Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Where Are the Demands for "Civility?"

By now you've probably seen video of Democratic Congressman Bob Etheridge assaulting a student, in response to the student asking Etheridge whether he supports the policies of President Obama.



There's a second view, from a different angle.



So where are the strident denunciations, and demands for "civility" from the mainstream media and its favored elected officials?   Remember last summer, when those demands came fast and thick, after ordinary citizens attended town hall meetings and ... and ...

What was it those irksome citizens did again?   ...   Oh, right.   They expressed political views diverging from liberal orthodoxy.

For that, we were told, ad nauseam, they were a threat to democracy, they had debased public discourse by rendering it uncivil, they were intimidators, they were hate-mongers.

Then it reached a fever-pitch right after the health-care vote in March, with unproven accusations of violence against dissenters.

But a Democratic Congressman is caught on video assaulting a student and ... no complaints.

No surprises here, of course.   But it reminds us of the "brick through the window" incident at Monroe County Democratic headquarters last March, that made national news.   Had that turned out to be the work of a Tea Partier or someone sympathetic to the cause, it would have been all over the media.   Instead, we've had complete silence since the event was reported.   No media follow-up at all.

Probably the clearest sign, amid all the others, that it was a staged hoax:   an inside job, contrived to cast discredit on protesting citizens, to win sympathy for Democrats and deflect attention from their unsavory methods in ramming through the health-care bill.

2 comments:

Rottenchester said...

I'm not going to speak for the MSM, but the difference between the right and the left on this kind of stuff is that the left isn't lockstep in defense of its crazies. Examples:

Here's Glenn Greenwald calling for Etheridge's arrest:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/06/14/law/index.html

Here's Mother Jones, saying there's "no excuse" for Etheridge's behavior:

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/06/bob-etheridge-video

But, setting that aside, what does a Member of Congress acting like a jerk have to do with the brick throwing? How are those events similar in the least?

This is really weak tea. I expect better.

Anonymous said...

Wow Rotten, so your accusation is that the entire right is lockstep on every single similar situation that has ever occurred? Ever? How long did it take you to do the research and confirm that, going all the way back to the beginning of political time?

I also think it's nice that the DNC quickly pulled it's brightest minds together and drafted talking points on this subject to had out to it's Democrat members since they apparently are incapable of responding to the fact that one of their own aggressively manhandled a guy asking a question.

I consider the brick throwing and this guy assaulting this person totally separate, unrelated issues. Throwing something at a building does no physical harm to a person. Angrily taking a swing at, grabbing and wrenching the arm and trying to get someone in a headlock is an act of physical violence and is minimally a misdeamenor since no blood was spilled to make it assault. Thank God he got away before the Democrat Congressman brought it to that point.

And Rotten, there is not lockstep defense of either side of the political spectrum in these instances. You simply cannot prove that and we both know you to be wrong in your claim.

There is plenty of defense for this nutjob Congressman from the leftwingers as well as excuses being made to downplay his actions.

He should resign. Others on both sides have, for far less.

Normally, if this were a Republican Congressman, the media in media markets all of the country would be asking fellow GOP Reps what they think about one of their own doing something like this.

Has anyone seen media reports on Louise Slaughter's, Dan Maffei's or any other Dem Reps reaction?