an apology of sorts

Having been called names, one looks back at one's own
angry outbursts over the years, and I recall having
once referred to Republicans as "hairy-backed swamp
developers, fundamentalist bullies, freelance racists,
hobby cops, sweatshop tycoons, line jumpers, marsupial
moms and aluminum-siding salesmen, misanthropic frat
boys, ninja dittoheads, shrieking midgets, tax cheats,
cheese merchants, cat stranglers, pill pushers,
nihilists in golf pants, backed-up Baptists, the grand
pooh-bahs of Percodan, mouth breathers, testosterone
junkies and brownshirts in pinstripes."

I look at those words now, and "cat stranglers" seems
excessive to me. The number of cat stranglers in the
ranks of the Republican Party is surely low, and that
reference was hurtful to Republicans and to cat
owners. I feel sheepish about it.

GARRISON KEILLOR