Update 2: Last month (July) I left a comment at the site this post responds to on the Biden comment. Today I checked for a reply and see this:
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
He doesn’t like the facts, so he ignores them. It only underscores my points.
Update: More of the same:
During a Fourth of July campaign stop in Iowa, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, known for suffering from acute foot-in-mouth disease on more than one occasion, had some strong words for the president and some GOP rivals in the 2008 candidate pool.
As reported by the New York Times, Biden said of President Bush, ““This guy is brain dead. I know I’ll be quoted, I’ll be killed for that.”
Also note that the original post referred to below, like this post, has moved to a new URL.
Original post: 
There is no doubt that the political climate in America is more combative than a decade ago. But who is to blame? I believe there is some shared responsibility on both sides, although I of course fault one side a bit more (i.e., those that don’t know the definition of the word “lie,” who are generally less satisfied with life, etc.). So I had to respond to the post, ‘Not the same America…’:
It was a harsh reminder of the state of America today … the divisive rhetoric from the right over the past 7 years has made hating on “liberal scum” acceptable.
By “divisive,” I’m talking about the President George W. Bush running for re-election by badmouthing Hollywood and the blue states (”What would you expect from a senator from Massachusetts?”).
I’m talking about right-wing commentators like Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin, who make a living by saying the most horrible things about roughly half of the American population.
I’m talking about the moderate Republicans out there who give their tacit acceptance of such tactics by sitting quietly while their leaders and spokespeople slander their fellow Americans who just so happen to have different political ideas.
[…]
This is the new America… an America that I’ll just have to get used to. (emphasis added)
The divisiveness in America is the fault of Republicans? Really?
Some quotes from Democrats:
“You know, the Republicans are not very friendly to different kinds of people. They’re a pretty monolithic party. Pretty much, they all behave the same, and they all look the same. … It’s pretty much a white Christian party.’’ — Howard Dean
“These bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control.” –Michael Moore, writing in “Dude, Where’s My Country?”
“The (Bush) administration works closely with a network of rapid response digital brownshirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for ‘undermining support for our troops.’” — Al Gore
“But the vitriol also reflects the fact that many of the people at (the Republican National Convention), for all their flag-waving, hate America. They want a controlled, monolithic society; they fear and loathe our nation’s freedom, diversity and complexity.” — Paul Krugman
“As I watched Tuesday night’s network coverage of the unrelenting political propaganda hour known as the Republican National Convention, the first thought that came to mind was of old newsreels of those self-congratulatory Nazi rallies held in Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler.” — Hugh Pearson
“I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a ‘deserter.’ What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar, and a functional illiterate. And he poops his pants” –Michael Moore
“If someone did this [9/11] to get back at Bush, then they did so by killing thousands of people who DID NOT VOTE for him! Boston, New York, D.C., and the planes’ destination of California — these were places that voted AGAINST Bush!” –Michael Moore
“White people scare the crap out of me. … I have never been attacked by a black person, never been evicted by a black person, never had my security deposit ripped off by a black landlord, never had a black landlord … never been pulled over by a black cop, never been sold a lemon by a black car salesman, never seen a black car salesman, never had a black person deny me a bank loan, never had a black person bury my movie, and I’ve never heard a black person say, ‘We’re going to eliminate ten thousand jobs here - have a nice day!’” –Michael Moore, writing in “Stupid White Men”
“OK, I’ll predict that the rapture’s coming and you and I, Chris, are going up, and all these hypocritical conservatives who tell people not to do stuff but then they get caught doing are not.” — Maureen Dowd
“Despite all of this stupid bullsh*t that the Republican National Committee, or whatever the f*ck they call them, that they were saying that they’re all angry about how two of these ads were comparing Bush to Hitler? I mean, out of thousands of submissions, they find two. They’re like f*cking looking for Hitler in a haystack. …George Bush is not Hitler. He would be, if he f*cking applied himself.” — Margaret Cho
“(George Bush) betrayed this country! He played on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place!” — Al Gore
“Aside from his scintilla of candor, Mr. Bush is still not leveling with us. As he said at his press conference on Monday, ‘the enemies of freedom’ know that ‘a democratic Iraq will be a decisive blow to their ambitions because free people will never choose to live in tyranny.’ They may choose to live in a theocracy, though. Americans did.” — Maureen Dowd
