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.
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This article is part of the problem. Journalists and others are always asking people on the left to look the other way. Bush steals our civil liberties, but we should look away. We are in an endless war in Iraq, but look away. If Fox news starts joking about Obama being assassinated or if Hillary Clinton alludes to it, it is a problem. Would this writer make the same argument if journalists on other networks joked about an McCain assassination. Of course, not. He would say that we Democrats must play by a different playbook. It is time to cut out the gentility nonsense and get in the trenches and fight like Republicans do. Of course, we must maintain our values. After winning the election we can do somehting about endless warfare, health insurance, and public transportation, but not until then.
Hi folks, this is exactly what the article was about. Let's chill out and vote for the best candidate. I hope the independents go for our side. It's really hard to imagine how the present environment wouldn't deliver the White House to the Dems, unless it's through the actions of the Dems themselves.
Translation: Just get over it and fall in line behind my candidate, even though he isn't able to secure the nomination.
he can't secure the nomination because there are two good candidates, but make no mistake...
you should fall in line, because i am willing to bet that you were one of the main ones complaining about REpub leadership and now that we have a chance to get a dem, your upset and considering not voting because your candidate lost....
that is why repubs when, they back the party not the candidate.
He will secure the nomination as of next Tuesday.
You're assuming an awful lot. No mention was made regarding whom I support. The point is: both of our champions would be a fine president. A good fight, even all the way to the convention, is not necessarily a bad thing for our party. What worries me is: too many Obama fans are pledging never to vote for Hillary, and vice-versa. The GOP has managed to put and reput this pinhead in the Whitehouse due to extreme cohesiveness (admitedly, even then they had to cheat). I am NOT suggesting that we need to fall into lock-step like Republicans. They should be sufficiently splintered this time around to be quite beatable, but only if we don't splinter even more than they.
Whoever secures the nomination, I will support her/him without reservation. Hopefully that doesn't need further translating.
Or how about the one that said i wish someone would take her into a room and only he comes back out now who was the on that said that? Oh yeah keith Olbermann there was no outrage at that threat but that was a boy being just boy! And that was the last time i watched countdown.
Oh, and you might try reading Keli Goff's nice blog of today; it might (I won't hold my breath) give you a different perspective on the matter.
Stop telling us how to feel! We are in control of our emotions just like you are in control of your lack thereof! I guess we should save our outrage for the important issues like flag lapel pins made in China.. Damn DICTATOR!
Why are Senator Obama's supporters always so angry, and--well--bitter? It's exhausting.
And really boring.
That's funny. It's Clinton's supporters who are stomping their feet and threatening to vote for John McCain. Talk about bitter!
Not sure why - he seems to be winning.Yo
Why do his detractors make baseless blanket generalizations like this one LOL?
Come on folks, really.
First of all, Hillary is supposed to be on the DEMOCRATS side! So how is being outraged by her comments blowing out of proportion anything that is said by the "other side" (of course, I don't feel like she is our side but for the sake of argument let's assume she is). The point of all of this is that incorporating violent rhetoric isn't just speaking off the cuff or a dismissable gaffe. It is unacceptable. Sure, anyone is allowed to say whatever they please but for such comments, the political price should be high. Let's have our candidates speak more freely about this issues - absolutely. If talking about assassination is a viable campaign issue (the thought of which is sad and disgusting), can you honestly say that Huckabee, Trotta and Clinton where on the right side of the issue? Should we all be lobbying for more pro-assassination candidates?
Please define apology because if you think what Clinton or Trotta said was passable as an apology then you must be trying to redefine the word.
Really? Answer me this question. What if Keith Olbermann or David Schuster said something like "...she didn't mean to say that Bush should be assassinated" Other guy,"You mean Bin Laden
Kieth "Well, both if we could (laughs)"
You mean to tell me O'Reilly and Limbaugh wouldn't blow gaskets? You mean to tell me the right wouldn't demand an immediate firing? You're kidding right?
