Stop Being So Offended, Democrats

Come on, Democrats. Let's cut it out with the self-righteous political correctness, please. I'm tired of reading about every little slip-up or awkward phraseology by anyone on the other side being blown out of proportion and having to hear Keith Olbermann hector us as if he were our era's Edward R. Murrow. I'm speaking of course about Hillary Clinton's RFK comments and Liz Trotta's off-color joke about Obama on FOX News. Both comments were insanely dumb and apologies were issued. Let's leave it at that (I realize it was a slow news weekend).

I would prefer to live in an America where not everyone is so damn straight-jacketed and afraid to say anything off-the-cuff that all we get are canned, predictable, meaningless and devoid-of-content statements, like the crap that the Bush administration has served up for the past seven years. To wit: Washington has a way of purging those who speak their mind (see O'Neill, Paul). That cuts both ways. When Democrats express shock over an impromptu joke made by Mike Huckabee at an NRA convention, it means Huckabee has to put up that mental filter that will expunge all future traces of spontaneity and honesty. Same goes for Geraldine Ferraro. Are we better off for that?

This is not an endorsement of the jokes or comments made by these people. But I'm not going to storm the barricades over them. Nor do I think Ferraro is a racist or Huckabee is pro-assassination or that McCain wants to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years. I think their statements were blown out of proportion. Plus, this kind of shock and awe from the media only dumbs down the political debate (if that is possible at this point in the campaign) when there are so many more pressing issues. What angers me, as a white male in his 30s living in New York City in 2008, is that fact I have no health insurance; that I live in a country whose public transportation system is a joke; that oil execs, all of them white males, made record profits last year; that our department of Homeland Security actually thinks Iraqi-style IED explosives may wrack the streets of Boston (!!) -- the list goes on.

I don't care about the trivialities of whose pastor said what or what FOX pundit said what -- in the larger scheme of things, this kind of stuff doesn't mean squat. Plus, we don't need to distort the opposition or take umbrage at their every comment to win this election. If we just debate them upright on the issues, we will win. Let's not allow the political debate be hijacked by the politically correct wing of the Democratic Party.

Comments

[ecotopian]

So it's all right to joke about the assassination of a presidential candidate? I'm supposed to laugh it off? You have a seriously warped sense of humor.

[sdskelton03]

That isn't what he said. In fact, with your comment you are doing exactly what he is calling on democrats to stop doing!

[nuglet304]

haha. what's the point? there's no convincing some people.

[ecotopian]

That is what he's saying. The best reaction to what was said was this one:

"Oh my God, this is unbelievable," said Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "This is completely inappropriate. I don't think you ever want to put in a crazy person's head that idea. Of course she doesn't want him (Obama) assassinated. But a candidate shouldn't ever talk about the possibility of physical violence being visited upon an opponent." http://www.mcclatchydc.com/election2008/story/38336.html

Assassination is nothing to joke about. And, no, I'm not overly sensitive either. This is a candidate for the highest office in our country. Joking about offing him, or her, has no place in any civilized discourse. But as it has been said, there is no convincing some people...

[TEEHead]

Amen Lionel.

As a democrat and reformed (escaped...?) liberal still clinging to some ideals despite the leftists trying to push me to a more rational political mind-set, I am constantly dismayed by the childishness of the discourse on that side of the fence. Sure, the right can be trying at times, but you guys on the left are simply juvenile *most* of the time.

Nothing wrong with a little throwing of elbows in a good political cage match, but it ought to actually be *about* something for christsakes. To have the "George W is a chimp" bumper sticker crowd whine and scream when someone calls Barry O out for a dumb-ass comment like bitter-gate is laughable. If you're going to dish it out, etc. etc.

Lionel's right. If you want to actually fix the problems in this country you need to stop crying wolf all the time, stop trying to pummel everyone into submission, and start working with people who think differently then you do. It's called compromise - my kids learned it by the age of 5.

Lionel and I probably have different ideas on how to approach the problems he's listed, but I'd agree with him on the list as a good place to start (except the last one - just last week on a routine call I found a real device that we had to call the bomb squad on...you guys on the left just don't get that issue at all...)

[mioumiou]

The Obama camp is gleeing with such slip-ups because they have nothing much to offer in terms of news. They can't claim winning by loosing. So they pump up slip-up, instead of talking about issues, health care, gasoline prices, declining value of dollars. Obama could not compete with Clinton on issues. He is just weak on issues because he did not know all the issues because he has not been around long enough to know the issues.

