Socialist softball

Okay, the reason I'm posting this (other than for cheap laughs at the sight of GOP congressional aides acting with the emotional maturity of insecure eight-year olds) is because at least one person reading this blog has a connection (at least a tenuous connection) to one of the teams mentioned in this article, and I guess I'm just curious as to whether or not these asshats are really this petty and stupid. Via the incomparable digby:

Amid all the partisan rancor of congressional politics, the softball league has for 37 years been a rare case of bipartisan civility, an opportunity for Democratic and Republican aides to sneak out of work a bit early and take the field in the name of the lawmaker, committee or federal agency they work for.

This year, the league will be missing something: a lot of the Republicans.

During the off-season, a group of Republican teams seceded from the league after accusing its Democratic commissioner, Gary Caruso, of running a socialist year-end playoff system that gives below-average teams an unfair chance to win the championship.

The league "is all about Softball Welfare -- aiding the weak by punishing the strong," the pitcher of one Republican team told Mr. Caruso in an email. "The commissioner has a long-standing policy of punishing success and rewarding failure. He's a Democrat. Waddya' expect?" read another email, from Gary Mahmoud, the coach of BoehnerLand, a team from the office of Republican Majority Leader John Boehner.

Oh, the third reason I posted? "BoehnerLand." Sometimes this blog writes itself.