Cord Byrd: “Robert Browning, a brilliant British poet, once wrote a stirring poem about an unpleasant subject, namely: Rats. A key…”

“Robert Browning, a brilliant British poet, once wrote a stirring poem about an unpleasant subject, namely: Rats. A key section of the poem reads as follows: Out of the houses the rats came tumbling. Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats, Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats. Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, Cocking tails and pricking whiskers, Families by tens and dozens, Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives-- Followed the Piper for their lives. Mr. President, it is gotten so that, every morning when I open the paper and see another story describing the administration's incompetence or wrongdoing, Robert Browning's vision of administration wrongdoers tumbling out of the house comes into my mind. ``Brothers, sisters, husbands, and wives,'' who followed the misled Piper--in this case, the President, ``for their lives.'' And they may pay dearly, as a result. Just as the entire country is now paying dearly for the arrogant, reckless and misguided policies of this Administration. We see more clearly, every day, that the executive branch of our Government is in dire need of a thorough housecleaning, to rid itself of the conniving agents lodged in its bureaus, who apparently will stop at nothing to grab power for the Executive at the expense of the Congress and the People who send us here to represent them.”