Keller @ Large: Practice What You Preach

BOSTON (CBS) - There's no easier target than a politician on his or her high horse, because inevitably, they find a way to fail to meet the standards they propose for others.

It's a combination of human nature and the nature of the business they're in. It's human to see the flaws in others while remaining blind to your own. And like dogs responding to a high-pitched whistle no one else can hear, politicians often hear a distant call to posture on matters of conduct and ethics, even as the demands of their own profession make it difficult to stay up on that same pedestal for very long.

Listen to Jon's Commentary:

The latest train wreck to prove my point comes in the form of Tennessee Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen, who waited barely 48 hours after the horrific attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to join the pack insisting on a link between rough right-wing political rhetoric and the shooting.

"Reckless and hateful speech" often have a "terrible human cost," wrote Cohen in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call. "If the horrific events in Arizona are not enough to modulate our public discourse, it is likely there will be more violence, more deaths."

That column ran on January 11th.

Eight days later, Cohen took to the floor of the House during the debate on health care repeal, and compared the Republican spin that the new law is a government takeover of health care to the work of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. And, incredibly, with Sarah Palin still defending her dubious use of the term "blood libel" to describe her own critics, Cohen said the anti-health reform rhetoric is "like blood libel, that's the same kind of thing."

What a maroon!

Of course, Cohen doesn't get how foolish and hypocritical he looks. One pol's hate speech is another's truth, and besides, the ends justify the means, don't they?

My advice to all politicians from here on in -- when you feel the urge to lecture others for conduct you engage in yourself, why not clam up instead? You -- and the rest of us -- will be glad you did.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.