After yet another breaking of bread with old school Republican friends, the question remains: whatever happened to political courage?

"Off the record," bless their hearts (see below) they are all willing to admit that:

* this year's GOP candidates for President are embarrassing, though each is embarrassing in his own special way
* religious extremists are, sadly, religious extremists
* global warming is real and burning carbon-based fuel doesn't help
* evolution is, for the moment, the best model for explaining how modern humans became modern humans
* abortion is sometimes necessary, and whether or not to have one is no one's business (other than the people who are pregnant and the people giving them medical advice)
* birth control is a good thing, that makes life better and even saves money
* no one should be condemned to a life of misery because of the cost of health care.
* no one really "needs" to buy more than one handgun a month or carry concealed weapons into bars, even if they have the "right" to do so
* gay people should have the same rights and privileges as everyone else
* people who incite hatred and empower bigotry are contemptible and should be exposed for the contemptible people they are
* it is good to be skeptical
* science trumps myths and fairy tales, especially when the science gets personal
* sadly, strong governments are necessary, and so are taxes
* business isn't in the jobs business, it's in the business of getting work done . . . as cheaply as possible
* most people we know who work for governments (most of them educators, cops, soldiers and the people who back them up) tend to be decent hard-working folks.
* the war in Iraq was at worst, wrong, and at best a big mistake.
* Afghanistan is a wound that will not heal
* unregulated greed, not government, did in the economy
* the only thing worse than strict government regulation and law enforcement is no government regulation and law enforcement.

But do these political cognoscenti venture to publicly advance these quite reasonable positions? Of course they don't. Off the record, these pillars of the establishment are willing to acknowledge an unusual act by Delegate David Englin (D-Alexandria) who took to the House floor Friday to extend a public apology to me for misstatements he made recently in the national media. I was very appreciative and in the end it is a good lesson for us all in kindness and decorum. But not one of them is willing to speak publicly in support of those positions because doing so would risk antagonizing the base of the Republican Party. So, instead of demonstrating some degree of political courage, they remain quiet, confident that someone else will champion these causes and positions.