Losers had a theme: arrogance

During a trial of a man accused of destruction of protected wildlife, Lewis recused herself because of her personal bias against hunting but not before launching into an anti-hunting tirade. During the tirade, the defendant's brother audibly sighed and got up and left the courtroom in disgust. At least he had the good sense to leave things alone, but Lewis didn't. She ordered the bailiff to bring him back to the courtroom, baited him into an explanation and then sent him to jail when she didn't like his explanation. All of which wound up on Internet video and made her a target of hunters everywhere.

She also made disparaging remarks about LDS baptism ("dunking," she called it) during a divorce proceeding.

Thus, just like that she ripped two religions in Utah: Mormonism and deer hunting. Lewis' only response: She had to maintain control of her court.

Arrogance was the election theme of losers across the country.

Four months ago, George Allen, the Republican senator from Virginia, had a 15-point lead in a state that has voted Republican in every presidential election for 40 years. He was being touted as a serious presidential candidate.

Then he opened his mouth. He called a man of Indian descent who worked for his opponent a "macaca," an African monkey, then made things worse with his ridiculous explanation (didn't know what the word meant). An angry response to another controversy didn't help. His narrow loss tilted the Senate majority to the Democrats.

Donald Rumsfeld wasn't directly dumped by voters as secretary of Defense, but their support of his enemies did the trick. Rumsfeld made many enemies with his legendary arrogance and condescension. Among other things, he scolded war critics ("back off") and, while acknowledging that the (little) people didn't like the Iraq war, "It doesn't matter in the sense that we have to do what we think is right."

Put Rumsfeld with President Bush's other sidekicks, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, and nobody had seen this much arrogance on one stage since Barbra Streisand's farewell concert. There was a lot of that going around in '06. Golf, anyone?

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Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesday. Please send e-mail to drob@desnews.com.