Freedom of Press is limited to those who own one - H.L. Mencken

Good Enough For Me; But Not For Thee

by Hal_10000

God knows Democrats *never* spew venom at Republicans.

A commenter on Sully’s blog says:

I don’t know how to get the toxic genie back in the bottle. I hope, but doubt, that Obama has the unifying “it.” But for the moment and for the foreseeable future, the genie is out. For this I blame the Republican Party, and only the Republican Party.

I think the only way that the polarizing toxicity gets drained away from national politics is if the source of that toxicity - the culture warrior wing of the GOP - is decimated, and a new GOP can grow free of its power.

This person exemplifies precisely the problem creating our toxic political environment (which is hardly unprecedented). Only the other guys are nasty; my side is sweetness and light!

As I noted, the Democrats have been absolutely brutal and vicious in their criticisms of Republicans. Ask yourself - has there been a President about whom such nasty things have been said as George W. Bush? He just vetoed the S-CHIP program because it was covering “needy” families making $80,000 a year - and got blasted for “forbidding” insurance to “poor, sick kids”. This was not said by a left-wing fruitcake; it was said by the Speaker of the House. OK, it was said by a left-wing fruitcake - but one who also happens to be the most powerful Democrat in the nation.

Republicans are writing books called Party of Death; Democrats are publishing books called Stupid White Men. Republicans impugn Democrats’ patriotism; Democrats impugn Republicans’ compassion. Republicans are running against gays; Democrats are running against “the rich”. Why would any reasonable person consider only one side to be venomous?

(And, as an aside, the media is firmly in the Democrat camp. Jon Stewart was hitting Bush on S-CHIP so unfairly it would have been Daily Kos proud. Newsweek ran a cover that had Newt Gingrich as the Grinch; an interesting contrast to the cover on which they’d had Bill Clinton as a knight on a white horse slaying a dragon. And that’s just two examples off the top of my head.)

Gridlock is a good thing but the brutality of politics in recent years has, in my opinion, hurt conservatism. Big government liberalism and big government conservatism triumph when we are reduced to sound bites and name-calling. Small government conservatism and libertarianism do better when persuasion and argument are being used. (And they do better still when they’re not accompanied by religious invective.)

Everyone needs to stop making excuses for their side and putting 100% of the blame on the other. When Democrats stop saying Republicans want to starve children and drown black people, then I’ll consider blaming the toxic genie on the Republicans and only the Republicans.

Comments

Posted by HARLEY on 10/07/07 at 09:31 AM from

BUSH HATES CHILDREN the pictue is proof!@

GOD i hate politics… how fucking set up is that pic.

Posted by on 10/07/07 at 11:19 AM from

Holy crap, that’s hilarious. Absolutely shameless…

Posted by dwex on 10/07/07 at 03:38 PM from

Pot, meet kettle.

The Republicans savaged the Clinton administration from start to finish. Not to mention the vitriol against Kerry.

It goes both ways. It’s gone both ways for my entire adult life and probably long before that.

Posted by Hal_10000 on 10/07/07 at 05:16 PM from

It goes both ways. It’s gone both ways for my entire adult life and probably long before that

read about the election of 1800 sometime. Thomas Jefferson against John Adams, two great patriots. And you would have thought it was Satan against Beelzebub.

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