Public outrage by rote

It's been a week since Sen. Chris Buttars put his senatorial foot in his mouth, and only now is the controversy beginning to fade, after demands for his resignation, apologies, public outcry, etc. — all of it right on schedule.

By now we've got this public excoriation thing down pat. You know the drill. Some public figure says something incredibly stupid, pundits call it offensive and racist, and we're off and running again with public indignation, demands for a resignation or firing, letters to the editor, media commentary and condemnation, an apology and so forth.

We've been down this road over and over again, with Howard Cosell, Don Imus, Michael Richards, Jimmy the Greek, Fuzzy Zoeller, John Rocker, Fisher DeBerry and many more. We could do this routine in our sleep.

The Buttars faux pas began during a debate on the Senate floor, when the senator expressed his disgust for a proposed bill by saying, "This baby is black, I'll tell you. This is a dark, ugly thing."

Nobody can defend what Buttars said. It was a terrible metaphor. The first time you hear it, it sounds appalling.

But eventually you expect calmer heads to prevail. Where is common sense? Why are Americans so unwilling to cut someone some slack?

Before you dash off that nasty letter to the editor in response to the above paragraph, take a deep breath and read on.

Does anyone think that a veteran politician like Buttars was thinking of an African-American baby when he said that?

Why would he do this to himself?

Buttars says he never meant it as a racist term, although it certainly sounded that way. As dumb as his verbal gaffe was, maybe he should be given the benefit of the doubt. He could have said what he meant and avoided a lot of trouble if only he had substituted "thing" in place of "baby." Black is often used metaphorically — "black sheep" of the family, operating a business "in the black." Maybe the reason he used the term "baby" is because Sen. Howard Stephenson had already called the bill "the ugly baby bill."

Even a seasoned politician like Sen. John Valentine said, "I didn't take it as a racist remark, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was inappropriate and a breach of decorum."

This wasn't Michael Richards using vulgar racist language to put down hecklers in the audience; this wasn't John Rocker spouting his racism and hate in a long magazine interview; this was a spur-of-the-moment accident.

Apparently, people once placed great trust in Buttars by electing him to office. But after a couple of sentences, they're ready to kick him out of office.

Why are people so quick and eager to rush to judgment in this country?