepting at least $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors that included $100,000 in cash, a Rolls-Royce and a 42-foot yacht. He pleaded guilty in federal court and awaits sentencing Feb. 27.

The news -- the sheer magnitude of the graft -- was met with incredulity throughout Washington. How could Cunningham, a member of the Appropriations Defense subcommittee, have been so stupid, so craven, so greedy? Even President Bush weighed in, calling the crimes "outrageous."

...

From his arrival in Congress in 1991, Cunningham was branded as volatile and a flamethrower who challenged members to fistfights -- and not someone slated for leadership.

Packard, who sat with Cunningham on the Appropriations Committee, said he had a short fuse. Early on, Packard recalled, Cunningham became angry and emotional at a California delegation meeting when it became clear he did not have the support for a committee assignment he sought. "He was extremely upset and threatened to quit Congress. That was the first indication that he didn't have control of his emotions," Packard said.

Then there were the biting attacks on colleagues -- mainly partisan -- for which he usually apologized.

In 1992, Cunningham suggested that the Democratic House leadership should be "lined up and shot." A few years later, a House debate over water pollution turned ugly when Cunningham said lawmakers backing a particular amendment were the same people who support "homos in the military."

During remarks in his district in 1998 to a gathering of prostate cancer patients, Cunningham commiserated by describing a rectal procedure he had undergone as "just not natural, unless maybe you're Barney Frank."

"He was a blustery fool," said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is openly gay. He said Cunningham apologized to him for the remark and noted that he thought Cunningham had "calmed down" in recent years.

On his first trip back to Vietnam, Cunningham sat down with Vietnamese officials for a formal dinner, and his first words of the evening were: "You gooks shot me down."

"It's not exactly the way to start a diplomatic dinner," said Moran, who was on the trip with Cunningham. "I told him quietly that he had bombed them, too."

Yup. Nothing but a bully.

Buh-bye, Duke.

Enjoy prison.