The nice thing about writing a joint column that offends nearly every politician in sight, as we did last week, is that when someone complains I can say, "Gosh, that item must have been written by that rude guy Frank." (He can, of course, make me the villain).

To make amends for last week's column, I want to tell what I really think about elected leaders. The truth is, despite our propensity to criticize and poke fun (mostly in good humor), I have a very healthy respect for politicians at all levels of government. Elected leaders have done something that most of us will never do. They have put their names, reputations, egos and in some cases their very futures on the line, asking their peers to choose them over other candidates for positions of responsibility where they have the authority to wield the power of government.

It is a scary and lonely thing to do, to risk the pain of rejection and disappointment. And once in office it doesn't get any easier as politicians grapple with difficult, no-win decisions guaranteed to make a lot of people mad. For most elected officials, very little exists in the way of glory, headlines and great moments of leadership. But there's lots of sacrifice, tedium and plain old hard work.

Many years ago I worked as an intern for columnist/investigative reporter Jack Anderson in Washington, D.C., who seemed to hold nearly all politicians in bitter contempt. He reveled in bringing down the high and mighty and hardly ever met a politician he didn't detest.

I once heard him speak to a group of college students and after a long oration about how politicians were crooked and were destroying America, a student raised his hand and asked, "Mr. Anderson, if you're so smart and know all the answers, why don't you run for office yourself?"

I will never forget Anderson's answer. "Are you kidding?" he said. "I'd much rather be up in the stands yelling, 'Throw the bum out!' than be down there pitching myself."

We ought to respect those who are down there pitching. It's a tough job. That doesn't mean we ought to give them a free ride and ignore their foibles. Disagreement and criticism are part of our political process. But we ought to treat them with respect and acknowledge their special status as someone who has been duly elected by citizens to represent us. Some angry critics think that as soon as someone is elected, they automatically become objects of scorn and derision. The opposite is true.

So thanks to all of you who serve at great sacrifice and with little remuneration except the satisfaction of service.