Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
Do yourself a favor and check out Jonah Goldberg's awesome rant against the Left's new tone of civility. Here's a taste:
[L]ast night, on the very day Gabby Giffords heroically returns to cast her first vote since that tragic attack seven months ago, the vice president of the United States calls the Republican party a bunch of terrorists.
No one cares. I hate the “if this were Bush” game so we’re in luck. Instead imagine if this was Dick Cheney calling the Progressive Caucus (or whatever they’re called) a “bunch of terrorists” on the day Giffords returned to the Congress. Would the mainstream media notice or care? Would Meet the Press debate whether this raises “troubling questions” about the White House’s sensitivity? Would Andrea Mitchell find some way to blame Sarah Palin for Dick Cheney’s viciousness? Would Keith Olbermann explode like a mouse subjected to the Ramone’s music in Rock and Roll High School? Something inside me hidden away shouts, “Hell yes they would!”
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May '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
It's ok...let's just be determined to send as many journalists as possible into the unemployment line with our viewing habits.
Oct '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
Wow, that's exactly how I feel.
Jul '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
Hits the nail on the head, and I burst out laughing at his comments on Chris Matthews. Gotta love Jonah Goldberg.
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
Great piece, but I do wish that when we mention Palin's map in any piece about Giffords, we don't forget to mention that Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas Zúniga had a piece that put a bulls-eye on Giffords before Palin did. He also said, "She's dead to me."
Fair is fair.
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
William Voegeli has a great companion essay to this piece in the Claremont Review of Books. It can be found here.
Jan '11
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
This raises the age-old question: am I required to respect The Left? Jonah’s rant lays out the case against it. If you take them seriously, leftists will cause frustration like a volcano causes lava; it’s overflowing, destructive, but then solidifies.
When they crowd our public discussion on the horrors of impolite speech, then spew it themselves, with no recognition of the self-contradiction, they make it impossible to take them seriously. Then it all comes full-circle; they eventually earn the disrespect they whine about receiving in the first place.
We are required to count their vote. We aren't required to respect anything they say.
Jun '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
This is my theory, but could it possibly be that most liberals are really hypocrites who've either been trained in Alinskyite demonization, or have picked it up by osmosis?
The fallacy that liberals believe in civil discourse was blown to bits when Jefferson used agents to demonize Washington. It's been going on ever since, all the while liberals piously reaffirm their love of mankind.
Jun '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
By the way, did Markos ever apologize? If so, I don't remember it.
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
tabula rasa
By the way, did Markos ever apologize? If so, I don't remember it. · Aug 2 at 9:58am
There was so little attention paid to it that I doubt anyone asked him.
Mar '11
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
As despicable as it is there is nothing new here as tabula rasa points out. For me even more outrages, and I am just about completely fed up with, is the so-called moderates on our side using essentially the same tactics against conservatives in the TEA Party. Now of course, their rhetoric isn't to the same degree as that of the leftists but in tenor it is still the same. It is the conservatives in the TEA Party pushing the political agenda to the right the moderates, and their disparaging of conservatives, only make the job harder.
Aug '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
You should all see how anything to do with American politics is spun in foreign media dominated by left-leaning reporters with no Fox News or WSJ to challenge the received wisdom that Republicans are wicked, Palin is a witch and Obama is immaculate. So for instance here in Ireland the state-funded public service broadcaster covered the story last night with clips of four people: Obama, Pelosi, Plouffe and, for a modicum of balance, McCain.Meanwhile the Irish Times (NYT lite) is right now referring to the "Republican-controlled Congress!"Not for the first time I thank God for the Internet.
May '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
Much as I loved Jonas piece, I worry that such a reaction draws too much attention to these foolish pundits, and makes them seem more important than they are. No doubt they write such nonsense partly to irritate the people on the right, and such outbursts give them some satisfaction and "street cred" with their readers on the left.
What they truly deserve is to be ignored. They have nothing useful or informative to say.
Jul '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
tabula rasa
By the way, did Markos ever apologize? If so, I don't remember it. · Aug 2 at 9:58am
Markos is a shameless partisan clown. You will see an apology from Alinsky before you see one from Markos. For anything. Ever.
Jul '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
KC Mulville: This raises the age-old question: am I required to respect The Left? Jonah’s rant lays out the case against it. If you take them seriously, leftists will cause frustration like a volcano causes lava; it’s overflowing, destructive, but then solidifies.
When they crowd our public discussion on the horrors of impolite speech, then spew it themselves, with no recognition of the self-contradiction, they make it impossible to take them seriously. Then it all comes full-circle; they eventually earn the disrespect they whine about receiving in the first place.
We are required to count their vote. We aren't required to respect anything they say.
This has always been my philosophy. This will count as my official diatribe against mentioning, much less citing, liberal media for today, August 2nd, 2011.
Thank you.
Apr '11
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
tabula rasa: This is my theory, but could it possibly be that most liberals are really hypocrites who've either been trained in Alinskyite demonization, or have picked it up by osmosis?
The fallacy that liberals believe in civil discourse was blown to bits when Jefferson used agents to demonize Washington. It's been going on ever since, all the while liberals piously reaffirm their love of mankind. · Aug 2 at 9:56am
My sister is a Georgetown alumni liberal and I'm pretty sure has never bought into Alinsky. Her liberal rantings and hypocrisy tend to be more a form of religious zeal than anything else. Her unwillingness to debate facts that oppose her position to the level of creating discomfort show something more akin to a "divine calling" than a political philosophy. When she is surrounded by liberal friends, the discussion is rarely about facts and figures but more of general topics as if they were praying. I use these terms because, like most liberals, she has abandoned and doesn't like the Church or its tenets. Liberalism seems to have taken the place of religion in her mind - where she can take solace in leaps of faith.
Dec '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
ctruppi, yes, it's called the Liberal Theology.
Theodore H. White talked about it in The Making of the President 1972 (which, ironically, spelled the end of White for not treating Nixon like a caricatured villain). He was a Kennedy guy and loved what he called the Liberal Idea. But it morphed into a religion, there are superstitions, taboos, creation stories, etc.
But most importantly, the Liberal Theology is about piety. They believe that their sins are determined by their public views. In fact, they believe they can spit on the homeless as long as they vote for someone else to be forced to pay for a homeless shelter.
May '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
After reading that article, I almost started a slow clap in my office.
Jun '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
ctruppi
My sister is a Georgetown alumni liberal and I'm pretty sure has never bought into Alinsky. Her liberal rantings and hypocrisy tend to be more a form of religious zeal than anything else. Her unwillingness to debate facts that oppose her position to the level of creating discomfort show something more akin to a "divine calling" than a political philosophy. When she is surrounded by liberal friends, the discussion is rarely about facts and figures but more of general topics as if they were praying. I use these terms because, like most liberals, she has abandoned and doesn't like the Church or its tenets. Liberalism seems to have taken the place of religion in her mind - where she can take solace in leaps of faith. ·
My Alinsky reference wasn't meant to suggest that he is the only source of the lack of civility. In fact, your sister's case may be even more common: those who have turned leftism into a functional substitute for a religion: a religion without God.
Michael Burleigh, a terrific British historian, wrote two books, Sacred Causes and Earthly Powers that examine this phenomenon: the French Revolution being the greatest example. Recommended.
Sep '10
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
Biden didn't say Tea Partiers were terrorists, he just said they were acting like terrorists.
I wouldn't say Biden is an idiot, I would just point out that he has been acting like an idiot . . . for most of his political career.
Jan '11
Re: Jonah and the Tea Party Terrorists
I second the recommendation for Earthly Powers; well researched and profoundly informative.