Byron York is rethinking Obama’s much lauded Tucson speech. Even conservatives have been swooning in its wake, because the President of the United States didn’t take the moonbat bait, and blame conservative rhetoric for Jared Loughner’s shooting spree.
But as York asks, how could he?
By the time Obama spoke, there was irrefutable evidence that shooting suspect Jared Loughner was deeply mentally ill and acted out of no recognizable political agenda. Obama simply could not have made the case that Loughner’s acts were in any way the product of political rhetoric from right or left.
He didn’t need to. The point Obama wanted to make was not that political rhetoric caused the violence but that such rhetoric — like, for example, criticism directed at Barack Obama — should be toned down. So even as he conceded that rhetoric did not cause the violence, Obama argued that it should be muted anyway. And he cloaked his appeal in so much emotionalism, in so many tear-jerking references to the recently departed, that some in his audience might not have noticed he was making the political point he wanted to make all along.
Why is it that whenever conservatism is on the ascendancy – we are chided by the left to tone it down? We saw it happen in the ’90’s when conservative talk radio was on the rise, and we’re seeing it today with the tea party movement.
“Be civil”.
When the the left is losing all the arguments, what do we hear?
“Be civil”.
As Rush Limbaugh said on his show, Friday; “civility” is the new word for “shut up”.
We are brow-beated by the most uncivil of civilians. We are told to “watch our tone” by people who look the other way when conservative leaders are threatened, or verbally abused in the most obscene and unspeakable terms, or hung in effigy. How many leftists have been willing to defend Sarah Palin against the Tucson blood libel? Most have instead, attacked her for using the term, “blood libel”.
How many have been willing to discuss at any length, threats of violence and hate speech against her?
Be civil?
I’m with Don Surber:
For two years now, I have been called ignorant, racist, angry and violent by the left. The very foul-mouthed protesters of Bush dare to now label my words as “hate speech.”
Last week, the left quickly blamed the right for the national tragedy of a shooting spree by a madman who never watched Fox News, never listened to Rush Limbaugh and likely did not know who Sarah Palin is.
Fortunately, the American public rejected out of hand that idiotic notion that the right was responsible.
Rather than apologize, the left wants to change the tone of the political debate.
The left suddenly wants civil discourse.
Bite me.
The left wants to play games of semantics.
Bite me.
The left wants us to be civil — after being so uncivil for a decade.
Bite me.
There is grown-up work to do now. Liberals ran up the federal credit card, destroyed the American medical system and undermined the rule of law — which is the foundation of capitalism — with a bunch of unconstitutional fiats from the president and his bureaucracy.
The economy is a mess. The president “inherited” a 7.6% unemployment rate. It’s now 9.4% — after we spent a record $787 billion on a stimulus.
I was not consulted on that stimulus. I had a very good argument against it. I said the money supply was too large and printing more money would fail. I said let the economic downturn run its course.
Lefties were too busy celebrating the 2008 election to listen.
When people protested lefties made vulgar remarks about tea-bagging and giggled.
So screw you and your civil discourse.
BlackisWhiteImperialConsigliere has a similar message for the left:
Your civility, for decades, has to been to tell us that we are stupid. To mock those who speak for our views. To paint anyone who believes as we do as being stupid, ignorant, and hateful. You have poured scorn, derision, and condescension upon us with the obliviousness of those who never gave a thought to what they were doing. Any attempt at a dialogue which doesn’t require those on our side to start with a premise that you are correct on any of these characterizations has been met with a vehement ”Shut Up!”, and now, after days of engaging in savage slander and blood libel, now you wring your hands, and speak softly of civility, either as again, trying to control the speech of others, or in hopes of being treated with greater restraint than you and yours showed me and mine since Saturday morning?
Go to Hell.
Your orgy of hate and blame that started before the bodies even hit the floor of that Tucson Safeway last Saturday revealed everything important to any who still had doubts about who you really are. And I’ll be damned if I’ll be silent and polite about the people who I think are the real danger to America. Especially after they pantsed themselves in front of the country last week.
Here’s what I’ll do: I will continue to love my country and obey its laws as I always have. I’ll continue to not hang people in effigies, or wish death or destruction on anyone. I will continue my political dissent against the Obama regime, and I won’t shy away from words like, “Socialist” to describe it. I will also call far left nutjobs, “moonbats” when I feel it’s warranted. And it will be warranted.
