Uncivil Liberties

by digby

Here’s a great post by Glenn Greenwald in which he proves that the pollution of our political discourse can be simply defined as anyone publicly disagreeing with Republicans:

So, that’s the behavioral standard that Bush followers are advocating. The greatest sin against civility is to boo someone while they give a political speech, and those who do that show that they are deranged and “angry” and are therefore acting at their own peril.

[…]

According to Instapundit — who cited the Gateway Pundit post and said that “a Hateful anti-war speech by Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO) . . . provokes a near riot” — this episode “[s]eems to illustrate the point made in this WSJ editorial about the Democrats’ penchant for self-marginalization and self-destruction.” The WSJ Editorial to which Instapundit cited condemned the heckling and booing by the New School students of McCain’s speech. But to Instapundit, that same Editorial also shows that Democrats are acting stupidly and angrily when they give commencement speeches and are heckled by Republican students to the point where they need security to be escorted out.

Can’t win for losing. But you must admit that it’s heartwarming for the concern trolls to be so worried about the Democratic penchant for self-marginalization. But when your president is at 29%, you’ve probably got some people closer to home who need some of your good advice about how to avoid self-destruction.

The right has been thuggish and uncivil for decades. And they are very good at smirking faux outrage at the other side doing anything comparable. They call for the smelling salts with such over-the-top fluttering of delicate little hands and eyelashes that you have to laugh. Elephants in a tutu. It’s a parody.

This is one case where I think we just have to play the game they’ve set out. I’ll match my outrage to their outrage any day. It’s not particularly pleasant, but blogs are an appropriate place to do this sort of thing in a way that nobody else can.

So bring it. You want examples of incivility? I’ll give you examples. How about this:

Is the Democratic Party the “Party of Death”?

If you look at their agenda they are.

IT’S NOT JUST abortion-on-demand. It’s euthanasia, embryo destruction, even infanticide—and a potentially deadly concern with “the quality of life” of disabled people. If you think these issues don’t concern you—guess again. The Party of Death could be roaring into the White House, as National Review senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru shows, in the person of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In The Party of Death, Ponnuru details how left-wing radicals, using abortion as their lever, took over the Democratic Party—and how they have used their power to corrupt our law and politics, abolish our fundamental right to life, and push the envelope in ever more dangerous directions.

[…]

Ponnuru’s shocking exposé shows just how extreme the Party of Death has become as they seek to destroy every inconvenient life, demand fealty to their radical agenda, and punish anyone who defies them. But he also shows how the tide is turning, how the Party of Death can be defeated, and why its last victim might be the Democratic Party itself.*

This from a highly regarded conservative intellectual who supported the violent killing of thousands of actual living Iraqi children for no good reason. I call that uncivil in the extreme.

*Ponnuru claims that this book jacket doesn’t reflect the actual theme of the book which is that the Party of Death isn’t really the Democratic party, but rather some other non-partisan death party, which doesn’t actually exist. Right.

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