Can't agree more with this
From Instapundit:
Of course no one from the left is a threat. They're all good people remember? Only right-wingers are dangerous.NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE? So we've had nearly 8 years of lefty assassination fantasies about George W. Bush, and Bill Ayers' bombing campaign is explained away as a consequence of him having just felt so strongly about social justice, but a few people yell things at McCain rallies and suddenly it's a sign that anger is out of control in American politics? It's nice of McCain to try to tamp that down, and James Taranto sounds a proper cautionary note -- but, please, can we also note the staggering level of hypocrisy here? (And that's before we get to the Obama campaign's thuggish tactics aimed at silencing critics.)
The Angry Left has gotten away with all sorts of beyond-the-pale behavior throughout the Bush Administration. The double standards involved -- particularly on the part of the press -- are what are feeding this anger. (Indeed, as Ann AlthouseJohn Leo have noted, the reporting on this very issue is dubious). So while asking for McCain supporters to chill a bit, can we also ask the press to start doing its job rather than openly shilling for a Democratic victory? Self-control is for everybody, if it's for anybody. . . . and
posted by Peder @ 8:39 PM
3 Comments:
I'm sorry, I thought you were more reasonable than this. Perhaps you've never attended a political gathering. I've attended many, and the difference between Republican and Democratic in the last few decades is shocking.
And the supporting documentation of your source actually tried to suggest that getting booed at a hockey game is 1. Actions commited by the left(I didn't know Hockey games were DNC rallies) and 2. Equally as a appalling as McCain/Palin supporters shouting out "kill him", "terrorist" and various racial epithets. Who among us is so partisan that they think these actions carry the same weight?
I've read your posts, they show you can think independently, so think this if you want but reasonable people cannot disagree with you more.
James, the hockey example is a bit weak but you're glossing over the assassination fantasies and many other examples. The hatred towards Bush for the last eight years has been long and sustained. And I don't mean dislike or disagreement, I mean out and out hatred. I live in a heavy Dem area and I can tell you that it's more than the fringe at a few rallies. Even the hatred that Palin has engendered over the last six weeks is somewhat breathtaking.
Look, there are unhinged people on all sides of the political spectrum. Anyone who has followed politics for even a brief time should know this. To tag a few numbskulls at McCain rallies as representative of a wider wave of rage is weak tea at best. Do you doubt that you could find sexist, ageist and downright violent commentary if you took a microphone to the crowds at an Obama event?
Peder, I appreciate the considered response. There is no doubt that the hatred towards Bush has been long and sustained. I don’t deny it, I’m one of them and I feel justified in that hatred, but perhaps my reasons are for another discussion.
There are 2 primary reasons I glossed over it. 1. Kind of ridiculous to compare, with equal weight, what people say about a serving President to what they say about a candidate. You want realistic comparisons, look to what was said about Clinton compared to what was said about Bush… or what was said about McCain compared to Obama. It might even be fair to compare what was said about Bush in 2000 to what was said about Obama this year, I remember the worst thing I heard about Bush in 2000 was that he would invade Iraq, what will those crazy liberals say next?
2. I’m unaware of “nearly 8 years of lefty assassination fantasies”. I would imagine there are some fringe people who probably do have these fantasies, and you’ll find them with every president. If you feel there is more of it aimed at this president, I don’t share that feeling, but I can’t say that I’m an expert on the matter. If you want to do some research, I’ll read your findings and try to open my mind to it, but if your source is Michelle Malkin, it will be hard to trust the person who claims Rachel Ray is trying to turn us all into terrorists by wearing a certain scarf in a Donut commercial. Those are the reasons I glossed over it, but in short, it just didn’t seem relevant.
I agree that “there are unhinged people on all sides of the political spectrum” and yes I could find them in the crowd at democratic rallies as well. What I don’t seem to be getting through is that this isn’t a few numskulls, these are the folks introducing McCain and Palin. These are the folks that run the Republican party at the state level. It’s Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Bill O’Reilly(heck, it’s probably everyone on FoxNews), and remember them calling a fistbump a “terrorist fist jab”? That kind of stuff is seriously extreme fringe jargon, but it passes for mainstream news commentary in the Republican party.
I realize these rumors that he’s a muslim or an arab or has ties to terrorist have been passed around for about a year now, so a lot of the “fringe” people are already thinking that, but you have to know that when Palin tells crowds that Obama is “palling around with a terrorist” she is inciting some and emboldening others.
If you want to see how bad it really is, I offer you an experiment, go undercover. Put on an Obama 08 shirt and wander around your local Cabella’s for a couple hours. Feel free to talk to people but act as if you are going to vote for him and you agree with him on most issues. Be polite and frank, see how your fellow Republicans treat you. Don’t be surprised if the nice ones call you a socialist or communist, because it seems that most republicans say it so often, they don’t even think it’s an insult anymore. Try the same thing at an evangelical church in a small town near you. For comparison sake, wear a McCain 08 shirt to a union meeting or liberal arts college campus or maybe a wine tasting event, again, be polite and frank, see if you notice a difference.
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