If the past week has proven anything to me at all, it’s that liberalism/leftism really is a mental disorder.
MORE:
Bloggers who are politely declining the the left’s invitation to engage more civilly:
Zilla of the Resistance: Take Your “Civil Discourse” and SHOVE IT!
Wolf Howling: Civility & Other BS
Matthew Vadum, Newsreal Blog: This Is What You Can Do With Your ‘Civility’!
Linked by Michelle Malkin, and Doug Ross, thanks!
Nice Deb 
“Me And My Neighbor”
Bill and I have been neighbors for thirty years.
He’s a dyed in the wool Democrat. I’m a dyed in the wool Republican.
He thinks Barak Obama is the greatest president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I think Ronald Reagan was the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.
He tells me a “good read” is Eugene Robinson. I tell him to read George F. Will.
He says his favorite blog is the Daily Kos. I tell him mine is Right Reactions.
He thinks Keith Olbermann deserves an Emmy Award. I think Bill O’Reilly does.
He tells me “tea parties” are for little girls. I tell him The Tea Party is for true patriots.
He’s an Atheist. I’m a Christian.
Bill owns a gun and knows how to use it. So do I.
We play golf together every chance we get.
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Deb,
Obama had no choice but to decline to falsely blame political rhetoric. Had he done so, his own past rhetoric would have stood as glowing testimony to some of the most brazen hypocrisy ever (even by Obama’s “standards”).
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Papa,
That’s nice, I guess.
Most people avoid spending time with people whose views they find atrocious.
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Of course Obama’s brazenness, and audacious behavior has never failed to shock and amaze.
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I dunno. Up until recently, I would have considered a certain Lib blogger a freind of mine, till he joined in with the usual suspects this last week.
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Up until recently, I would have considered a certain Lib blogger a freind of mine
I never understood that.
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I never understood that.
Up until his obsession with Sarah Palin ate his brain, you could talk rationally with him and he would admit that some of the approved arguments made no sense. But lately, there’s been no difference between what he says and what you’ll hear on PMSNBC. I think he “leaned forward” until he smacked his head. Hard.
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Well, you wrote, “GO TO HELL”, in your post addressing people like him. How do you write something like that, and then go hang out with someone you feel that way about?
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Oh, now I go over to remind him of the inconvenient facts he’d rather ignore.
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Some people are just lost causes. Gotta get them while they’re young.
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Well, I wouldn’t know about that stuff, Deb. I’m an “extremist” don’t you know?
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*cough*
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Up until recently, I would have considered a certain Lib blogger a freind of mine, till he joined in with the usual suspects this last week.
Deej?
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Obama didn’t have the luxury of browbeating conservatives over rhetoric. If he could have, he would have. But his personal history if violent rhetoric prevented that.
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A prediction – any new found “civility” on the left will not last more then nine days – which is when Obama will take the podium to give the State of the Union speech. You can rest assured he will make ad hominem attacks against the right. The guy is a child of the far left – and that’s what the far left does. Intellectual honesty and a desire for robust debate on the issues are far from their strong suits. It’s just that, up until a few days ago, their rhetorical paradigm of delegitimizing their opponents rather than engage them usually worked. We are entering a brave new world indeed.
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Linked: ‘Don Surber Says Screw Civil Discourse’.
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What seems to have bothered most people regarding Obama’s speech at the memorial was the many rounds of applause – one report says 30-something.
Of course, it wold only be a conspiracy-theory nut who would assume that there were people planted in the audience to instigate cheering.
For example: from one transcript:
“Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Please, please be seated. (Applause.)”
Cheering and applause is not usually found in your typical memorial service.
Political rallies, certainly……
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Papa, are you pissing in Bill’s beer when you hit the 19th hole because he has been pissing in yours for 30 long, long years.
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Great stuff, Deb. You’re linked by Doug Ross in today’s Larwyn’s Linx as well:
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2011/01/larwyns-linx-i-do-not-want-civil.html
🙂
I had my own post about the “civility” on Saturday, but it was really just a little ranty-poo, not nearly as eloquent as what I’ve seen from our fellow bloggers like what you have shared with us above. The sentiment is the same, but I had some swear words which demanded to be let out. LOL
I’m not about to play nice with people who’ve been downright evil to me since 2000. Nuts to that.
