In the Company of Cowards

Union forces fleeing the First Battle of Bull Run, 1861
"Retreat is a weak term to use when speaking of this disgraceful rout … The terror-stricken soldiers threw away their arms and accoutrements, herding along like a panic-stricken flock of sheep, with no order whatever in their flight."

The moderate wing of the Republican Party talked a good game about how they would support a clean Continuing Resolution until the threats from the Tea Party became to terrifying. They then started a mad retreat from reasonableness into the warm embrace of madness.

It a certain way I have more respect for the Tea Party radical than I do for mainstream Republicans. Tea Partiers, at least, have the courage of their lunacy. While Boehner, Peter King, and Devin Nunes have redefined the concept of abject cowardice. If they go down in history at all, which is doubtful because history tends to forget the excessively timid, they will be remembered as the Americans who made a joke out of the slogan "Home of the Brave."

I don't recall I ever heard that bugle sound retreat,
I could only hear the thunder of a hundred scamperin' feet.
It was forward into battle they came marching one by one
But I guess they thought it over, and they thought it best to run ~ Company of Cowards