Although there may be nothing new or surprising in this, I’m continually struck by the fact that the people who complain loudest about the increasing nastiness and divisiveness of our political discourse are often the people who themselves habitually engage in vicious, unsubstantiated innuendo. What may be new, however, is that rhetoric that formerly was associated with those on the margins has now moved into the mainstream.
For example, Sen. Joe Biden (D, Del.), who is widely regarded as a sensible, substantial Democrat not given to extremes of partisan hyperbole, responded to conservative needling of John Kerry as a rich, effete, elitist by asserting that “[t]hese guys are doing the same thing they do to black candidates. They’re appealing to people’s prejudices.”
Of course Biden didn’t give any examples of Republicans doing what they (always?) do to black candidates. Presumably everyone knows Republicans are racists, so no examples are necessary. Biden continued:
“They’re playing the anti-intellectual card, the antielitist, anticulture,” Biden fumed. “It’s saying sophistication is something very bad, like you read the whole Bible, instead of just the parts you want.
This all makes sense, since Republicans are not just racists but also uncultured redneck yahoos. The Bible reference, though, is a bit obscure. Does Biden mean to imply that liberals read the whole Bible but conservatives read only the Readers Digest condensed good parts?
Al Kamen, the Washington Post political gossip columnist, provides another recent example of outrageous, unsubstantiated accusation as everyday, run of the mill comment. In his column today Kamen describes Richard Clarke and Roger Cressey, Clarke’s former deputy and now consulting partner, being pulled out of line at Boston’s Logan Airport and being given a thorough security check. As even Kamen describes it, there was nothing out of the ordinary about this, and Cressey even made a joke about it:
But Clarke and Cressey knew what to expect. They had changed return flights at the last minute, thus triggering additional scrutiny. “We were doing our part, however small, for airline security,” Cressey said yesterday. “Now, had they demanded the cavity search, we’d have gotten nervous.”
Kamen’s follow-up? “Well, there’s still the near-certain IRS audit to worry about.”
Well, of course. Nixon may be dead, but Republican enemies lists live forever. Everybody knows that.
I tried to give Kerry a chance to convince me to vote for him. I really did. I’m a registered Democrat, after all.
But, then, on the night that he secured enough delegates to ensure his nomination, this is what he did: He literally accused Prez Bush of being a sub rosa member of the Klan because of Bush’s nomination of Judge Pickering.
I’ve read at length Nat Hentoff’s comments about Judge Pickering. Judge Pickering is a good man and a good judge. I am so tired of the practice of calling those who you disagree with “bigots” and “racists” that I decided on this point alone that I cannot vote for Kerry. My wife was more blunt. “Takes one to know one,” was her answer. “That man [Kerry] is a racist.”
I was a registered Democrat for years. I never voted a straight party ticket, because I believe candidates should be judged on their individual merits and not party affiliation. In fact, I was probably only a Democrat because they were the only ones in my hometown who actually had more than one name on the ballot in the primary.
I became a registered Republican when I graduated college and started work in the real world. Same reason: in this case, the Republican party is almost always the only one to have more than one candidate in the primary. Again, I vote for (and sometimes against) the person, irregardless of party. I also vote sometimes on party basis in order to help ensure that neither party is fully in control – I like the Libertarian approach of ensuring that the parties are equally balanced in power so that they are so busy fighting each other that they can’t screw things up too bad.
But I have been especially struck by the nastiness being displayed in this year’s presidential campaign. And as an independent who often swings in either direction, I have to say that the Democrats are far and away the nastiest, meanest, and most disconnected with truth or reality of either party. The Republicans are no angels either, but the difference in degree is night and day to me.
I have noticed how blatantly the news media is about taking sides. CBS has been particularly shameless, first with promoting Richard Clarke’s book, and now with Woodward’s book, both published by subsidiaries AND both rather obvious attempts to discredit Bush. It will be interesting to see if 60 Minutes again fails to make a disclaimer concerning their relationship with the publisher of Woodward’s book when they air the promo masquerading as an interview.
The nastiness of the left toward Bush is beyond opposition. They seem to be convinced he is evil personnified; they show the Devil himself more tolerance than they do Bush. Their fervent hatred is uncannily reminiscent of the blind hatred displayed by Islamic and Palestinian terrorists, and I can’t help wondering about the full extent of the hidden connections/manipulations. I suspect that many far-left idealogues are being manipulated emotionally by America’s enemies, and they not only don’t know it, but they don’t WANT to know it. Never let reality or reason interfere with a good emotional position.