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Accusing someone of being the cause behind this massacre and trying to link her ( Palin) even after the evidence proves otherwise is the most hateful thing I can think of. Obama blew it for me when he greeted Sheriff Dupnik. Dupnik directly blamed Rush Limbaugh and has yet to apologize. Dupnik should be forced to resign,
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Who knows. Maybe Loughner will be considered a respected member of Chicago ” Academia” someday like Bill Ayers.
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Deb,
This is why I often refrain from “nuisance” and opt for plainly spoken punditry. I was subjected to mob verbal violence by leftists as a budding blogger who started writing political articles at CNN iReport back in early 2008 responding first to the most uncivil of sexual and verbally violent of attacks by Obama supporters on Hillary Clinton and then on Sarah Palin. Obama became my subject of choice of subjects and was one of the very first bloggers to break the story of the first lawsuit filed over Obama’s lack of birth certificate transparency.
Many of these left wing people’s behaviors were (an still are) obscene, vicious, and violent.
I fought back in ways that both highlighted their behaviors and mocked them and their leaders and pundits all the while denouncing violence. In so doing, it brought death threats against me and the most vile of sexual verbal attacks. They tried their best to intimidate and force me to shut up and go away. The result of it was my viewership stats elevating me to number one iReport Superstar.
THAT ENRAGED THEM TO THE POINT OF TRYING TO TERRORIZE ME.
I refused to knuckle under and swore I would never stop. I will not be silenced.
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“Civility”, “tone”, “appropriate”…. are code words I’ve run into now for more than two decades when speaking with Lefties. Homosexual lefties are big on these words. Female lefties use them a lot too, especially when they have some kind of leadership position in a public or non-profit institution. They like the term “smart” too. Everyone else is, well, you know, stupid if not part of their clique. The effeminized corporate males like these terms too. Allows them to sit with the “power girls” circles. I think they are also referred to as metrosexuals.
These days all of them are fans of The Boy Queen President in Name Only. They don’t value anything which isn’t colored a shade of grey. Here in Berkeley, the “smart ones” like to spend money at this bakery “collective” where every employee makes the same $63,000.00 salary per year. And a cookie costs over 2 bucks.
The taxpayer subsidy for “civility” is about to expire. The collectives are going to go belly up. No more 2 dollar cookies. Let’s see how civil these fools are when they go hungry and no one has need for their “skill sets” nor time to appreciate the “nuances” of their “resonating” unemployment.
I urge conservative independent thinkers to keep your eyes on the economic birdie. The gnats in our faces are the vermin of “affluence”, the false kind created by big government largesse, courtesy of Clinton, Dodd, Gorelick, Raines, and Frank. The paper trail is convoluted— but a Ponzi scheme is not rocket science.
And their jig is up.
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Thanks, NiceDeb for bringing this up. I have been appalled by the Republicans and Conservatives who praised Obama’s speech. I consider them the make nice crowd who crave liberal approval. Three reasons I thought Obama blew the speech. 1. The pep rally atmosphere he refused to dampen. 2. He NEVER apologized for his own over-the-top partisan, hateful rhetoric documented by Malkin. 3. He did his Messiah thing by suggesting his arrival caused Giffords eyes to open.
The Right wing pundits and presidential candidates like Huckleby just glossed over these facts (my theory on Huckleby is that this was his way to leave Palin out to dry. Then how many of these same pundits criticized Palin’s video for the most spurious of reasons. This is certainly a pattern of Kraumhammer.
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right on, sista
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We’ve been too civil I think. And they think we are going to back down now, they’ve got another think coming. How dare they lie and accuse all of us to be responsible for the Tucson shooting. All the violence and hateful rhetoric has come from the left. Every bit of it. The only thing the tea party has done is unite, using our system of government, with not one single act of violence, and we voted a whole bunch of people out of office. That IS what our country is about.
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Thanks for the linkage, Deb!
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Bite me says it all. That should be our standard response to “tone it down.” BITE ME.
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