I find it disheartening to see fellow democrats against another fellow democrats, branding people that voted for Clinton are uneducated, rural, etc. These people form the base of the party, yet Donna Brazile said the party has a new coalition, young, African-American, and college-educated and need no broad base party. I find this offensive. Olbermann and others like him, are way out of line in lecturing Clinton in such a manner, giving reasons for people to say yet another example of sexism.

Lets see if Obama can win without the base, Obama think most Americans have short memory, so the strategy is to sweet talk all those women voters with his smile and sweetie, and they, women voters, will be enthralled with his charisma and do whatever he ask them to do, a strategy to divide the base, and bring them together for general election, after Nov. forget the base. Lets see if that strategy works, see if Clinton supporters were wise enough not to be duped.

[K-Dog76]

Finally a voice of reason!

I often get scared of crossing the line to vote for Obama because of the far-left comments I keep seeing. I just want our government to work.

[realpolitic]

Obama has no responsibility for what is said in this thread. He is arguing issues of war and peace and tax code fairness. Move on to the important issues. Do not be afraid to leave the trivialities behind. Republicans would like to see us buried in muck and mire. it is time to start correcting the blunders of George Bush.

[sigmademocrat]

Your whole logic is flawed. if he is so inexperienced and flawed...then why is hillary losing to him??? doesn't say much about her.

Let me guess, obama fooled us, we are all drinking his kool-aid. all 17 million of us that thought he was better than hillary.

Hillary is losing because she was unprepared, which speaks to her so called experience. Clinton supporters can claim anything they want, but if they look at the facts, they should blame Mrs. Experience Clinton for her lost, because that is why she lost.

obama did his job. Why be mad at him?

[IslandGyal]

mioumiou,
How is what Hillary Clinton said a slip up? She herself said that's what she intended to say, as referencing it as a time line. I am sorry, but a slip-up is when you thought something and you didn't mean to say it, but it came out; she said, she meant to state it, and she regrets that 'we' are misconstruing what she said. She invoked assassination, when she knows darn well her supporters are the ‘working, hard working Americans, White Americans’ who are most likely the ones making the death threats against him already, that required him to have secret service protection quicker than any other candidate. She said what she said and meant what she said, and she’s not backing off of it.

[distant mirror]

The threat of assassination is quite real to the Obama campaign. I am sure they were not "gleeful" about these remarks. I am disheartened by such cynical comments that are completely disconnected from the reality the the Obama campaign and the other candidates as well, face every day. It is no laughing matter.

[morticia]

mioumiou: you sound like a SORE LOOSER, move on for Gods sake! get over it, she`s done, end of story.I don`t need PR or the outher two to know when someone is history, she cooked her goose way back in SC, snipers,duck hunting, lies and lies and
when Bill made the Jesse Jackson gaffe,it`s been all downhill for her since then. Don`t take my word for it just look at the SDelegates,they are the ones who are speaking now.

[tbone99]

Morticia - ever heard the saying o can draw more flies with honey than with vinegar.?
Take a lesson.

[Conservativeslayer]

There should be no tolerance what so ever for jokes about violence and assassination. I don't care who makes the comments and who they are directed at. Whether it's a liberal directing them at a conservative or vice versa.

[blueshield]

You sound just like my son in 10th grade - just last week he told me I was overreacting to a joke he told. The "joke" was racist enough, he admitted, he would not tell it to his black friends. But it was just a joke, he told me. Lighten up. Everyone in school talks that way, he said. He didn't mean it.

Now, my son does not claim to be a national authority, has no aspiration to leadership or elected office, and is not a spokesperson to millions of listeners, attempting to put forth a point of view on a reputed NEWS program. Each of the persons you refer to in your blog, however, are. And since they have volunteered to be public spokesman, we most definitely do have the right to hold them to high standards of accuracy and behavior.

I don't know what you're thinking. Words affect people and events. If that were not true Lionel, you wouldn't be wasting your time going clickity clack on the keyboard there.

My son will learn his lesson very clearly, I will see to that.

Who will ensure that our public figures do not also adhere to standards of decency, if we do not insist on it?

[ChewyToy22]

Good post.

