How the Hypocrite Leftwing Argues

[DeistPaladin]

I found very early on in grade school that bullies are such crybabies. When you hit them back, they're the fastest to run crying to the teacher.

Such lessons from grade school now reflect perfectly into conservative behavior today. As pundits cry salty tears over the lost civility in our public discourse, let's remember the man who originally made verbal bomb throwing part of the mainstream GOP political tactics.



I remember his tenure as House Speaker well. I was still voting Republican then and am ashamed to admit my vote helped him take control of Congress. The first cracks in my Reaganian faith began to form in my discomfort with his style of politics, even as I then agreed with the policies. But my ten year road to re-registering as Democrat was still ahead of me at the same time that Republicans would continue to run further to the right.

Republican political tactics have degenerated since. Karl Rove's openly stated tactics in the last decade were the use of "wedge issues". This strategy accompanied shrill accusations that anyone who didn't support the then president Bush or criticized his war in Iraq was a "traitor" who "wanted the terrorists to win" or who's very act of criticism "gave comfort to the terrorists". No pretense at civility was ever even attempted during a presidential election where "vote Democrat and die at the hands of terrorists" was openly incorporated into the regular rhetoric and campaign ads.

Needless to say, such pious standards of deference to the Commander and Chief in a time of war were completely absent from Republican rhetoric when Clinton was in office. The GOP thought nothing of not only criticizing the president but impeaching him while our troops were in harm's way. In fact, Republicans claimed it was our patriotic duty and our troops would be insulted if we didn't uphold our closest values as Americans, to question our leaders, even as our soldiers took to the field to fight for such values.

The double-standard, shifted with Orwellian style speed as soon as a new party comes to power, fully permeates the GOP mindset in all political areas. For example, Republican election victories lead them to use words like "shut up" and "mandate". Democrat victories lead them to use words like "bipartisanship" and "compromise". Elections mean different things depending on whether or not they win or lose.

And now that the GOP has thoroughly poisoned our political discourse, they are quick to whine about mean liberals who call them on their racism and homophobia, all the while they still scream "SOCIALIST" at anyone to the left of Lieberman and continue to question their patriotism.

Sorry, GOP, but as others on this thread have noted, "free speech" includes my right to say mean things and use insults hurt your poor wittle fee-wings. And the people who opened the floodgates to divisive strategy and inflammatory rhetoric (to say nothing of the occasional calls for violence) do not get to whine now or demand that we have to be "respectful" whether or not your ideologies earn such respect.

that's because the most of you fringe nuts are.

Our "fringe" won the last 3 our of 4 elections. And it's going to get worse for you as the angry old white men and fanatically religious nutjobs both dwindle in number.