Mad Dads

Growing up, was your dad an angry dad? Were any of your friends' dads angry dads? If so, then you know the tone of voice and demeanor of a man who comes home from work and doesn't want to be bothered by his children. A man who doesn't know how to handle teenagers during a famliy dinner and creates a quiet, sullen fog throughout the household whenever he's around. I was always thankful my dad wasn't an angry dad whenever I was over at friends' houses run by mad dads.

Many a mad dad insists on being referred to as "sir" by his children if not his wife.

The reason I bring this up is that almost every official in Republican leadership gives me that mad dad feeling, especially at press conferences when anything they say or do is challenged. Even Condi Rice seems like a mad dad.

Cheney, of course, is the ultimate Mad Dad. Can you imagine what it was like for his daughter to come out to him as a lesbian?

Yet, in spite of the ubiquitous mad dad veneer, I constantly find myself asking where the real, responsible, grown-ups are in this administration.