Cards

by digby

Amato caught the Fox Allstars wringing their delicate hands about the teabag faction being called racists (which I mentioned in this post when I argued that it showed that the Democrats should be willing to pursue this charge:)

Transcript via an email from Bob Fertik:

Bret Baier: Don’t you have to be careful when you level the charge?
It’s such a blunt object, when you say “racism” is a big charge. Stephen Hayes: There is absolutely zero evidence that saying You Lied to the President of the United States had anything to do with race whatsoever and it is a disgusting smear for anybody to suggest that. It is a sad day when a columnist in the NY Times can just imagine that somebody is saying something, literally putting words in her mouth. Sheprefaced the statement by saying “fair or not I heard him say ‘You Lied
Boy.'” That’s not fair. As a journalist, you can’t imagine people saying things, you have to criticize them based on what they actually say and he didn’t say this … Krauthammer: The accusation of racism is a sign of desperation by
people who know they are losing the national debate and they want to hurl the ultimate charge in American politics. This is dealing from the bottom of the deck and I agree that it is a disgusting tactic. It’s done as a way to end debate. The minute you call someone a racist the debate is over, you don’t continue. Accusations of racism are the last refuge of the liberal scoundrel. As for Maureen Dowd imagining a word that wasn’t said, in my previous profession I saw a lot of people who heard words that weren’t said. They were called patients and many of them were helped with medication. The reason she won’t be and others who are hurling the accusation is because it’s a deliberate attempt to change the subject and discredit the opposition with unprovable and unproved ad hominem.

They were in quite the tizzy, weren’t they?

Now, what’s important about Krauthamer’s snotty little whine is this:

This is dealing from the bottom of the deck and I agree that it is a disgusting tactic. It’s done as a way to end debate. The minute you call someone a racist the debate is over, you don’t continue. Accusations of racism are the last refuge of the liberal scoundrel.

Right. Now substitute that with this:

This is dealing from the bottom of the deck and I agree that it is a disgusting tactic. It’s done as a way to end debate. The minute you accuse someone of not supporting the troops the debate is over, you don’t continue. Calling someone unpatriotic is the last refuge of the conservative scoundrel.

Or this:

This is dealing from the bottom of the deck and I agree that it is a disgusting tactic. It’s done as a way to end debate. The minute you say someone is Anti-Christian the debate is over, you don’t continue. Accusations of religious bigotry are the last refuge of the conservative scoundrel.

I actually think these examples are debate enders, all of them. But they are now part and parcel of our political discourse and unless liberals get off their high horses and use these tactics against these other side (particularly when they are actually true!) conservatives will continue to dominate and shape the debate. They made these rules, now they should have to live by them.

And since their leadership, Limbaugh and Beck, are working their followers into such a frenzy that they are taking automatic weapons to political events, I’m fairly sure it’s not a good idea to ignore this stuff. These are, after all, people who have a pretty recent history of blowing stuff up based on racist and anti-government propaganda.

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