I can agree that neither candidate can be responsible for what his/her pastor (or other)
says but when that candidate opens his/her mouth, it had better be something acceptable and responsible.

As an adult, I may be able to distinguish between the bullshit but if my child is listening to the same garbage and is influenced my it, then that certainly will affect how I vote.

[StephenDedalus82]

Exactly! Liberals bitch and moan about our politicians being too calculating, but we're the first ones highly highly offended every time one of them says something that's even slightly off-color. No wonder they are careful about what they say.

The right has painted the left as too politically correct for decades, and we somehow manage to prove them right every time. It amounts to thought police and no one who values liberty would be so despotically scrutinous of every word that comes out of candidates' mouths.

[jazmatician]

Hillary IS careful.
There are two plausible explanations, neither good:
A) She "misspoke" AGAIN. She's tired, she's been working hard, she's sleep-deprived or caring too much, etc. RING RING Hillary, it's your 3AM call -- are you REALLY ready for it?
B) She planned the statement and is such a low-life scumbag has no right being leader of the Free World.

Your choice. Either she is evil or incompetent.

[StephenDedalus82]

False dichotomy. When every word you (or your spouse) speaks in a campaign that has lasted over a year is recorded by the news media, some stupid slip-ups are bound to happen. No candidate has been immune, but Clinton has been particularly scrutinized. The rigors of the campaign trail may mirror the rigors of the presidency, but these people are only human. Is Obama not fit to be president because he can't tell the difference between Auschwitz and Buchenwald?

What possible motive could Clinton have to deliberately invoke assassination? It's not even evil because there is no possible political reason she would say something that was bound to be interpreted this negatively.

If only the outrage on the left weren't so disingenuous. It's not formed by independent thought but by media prodding. Everything that comes out of Clinton's mouth is further evidence of her evil nature. Two things could be going on: either she is indeed evil, or the anti-Hillary left is simply paranoid and caught up in their own delusions about her.

[BatedBreath]

And what about the *pimping* remark that David Schuster made. NBC was forced to suspend him because theclintons found the word offensive. Where was your screed against that, Mr. Beehner?

I suggest to you that talk of assassination, especially when publicly advocating the assassination of a candidate for president goes beyond offensive and is beyone the bounds of everything that is holy. And excusing it as a lame joke? No. That cannot be allowed in a civilized society.

[StephenDedalus82]

So should blatant distortion and lying be "allowed"? Because that's what you're engaging in.

[hughbetcha]

Unless its a member of the Bush Administration then I'm sure you'd be all for such `satire.'

[nellie]

I'm assuming you're either too young to remember the shattering effect of the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK, or that if you are not too young, you were out of the country during the time. There is no other accounting for equating Clinton's remarks with "trivialities."

Democrats are finally paying attention. It's been the patter that as soon as they pay attention, someone accuses them of being over sensitive. Over sensitive at the theft of the election in 2000. Over sensitive at the theft of the election in 2004. Over sensitive at the Valerie Plame article by Novak. Over sensitive at reality.

As an Independent, I think this is a healthy recalibration of Democratic ATTENTION. None of us has been paying attention. We've been "just getting over it." "Moving on." Not this year. This year we are going to be human beings. And when something outrageous happens, we're going to react like human beings. And you know what? That's exactly what's going to put a Democrat in the White House.

[doodlefarbe]

" Over sensitive at the theft of the election in 2000. Over sensitive at the theft of the election in 2004. Over sensitive at the Valerie Plame article by Novak. Over sensitive at reality. As an Independent, I think... "

Whoa. Come again?

[missusam]

Absolutely, point well made

[chappelforpres]

"Let's not allow the political debate be hijacked by the politically correct wing of the Democratic Party."

What planet have you been on Lionel? No one in the media seem interested in focusing the presidential debate on substinative issues. Obama's was the only voice I ever heard, even trying. Hillary spent her time, chiming in. Here's a pathetic excerpt from the last debate.

Obama: " I think what's important is to make sure that we don't get so obsessed with gaffes that we lose sight of the fact that this is a defining moment in our history....

Our economy is teetering not just on the edge of recession but potentially worse. Our foreign policy is in a shambles. We are involved in two wars. People's incomes have not gone up, and their costs have. And we're seeing greater income inequality now than any time since the 1920s.