“Americans did not vote for fascism - but the fascists now control all three branches of our government: the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court. In 1935, Sinclair Lewis warned against the rise of an American fascism in ‘It Can’t Happen Here’. Well, it can - and it will, unless we stop it now.” — Bob Fertik at Democrats.com
“So now the question is, basically, right now, how will (the Osama Bin Laden tape) affect the election? And I have a feeling that it could tilt the election a bit. In fact, I’m a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, that he probably set up bin Laden to this thing.” — Walter Cronkite
“It’s a real conflict for me when I go to a concert and find out somebody in the audience is a Republican or fundamental Christian. It can cloud my enjoyment. I’d rather not know.” — Singer Linda Ronstadt
“Republicans don’t believe in the imagination, partly because so few of them have one, but mostly because it gets in the way of their chosen work, which is to destroy the human race and the planet. Human beings, who have imaginations, can see a recipe for disaster in the making; Republicans, whose goal in life is to profit from disaster and who don’t give a hoot about human beings, either can’t or won’t. Which is why I personally think they should be exterminated before they cause any more harm.” — The Village Voice’s Michael Feingold
“In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and [there] were those slaves that lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master … exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him. Colin Powell’s committed to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture.” — Harry Belafonte
“Republicans bring out Colin Powell and J.C. Watts because they have no program, no policy. They have no love and no joy. They’d rather take pictures with black children than feed them.” — Donna Brazile, Al Gore’s Campaign Manager for the 2000 election
(On Clarence Thomas) “A handkerchief-head, chicken-and-biscuit-eating Uncle Tom.” — Spike Lee
(emphasis added)
That took about five minutes with Google.
So what about Republicans causing this? So just who said all that above? The crass ad hominem, revulsion of Christianity, sustaining racial divides, tired and pathetic Hitler comparisons, UBL conspiracies, and even suggesting that Republicans be exterminated! One may come up with some vitriolic Republican quotes as well, but that does not negate the hypocrisy of the original accusation.
What about those quoted above, “saying the most horrible things about roughly half of the American population”???
Any words from the “moderate” Democrats who “give their tacit acceptance of such tactics by sitting quietly while their leaders and spokespeople slander their fellow Americans who just so happen to have different political ideas”???
Well?
—–
Engaging in politics of fear works. Always has, always will.
The vast vast majority of people are ignorant about the real issues and all they have to go by is what their leaders and the media say. So, of course, all one has to do is scare the hell out of ones constituency into thinking that the other side is all evil and extreme and dark and wants to enslave them, etc….
For the last 5 years I’ve lived in San Francisco and Berkeley and all I hear is that Republicans are a bunch of fascist Nazi Christian extremists run by the oil companies and military industrial complex that want to create a theocracy and ram rod Christianity down everyone’s throats starting at birth and take civil rights away from women and minorities. So many are very serious and sincere about these beliefs.
On the other hand, I was born and raised in Oklahoma, which is very conservative and what people call the “belt buckle of the bible belt.”
All I heard there were the same types of extreme statements.
Democrats are a bunch of dysfunctional, naive, unprincipled hedonists that think free love and giving away everyone’s money to whoever wants it is a practical solution to conflict and hardship. They want to outlaw Christianity and any social/sexual mores so that perverts can have rights too! A big group hug is all that is necessary to solve any conflict.
It’s all a big propaganda game. I hope a new generation of leaders can get the USA past such divisiveness.
I think the mid-term elections will put democrats in control of the house and all the usa is going to see for the next two years are public hearings, investigations, and subpoena after subpoena on the Bush administration with possible impeachment hearings. All for a vendetta. The same kind of vendetta that the Republicans had when they impeached Clinton.
Maybe a city needs to get nuked for us to wake the hell up and look at how much we have in common and need each other, and cut out all the petty bullshit.
A little thing called “perjury” ring a bell? If I had committed perjury, even if “just about sex,” I will likely be convicted and go to jail (my best friend, an experienced former JAG officer and Texas prosecutor taught me that lying in court often gets you in bigger trouble than whatever you were lying about in the first place).
