A Political Manners Manual

By GAIL COLLINS
NYT

With all the stories about people doing happy dances in the street and smiling on the subways after Barack Obama won, we have overlooked the dark side of the postelection mood.

I am sorry to say that there have been some instances of gloating winners and sore losers, going even beyond the moment when Barney the White House dog bit a Reuters reporter.

For instance, there was the matter of Senator Lindsey Graham. In the fervor of the final week of the campaign, Graham basically promised to drown himself if Barack Obama took North Carolina. When I wrote that we did not really expect Graham to follow through, a number of readers took exception.

“A promise is a promise,” wrote John Kaseley of Bonita Springs, Fla.

“Can’t we at least throw him in the lake?” asked someone else.

(More here.)