An F- bomb(shell)

All of the excitement about Thursday's announcement regarding foreign investment in little old West Virginia was tempered – to say the least – by my Congressman being one of the 39 Democrats who voted with the GOP in the House of Representatives for the "Keep Your Crappy Insurance Plan Act of 2013."

It's not really called that. But it should be.

The bill's not going anywhere and even if it does the President will veto it.

Congressman Rahall will probably have his toughest election race ever next year (although, really, the election cycle nowadays begins on the previous Election Day, right?). Here we are, a year out, and already there are nasty, negative television ads funded by outside money targeting him because he voted for the Affordable Care Act.

After his vote for the KYCIPAof2013 yesterday, he was asked what grade he would give President Obama. His reply? "F-."

I do so wish he'd have sloughed off the question with a harmless remark and a twinkle in his eye. I've seen him do that before, many times. He's smart and he's been in Congress a long time. He could have deflected, rather than falling into the trap of criticizing his Commander in Chief.

I've seen more than a few blog posts and Facebook statuses lately bemoaning this country's decline in civility. It's so easy to whip off a nasty comment or bitter tweet. I doubt if most people writing their vile remarks (and it comes from both sides) would be willing to say such things out loud in polite company.

Then again, we don't have much polite company any more. We're all buried in our devices, with little face-to-face interaction. I'm guilty, although I try to be engaged and engaging when I'm part of a group.

It takes a bit more care to be polite, a touch of thoughtfulness to deflect nastiness. And I submit that this care and thoughtfulness is worth the effort.

That old saw about catching more flies with honey than with vinegar really works.

Or at least it used to.