Henry Hyde, the Republican congressman from Illinois, who chaired the House Judiciary Committee that impeached President William Jefferson Clinton over the infamous blow job, only to have his own long-term, family-wrecking affair in the Illinois legislature come out and then to infamously characterize as a ‘youthful indiscretion’ has died.
Services will be held.
Et cetera.
As Mark Anthony said, I come here not to praise Henry Hyde, but to bury him. I do not come to mock him, nor his family’s authentic grief. I do not mean to disrespect the mourning period any more than I would stand with Fred Phelps and hold viciously hateful signs at a soldier’s funeral.
No: Henry Hyde was, by all accounts, an exceptional legislator, was much beloved, or at least highly respected on both sides of the aisle back when there was cross-aisle intercourse in the House of Representatives.
He was once the Catholic something-or-other “Man of the Year,” in large part because of his fanatical pro-life stance*, and continual efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade.
[*Malkin calls him, oxymoronically, a "pro-life lion" and republishes Bush's ladling of flattery from this month's almost-posthumous "Presidential Medal of Freedom" ceremony, which Hyde was too ill to attend.]
He managed to keep his marriage and family together (while, alas, his mistress did not), and we are not fit, here, to judge that affair other than to say that for someone with such a huge sin it was certainly astonishing to watch him throwing stones.
And that is what I am here to talk about. Not whether Henry Hyde was, in the final analysis, a good man or a bad man. Nor about old political enmities.
We do not understand death, and so we heap awestruck reverence onto it, lovingly embalming, dressing formally* and encasing in a small Cadillac™ of silk-upholstered metal, with a carved, polished stone stele in a park of similarly packaged bodies.
[*It is generally agreed in all cultures, that the Afterlife is strictly a formal affair, probably with some kind of dress code.]
We devoutly maintain, through our entire lives, that we are a spirit, we have a soul, we have a “divine spark,” and that the body is a mere vehicle for our transcendental nature.
And yet, when the bubbles have left the Coke can, we solemnly and tenderly bury the Coke can, and erect a monument to it, while imagining a special Disneyland for the bubbles.
Go figure.
But what is at issue here is the chorus of an old pop song that I haven’t heard since it was a minor AM hit in 1968*, that said: “I gotta be more than just two lines/in the Oklahoma City Times.” (* by Paul Hampton. It was covered by teeny-bopper heartthrob Bobby Sherman in 1969 and 1970 and by that great old folk trio, The Limelighters, among others.)
Henry Hyde, by all measures, achieved that, many lines will be devoted to his passing — even in the Oklahoma City Times. There are certainly bridges, buildings and highways named after him: that secular means of achieving Pharaonic historicity. Oregon is filled with such waysides, state parks and rest areas named after people you’ve never heard of. After awhile, their own descendents have no idea who they were, and the river moves on.
Now, as all good Buddhists know, the Taliban — when they blew up those giant stone Bamiyan Valley buddhas in March of 2001 and unleashed the evil Djinn of the modern, terrorist age — were merely reiterating an old Buddhist Truth: impermanence. Nothing lasts. Even giant carved sandstone buddhas the size of mountains don’t last.
But memory, on the other hand, lasts a long, long time. The nature of the world is impermanence, but within that impermanence, memory is more permanent than most tangible ‘things.’ Just ask Julius Caesar, or Plato, or Pharaoh Khufu.
And as Henry Hyde shuffles off his mortal coil, what is he being remembered for?
Here is what’s currently on Memeorandum:
John Bresnahan / CBS News:
Henry Hyde Dies — Former Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) died early Thursday morning in a Chicago-area hospital, according to congressional sources. He was 83. — Hyde underwent open-heart surgery back in July and never completely recovered from the procedure, said a source close to Hyde.
Link Search:Ask, Technorati, Sphere, Google, and IceRocket
Discussion:The Swamp and CNN Political Ticker
Discussion:Bill Neikirk / The Swamp: Former House heavyweight Henry Hyde dies
CNN Political Ticker: Former Rep. Hyde dies
» All Related Discussion
RELATED:
William Neikirk / Chicago Tribune:
Henry Hyde dies at 83 — Henry J. Hyde — known for his courtly manners, oratorical skills and historical knowledge during 32 years as the conservative voice of the western suburbs in Congress — died today, according to the office of House Republican Leader John Boehner. He was 83.
Link Search:Ask, Technorati, Sphere, Google, and IceRocket
Discussion: On Deadline
Discussion:
Mike Carney / On Deadline: Ex-Rep. Henry Hyde dead at 83
The Corner:
A Honorable American Moves On [Kathryn Jean Lopez]Link Search: Ask, Technorati, Sphere, Google, and IceRocket
Discussion: The Newshoggers, Stubborn Facts and Redstate
Discussion:
Libby Spencer / The Newshoggers: The false ‘humanity’ of the anti-choicers
Pat / Stubborn Facts: Henry Hyde, RIP
But, ultimately, he is remembered for his sexual hypocrisy. Every commentary has to mention the impeachment. And whether stated or not, the “youthful indiscretion” is there, hovering over the attempted coup d’etat that Henry will be remembered for.
As is Strom Thurmond remembered for his monstrous sexual and racial hypocrisy. As will be Sandra Day O’Connor be remembered for stealing the election that led to the worst presidency in American History — as is William Rehnquist, lately deceased (and, as we all learned, a fashion nightmare in a beret).
A lifetime of notable and noble work — Thurmond, Hyde, Rehnquist, O’Connor have all done praiseworthy and noble deeds — is wiped out by the stain of one monstrous act. Of one ugly, selfish misstep.
As Henry Hyde shuffles into the afterlife or nothingness (according to your metaphysical politics), his good deeds are overshadowed by his grave misdeed, his great injustice. And he has, in a sense, constructed a customized hell for his remembrance.
As we say: “In Memoriam,” or, “A Memorial Service,” or “A Remembrance.” We raise up Memorials and bury the bodies in Memorial Parks, memory, memory, remembrance, remember. In loving memory of ….
So, what DO we remember? It would seem central to the whole Coke can process.
All of the bridges and hospitals, all of the scholarships and “Man of the Year” awards, all of the accolades and the good deeds will never obscure Henry’s place in history, as having presided for a goodly portion, and then prosecuted a blatantly unjust and partisan impeachment of a sitting President of the United States of America for a crime that he himself was guilty of.
From that harsh remembrance, Henry can never Hyde.
Better, perhaps, to have been just two lines in the Oklahoma City Times.
And that is the lesson for we, the living (whether Henry’s existence continues, as some believe, or vanishes into vapor, as others do): that the work of a lifetime may be undone by a single, rash misdeed. On the other hand, the misdeeds of a lifetime can be forgotten by a single act of goodness. Either way, we must remain vigilant and mindful of our deeds, if our name is to be remembered without people spitting whenever it is uttered.
That memory lasts for a long time after we are gone.
Namasté, Henry Hyde.
Aum.
Courage.
1 Comment
30 November 2007 at 7:19 am
A fair, memorable, and fitting tribute. He who is without sin, indeed!!
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