In the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting in January, we heard a lot of left-wing pundits and main-stream-media talking heads blaming hateful rhetoric coming from the right. We heard how violent and cruel we right-wingers are. How our language showed some kind of inherent callousness that had harmful real-life implications. Another popular variation on a theme was that conservatives need to be more focused on the issues, and less focused on particular people. However, since that time, there have been plenty of examples of language from the left that are actually threatening, and clearly personal. I don’t know about you, but I have yet to hear condemnation from those who were so quick to condemn the right.
- I thought we weren’t allowed to use crosshairs- or the word “reload.”
We had some shining examples of this behavior from the left in the recent union protests. In Wisconsin, two state senators received death threats, which stated that “The only good Republican is a dead Republican,” and suggested that the senators “make your peace with god as soon as possible and say goodbye to your loved ones,” because they were going to be killed. I’m not saying that the death threat was a suggestion, or something to be inferred. The letter clearly states “We will ‘get rid of’ (in which I mean kill) you.” There’s no other way to construe that.
It’s not just an unbalanced outlier, either. Harsh language is coming from elected officials as well. Rep. Michael Capuano of Massachusetts told union protestors that they should be willing to “go out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.” Was this one hotheaded moment from Capuano? Nope. The month before, he said there was “nothing wrong with throwing a coffee cup at someone if you’re doing it for human rights.” He doesn’t seem too concerned with violence, as long as it’s the left against the right. These are clearly threats to personal safety, unlike the use of target imagery, which was trotted out time and again as an example of those on the right trying to stir up violence.
On the contrary, they’re trying to make it personal. Right now, on the Democratic Congressional Campaign’s Facebook page, the topic of discussion is “Tell us who you think the worst Republican in America is.” This is not a something posted by some random fan, this is their official status message. After accepting nominations for a few days, the DCC is now whittling it down to a final list on which to vote. It’s like a primary, but run by the mean kids in high school.
- Protestors in Wisconsin
Nominations range from actual people (Boehner, Gingrich, and the dreaded Palin), to those scoundrels at Fox News and Wall Street. I particularly like comments from people who don’t even pretend to be fully informed, such as the people who responded “the governor of Wisconsin,” and people who were just plain wrong (James Carville? Not a republican). We also got witty replies, such as “Scarah Paylin” and the inevitable Boehner jokes (his name looks like a naughty word! That is comedy gold!).
Were this some random fan who posted the question, it would be one thing. However, the official group posted it. They posted it three different times (just in case anyone missed it.) Democrats know that they are failing miserably on policy-related issues, so they’re diverting attention. How are they doing this? By using the hateful rhetoric that they like to pretend belongs to the right.
Apparently, the comments are not being moderated, either. I was going to post some examples, but many are just too gross to repeat. The amount of vulgar “humor” should have been surprising but, alas, it is not. Can it be that the DCC is not interested in keeping a tone of civility?
In case you were wondering, the Republican Congressional Campaign’s status is a link to an Obamacare article. You know…Obamacare? It’s an actual issue.
Unlike you and your friends on the right, us progressives are actually to reform the country and revitalize debate. Forgive us for wanting a new tone that's not based on insults and pathetic petty personal remarks like you guys throw out.
wasnt it the right that blamed Marilyn Manson for columbine…the world is full of hypocrites