In those circumstances, for us to be obsessed with this (trivia) .....I think is a mistake. And that's not what our campaign has been about. ...

(APPLAUSE) (Now, Gibson's inane follow up question for which he was subsequently jeered.)

GIBSON: And, Senator Obama, I want to do one more question.... And it is a question raised by a voter in Latrobe, a woman by the name of Nash McCabe. Take a look. > IRRELEVANT FLAG PIN ISSUE

That Hillary's increasingly negative campaign has literally consumed itself has little to do with political correctness, more like Karma.

[mredder4]

Well put, except the pass given to FOX News. I think a lot of commentors around here could use a good read and re-read and third read of this article. (For some it would literally take three times to comprehend; this isn't a MENSA meeting around here or anything [apologies to MENSA for linking them in any way to some of the commentors on this site]) FOX News shouldn't be excused, because their staff has been doing this crap forever, and their viewers are just dumb enough to believe a lot of what's on that excuse for a network.

Anyway...

If you can allow that Barack Obama wasn't thinking when he called potential voters "bitter" or protest that his remarks were taken out of context, then the same standard applies to Hillary Clinton. Every questionable contact Clinton has made throughout her (and Bill's) long career should be recalled when considering Obama's involvement with Rev. Wright.

These are people that are campaigning, after all, not saints. Stop expecting them to act like them.

[IslandGyal]

Using the possibility of assassination as a reason you stay in a political race is not acceptable under any circumstances - period. I don't want her leading me. She should know enough not to verbalize that. She should have kept that thought buried in her and Bill’s fantasies.

[mredder4]

Your mock outrage over "the comment" is so tired. Stop acting so offended, grow a pair, and go about your life. You know, the life that wasn't affected in any way, shape, or form by "the comment" you supposedly find so outrageous.

[allyiniowa]

Except for Fox News? Aren't those people more obsessed with spin than anything else? You my friend have not seen Hannity......or O'Reilly? I watch that nonsense and it's just as bad... It's just that these sort of accusations and words of advice are only directed at certain groups... But I think all media outlets are to blame...

[allyiniowa]

And besides that, I think Hillary was allowed on the whole "Sniper Fire" thing...

[swatenginguy]

Couldn't have said it better myself. As satisfying as it is to see McCain squirm over this or that pastor, it makes me think we're not quite as principled as we like to think. We spend days or weeks whining about the media's focus on Wright or flagpins or Ayers, but when some equally unimportant story comes out about McCain we push it. By pushing these unimportant stories we become exactly what we hate.

I think it's just as clear that McCain does not share Hagee's views as it is that Obama does not share Wright's views. Let's practice what we preach; Let us fight fire with water.

[Lindy222]

May I point out that Sen. Obama made a brief comment in support of the G.I. bill in which he stated he couldn't understand Sen. McCain's reasons for opposing the bill, and Sen. McCain responded with a 39-page, spittle-flecked rant?

[arglebargle]

Not to mention McCain's disproportionate defensive reaction to Obama's "losing his bearings" remark, which McCain chose to inflate into an age slam...

[Fabienne]

May I also point out that Senator Obama has laid out very specific positions on health care, gasoline prices, the economy, etc. He is only seen to be "weak" on the issues if you refuse to either listen to him or read what is written on his website. This argument has been used repeatedly with absolutely no factual information to back it up. And were I making decisions for the Democratic Party's future, I would certainly want to court the young and the college-educated for the base of the party. They have the intelligence, the energy and the money to carry it forward. And if Clinton supporters believe "not being duped" is voting for a President who is pro-war, anti-choice, pro tax cuts for the healthy, anti-universal health care, et alia, sobeit.

[goldstategirl]

THANK YOU.

[darrick72]

I wonder if you would find it funny if they were "joking" about assassinating you. I wonder how lightly your family and friends would take it. To suggest political assassination in America is nothing short of treason.

[mergina]

We are not offended.....just very &&^*#()# p'd off.

[dumboldfarmer]

Mr. Beehner: I am a 67 year old white male. And, I have to tell you, Senator Clinton's remarks offended me. Of course I will get over it, but what amazes me is the younger people who wonder why it offends many of us. Perhaps it is because many younger people haven't had a cultural icon or symbol of change cut down by violent means. Perhaps they just don't care, which could be a scary situation.

Sorry, but it was wrong and there was no apology offered. That is also wrong.