One may argue about whether President Clinton was effective or President Bush was effective as a president. But one certainly cannot argue with the fact that President Clinton committed perjury, a felony offense, in office. There is no evidence that President Bush committed any felonies in office.
Hence the Republicans had every reason to initiate impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. There is no reason for Democrats to start one against President Bush. “We hate him” or “we disagree with his views on War on Terror and Iraq” are not valid reasons.
We leave those questions for the voters.
I might also add that when President Nixon resigned, it was so because the conscientious members of his party, his fellow Republicans, were ready to join Democrats to impeach him.
When it was time for conscientious Democrats to do the same with Clinton, they chose power over conscience, and voted against it by a strictly partisan vote.
There is no moral equivalency. I am certainly not arguing that Republicans are angels and Democrats devils; rather that the mainstream media, by and large, hold Republicans to a higher standard, and often gives Democrats a pass on things that would, if said or committed by a Republican, would create a huge backlash.
An environment often conditions people, and this kind of more permissive environment for Democrats has conditioned them to take this greater liberty for granted and act accordingly.
Look who you’re quoting for your representatives of Democrats though…
While you do have quotes from actual politicians, you also have quotes from film makers and actors to comedians and other entertainers, and from dead journalists to college professors.. You would be able to make stronger statements about Democratic politicians by limiting your quotes to things said by actual Democratic politicians.
As for the comment about Republicans being more satisfied with life then Democrats, I’ve always had the impression that Republican voters are rich because the Republican party tends to do things in a way that help them remain rich, and keep the poor poor. That’s just a general observation, but that’s my observation.
Personally, I vote Democrat, but that does not mean I’m a strong support of the Democratic party either. On domestic issues, I tend to agree with the Republicans for my way of life, but my way of life isn’t hurt by the Democrats were as the way of life of others can be hurt by the Republicans. (I’m speaking of gay marriage and all that jazz.) However on international issues, I’m pro-Democrats a majority of the time.
James,
I don’t think I need to address the perjury issue to make a case on my vendetta claim. The witch hunt began long before the public even heard the name lewinsky. Clinton just got caught, and it’s his own fault.
It’s both sides. I remember reading conspiracy literature, which was going around, that swore proof that Clinton was behind a trail of murders, including the death of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in that plane crash. The literature was being passed around at my church in Oklahoma. That same kind of stuff is all over San Francisco and Berkeley in regards to Bush.
“There is no evidence that President Bush committed any felonies in office.”
James…. if the Dems take the house, we got two loooooong years starting in 07 to hear all about it.
I agree about the media bias.
One could argue that Fox News is doing well countering that considering its’ ratings are consistantly the highest in the industry.
Darin, considering Cathartidae’s main evidence in accusing the Republican party exclusively of splitting our country was a single disgruntled motorist, I think selected quotations from leading figures in the Democratic Party certainly are appropriate evidence in countering such claims. We could stick to Pelosi and Reid but I think Richardson’s just trying to point to the breadth of support for BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome).
I’m not defending Cathartidae by any means, but why stoop to a lower level when one can simply accomplish the same results without? I mean, Richardson should easily be able to refute those statements without having to pull comedians etc into the game, and be able to do it with style and pizzazz too; it tastes much sweeter that way.
The same goes for this statement:
I agree with the conclusion, but the process discredits itself. I agree that the media has a negative bias, (not necessarily anti-Bush bias though — the same media networks that attack Bush today have attacked everyone before him as well) but if you say that the majority of the networks are anti-Bush and Fox is the sole pro-Bush network, then say Fox has the best ratings… Wouldn’t that mean that the public that is anti-Bush is splitting itself up amongst all the other news sources? To say that Fox has high enough ratings to show the American people are pro-Bush would mean you’d have to combine all the anti-Bush networks’ ratings together and then compare those to Fox.
Darin,
First, I don’t think I did anything to “stoop to a lower level.” At all.
Second, see Corpy’s dead on response.
Third, using the variety of quotes that I did is even more damning as many have a much higher profile among common Americans. That is, perhaps more Americans are apt to hear what Margaret Cho or Michael Moore might say (ie, the vitriol) than something from Michael Feingold or even the other-than-soundbites rantings of Howard Dean.
