Mar 06 2007
Captain’s Quarters on civility…
Over at Captain’s Quarters, there is a discussion of civility. On the previous thread is what appears to be his response to Ann Coulter’s comments. It’s a good post, but the comments at the second link are instructive as well.
They are part of the reason that Republicans got spanked in the 2006 mid-terms. Conservatives are not a majority – it is less likely that those who view comments like Ann Coulter’s as acceptable discourse are. Yet, there are some who insist that their use of should not be questioned.
I’m not buying that at all. I refuse to be silent about stuff I feel is unacceptable, and if the Ann Coulter groupies can’t handle that, then maybe they should prevail upon Ann to use her brain (which graduates of Ivy League law schools presumably have) before she engages her mouth.
Is that an unreasonable request?
Is that an unreasonable request?
No it isn’t, and I agree with you wholeheartedly about Ann Coulter, and it isn’t just because of “faggot” this year and “raghead” last year. She was also among those who treated Harriet Miers as almost cast-of-Deliverance material. I keep wondering if she’s going to use “Obama” and “n*gger” in the same sentence next year.
I’m getting pretty damn sick and tired of the smashmouth rhetoric on both sides of the political divide, and I’m pretty disappointed in a lot of the people on the Right who suddenly think that “faggot” is perfectly acceptable speech at an event like the CPAC. More to the point, I’m starting to wonder if I really belong among the “Right” when a lot of them are implying that people who object to throwing around names in public like “faggot” and “pansy” are people who deserve such names themselves. Granted, much of this is probably a reaction from people who are sick and tired of seeing the smashmouth leftists get away with this crap forever, but it’s still tough to keep your enthusiasm up when your own side starts puking up the same kind of bile.
As one of the conservatives who used to like and agree with Ann Coulter, I agree that she has gone way to far. And I agree, Aitch, that jsut because the left gets away with it doesn’t mean we need to stoop to their level. I thought we were above that, but apparently not.
Well, I too think Anne should not have said what she said, where she said it, but frankly, hasn’t she always been this way to some extent?
I enjoy about 60% of her Articles, and will continue to check them out.
I’m sure, going forward, she will continue to say and write things I agree and dis-agree with. I actually heard the whole “Faggot” quote in context several time yesterday. It was on every talk radio show I listened to. I did not think it was appropriate for this audiance, what with people bringing children and all that. But I did crack a smile. Maybe that makes me a bad person, I don’t know, but I did!
Maybe it’s time to put it in the past and move on. Just a thought.
Got to go, enjoy your day!
Was Coulter out of line? Yes. Did anyone that saw only the clip really understand what her line was about? No. Coulter was referring to the fact that if you say anything that is not PC you get sent to rehab, such as in the Isaiah Washington incident. But I am not going to throw the baby out with the bath water because the baby happened to soil it’s diaper.
So all those falling into Howard Dean’s trap of demanding the right “denounce” Coulter, have at it. As for me, I understand that as long as we conservatives are “denouncing” Coulter, we are ignoring the things that are said on the left such as Bill Maher’s opine that there were be more people alive is someone had killed Dick Cheney. I realize that Howard Dean, et al, used our own standards against us and I wonder why others can’t see that. Howard Dean’s tactics would make Gramsci proud.
Should we, as conservatives, let Coulter know that we didn’t appreciate her statement that WOULD be taken out of context? Yes. But to call for her banishment from the networds, is over reaction on our part. We cannot say that we believe in free speech and then, when someone says something we don’t like, demand they be banished. What is next? Ann Coulter book burnings in the town squares?
If the lack of civility on the part of Ann Coulter is part of the reason that we lost in ’06, then it stands to reason that not one Democrat would have won using the same rationale. But they did win and they used slander and hate rhetoric while they were winning.
Coulter was wrong. She should have known that only that part of her speech would be used against conservatives. She messed up. But this indignation on the part of the left and the conservative bloggers is simply misplaced. Personally, I find the reference to the death of a sitting Vice President a lot more offensive than I do what Coulter said. But no one is talking about that, are they? And why? Because the left, who has made hateful rhetoric into an art form, has chosen one person to be representative of all conservatives and the rightwing bloggers are allowing them to get by with it. Under those guidelines, are we now allowed to assume that Cindy Sheehan represents all Democrats? Somehow, I think that my Democrat friends who support their military sons/daughters and their fight against terrorism would disagree with that.
I think the hateful rhetoric has gotten out of hand, but until those like Howard Dean “denounce” people like Cindy Sheehan who states that she wants to go back in time so she can kill George Bush when he was a baby and demands that Democrat congressmen and women do not stand on the podium with her or “denounce” the hate mongers like Bill Maher and others, I am not going to over react to one mistake made by one conservative. I am not willing to eat one of our own while giving the left a pass. And no matter how much anyone disagrees with Coulter, she has brought a lot of young Americans into the conservative movement. Far more than any blogger who is now calling for her head on a stake.
NO, it is not an unreasonable request. And if Republicans want to start winning elections again instead of just casting blame when they lose them….then they need to make it plain this is not acceptable.
Terrye,
Would that include one AJ Strata, who, despite having no facts to back up his claims, constantly claims that the main reason for Republicans losses in 06′ , were do to their desire to Enforce Immigration Laws?