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| Home Front: Politix |
| Bush-haters do Kerry no favors |
| 2004-07-25 |
| By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Staff | July 25th, 2004 A POPULAR conceit of the left is that political hatred is a sickness of the right, one to which liberals are largely immune. "Just who are these Clinton haters," asked Time magazine in April 1994, "and why do they loathe Bill and Hillary with such passion?" It answered, in effect: That's just the way conservatives are. The article quoted historian Alan Brinkley: "Liberals tend to value tolerance highly, so there's a greater reluctance to destroy enemies than among the right." That was a whopper even in 1994, a year when Republican leader Newt Gingrich was routinely vilified as a McCarthyite and a racist. Ten years later, with a storm of Bush hatred raging among liberal Democrats, the notion that the left is too high-minded to savage its opponents is about as plausible as the claim that the moon landings were staged in Hollywood. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #5 Naaaaahh, I don't buy it. Pop on over to Slate.com and check out some of the Fray posts. Search for the word "hate" or similar terms in negative posts and the vast majority of these posters will have a little picture of GWB near their names, indicating voter preference. I would instead characterize most of the liberal posts I've seen as being "concerned", "worried", "energized", or perhaps even "shrill." But it's not hatred, not usually. The less we hyperbolize about these things the better. Jeff, get a grip. Now, two objective observations about the Right in this country: They do tend to go to emotional extremes on issues, and they do tend to project. By which I mean, blame the other side for the thing they just did, or are planning to do. "Liberal-controlled media" is a good example of this. There are a number of popular conservative-themed TV and radio programs on air and not a single liberal-themed one. If the liberals control the media, they're doing an excellent job of impersonating conservatives. Chalk it all up to bad spin. Best thing you can say about hate language is, it drags us all down. It should be vilified wherever it comes from, no matter the source. So not everything Mr. Clinton or Mr. Kerry says is just shit, and not everything Mr. Bush says is pure gold. Use your head, as always. |
| Posted by: Mister Write 2004-08-24 4:59:11 AM |
| #4 If the Democrats take enough of a spanky that they have to engage in introspection, we will be a much stronger country. Our effort in the WOT could have been quite a bit more effective, had the opposition not been tossing caltrops about, ceaselessly beating the Abu Ghraib drum and basically encouraging the American people to think we are failing. Hopefully the American people will punish them for their actions so that maybe Joe Lieberman can fhashion them into a responsible opposition that works for the betterment of all. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-07-26 1:12:15 AM |
| #3 We need more reasoned minds like Jeff. |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-07-25 9:58:07 PM |
| #2 Jacoby's the Globe's token conservative. He gets suspened every couple of years for making too much sense. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-07-25 8:47:09 PM |
| #1 Luckily, the Dims won't take his advice. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-07-25 8:43:08 PM |