I saw – and see – no need to dig up any more quotes, from more Democratic politicians or anyone else, as those provided more than made my point.
Which party controls the legislative and executive branch (and, some might say, the judicial)? Which president, winning the first time by Supreme Court fiat and the second by a 51% to 49% majority, has pushed an extreme right-wing agenda, governing as if the other 49% did not exist and squandering our prosperity in the process?
Thankfully, those of us closer to the middle are part of the backlash that is coming this November. I spent much of 2000-2003 overseas. The US did become a much different, and less pleasant, place in the interim. Divisive and nasty. I hope we can regain some sense of center and civility before it is too late.
Who’s in control of the government is irrelevant to the point being made, which is that assigning responsibility for the “[d]ivisive and nasty” tone in political discourse to solely to Republicans is unequivocally false, and that one must either have their head in the sand or be less than honest to insist it is so.
I’d also call into question that any, “extreme right-wing agenda” has been or is being pushed.
Pelagius,
control of the legislative and executive branches is not free reign. They do not control public opinion and are still held accountable if they want to get reelected. If the EXTREME far right had control like you say, then we would see legislation passing regarding prayer in public schools, more stuff against abortion, anti-flag burning laws, anti gay marriage laws, etc.
Bush admin has to placate these people and pay them lip service, but the agenda hasn’t been extreme.
They have pushed a right wing agenda, but not one that is extreme.
As far as the center goes, Joe Lieberman isn’t too popular with the Democratic party at all. Yet he’s probably going to beat Ned Lamont.
If you think what is going on now is a backlash, just wait until Nancy Pelosi becomes speaker of the house. I don’t know of any place more extreme or anti-american than the San Francisco Bay Area, which she represents. Republicans don’t even run for office there. That’s exteme, Pelagius.
Your comments use the same kind of hyperbole that perpetuates divisiveness.
On the contrary, the super-rich (who, by the way, do not pay much income tax since their wealth comes from accumulated wealth rather than yearly income) overwhelmingly support the Democrats (as do most Ph.D. holders).
On the other side, the bedrock of the GOP has always been small business owners and middle-class professionals and workers, the mythical Joe Sixpack.
The Democrats now largely represent bi-coastal elites and their lowest class constituents (who demand entitlements funded by taxes).
The GOP mostly represents middle and upper-middle class families, especially with children.
One of the reasons why the Democrats fiercely opposed the Social Security reform was that if the partial privatization were achieved, they would lose some of their constituents who expect the government (i.e. ultimately tax derived from the younger, working population who earn income) to keep the system afloat.
It comes down to this. Dems now represent people who need government (whether for power (the elites) or entitlements (the lowest economic class)). The GOP, or at least the small government conservative-wing, represents those people who earn their own keep and don’t need government, except for national defense.
As for this why use comedian or filmmaker quote. I suggest you look at the 2004 Democratic Convention and ask the Democrats. They gave a place of honor to Michael Moore prominently. If they associate with the likes of him, his quote can certainly be put next to theirs.
I think the extraordinary success of Fox News had to do with the fact that the big four (the networks and CNN) that previously dominated TV news were overwhelmingly left-wing (an overwhelming majority of journalists vote left).
In talk radio, it is absolutely true that the right is now the stronger force. In the blogosphere, the fight is more even, but the right has a slight edge in my view.
In print media, however, which still remains the “most polished” and influential opinion-making form of media, the left dominates the right (the business-friendly right has WSJ, but the left has NYT, WaPo and just about every other newspaper in most cities).
While the print media’s influence is declining, what appears on NYT has continued to dominate what appears on TV news, esp. network news. And this is one important area where there is no semblance of parity — the left bias is persistent and dominant.
As for “Bush’s extreme right-wing agenda.” I am afraid whoever made this remark drank the kool-aid on Democratic Party talking points. Bush’s not extreme right-wing. He is actually a rather moderate (some say “big government”) Republican. Example? Prescription drug bill for the elderly. There is not one serious and committed conservative (let alone “extreme right-wing”) who would support this. Bush did. So-called comprehensive immigration reform? That’s pretty much amnesty for illegal aliens for committed conservatives like me. Bush supports it.