I think most of you are missing the point in this piece. The real problem is that when we let our attention be deflected from the real issues in the presidential race, we all suffer. I have'nt heard a candidate talk about the friggin' war in Iraq in a long time! What about Universal Health Care? What about the erosion of the US Constitution under the Bush regime? No one's even talking about the Webb/Hagel Veteran's rights bill! We have an economy that is headed in a death spiral and no one seems to be talking about it! Gasoline is $4.00 a gollon with no end in sight and we're NOT talking about alternative energy on the campaign trail. I for one, am ready to ignore whose pastor said what or who "gaffed" most recently. Let's get back to the real issues before it's too late. Stop dumbing down this process.
You are seriously out of touch if you think that only Democrats are offended. Why don't you try reading the other articles on this very website.
Yes, because this website is so representative of the American electorate as a whole.
Agreed.
1. I don't consider comments about assassination during a presidential campaign as "off the cuff." They are rather serious statements, especially when the opposing candidate has received numerous death threats.
2. I think it is actually important for us to hold politicians accountable for their words. That's part of free speech. Free speech is not just being able to say what you want. It also means that we are able to critique the things we hear and challenge our leaders. Challenging our leaders is healthy for democracy.
Well said. I would add that talk of assassination tends to breed other remarks about assassinat
Good post.
And it was also Clinton herself that said, "words matter". Right, Clinton supporters? Except for the words that SHE utters, apparently.
Would you offer this drivel if one made a comment such as this on the back of the Holocaust?
There is political correctness and there is just plain decency.
Hillary Clinton is sorely lacking in both.
And her enablers, such as yourself, do nothing to halt her insanity. That's why she's gone from bad (Bosnian sniper fire) to worse (assassination during a presidential campaign).
You're comparing that comment to the HOLOCAUST?
Wow , there seems to be a definite sense of porportion lacking in way too many posters and it's going to bite us all in the butt if we continue to seek to to prove each other as evil, instead odf as people who have the common goal of ejecting the real evil, .
Political correctness IS just plain decency. Otherwise, it has no meaning.
Wait a minute, Lionel, I thought being easily offended is on the Democratic Party platform, right behind whining and demonizing those they disagree with.
I am offended with your catty, snipey untrue remark Kundy.
It might be a tad snarky--but, if you ask me, Kundera's remark is entirely accurate, insofar as describing 50% of the Democratic Party these days.
All of those things will officially be adopted in a special session during this year's convention.
And then, far too many Democrats will wonder why most of the country ran away from their candidate in November.
Yes, but is it not Republicans whining that every other comment is elitist? Come on!!!
Sounds more like a Repug to me.
I disagree with this article wholeheartedly. There is nothing remotely funny about even mentioning assassination attempts during this very unique and significant election year. It's like joking about soldiers dying or families suffering some horrible natural disaster. Not being politically correct by using a term such as "oriental" instead of "Asian" when describing a person of that origin seems a far cry from joking (and even endorsing, as Trotter did) about taking the life of a candidate. Perhaps its not quite like falsely screaming "FIRE!" in a crowded room, but its not that far off either.
What Liz Trotta did was more than an "off-color joke". She expressed sentiments of wanting to have a presidential candidate assassinated! If you can't see why this is far and above an issue of political correctness, then you have a very disturbed sense of the world.
I know it is trendy to raise the bogey man of "political correctness" anytime someone has the good manners and sense to take offense at the patently offensive but I am getting a little tired of this. Why is it that you PC police only come out when someone makes an "off-the-cuff" remark about a demographic to which you do not belong. Do you actually realize that you are saying that you find nothing wrong in:
1. Mike Huckabee joking someone pointing a gun at Barack Obama.
2. Hillary Clinton explaining that she must stay in the race because Barack Obama may be assassinated. (Please spare me the twisted logic of how she did not mean the words that came out of her mouth)
3. Liz Trotta wistfully imagining the killing of Barack Obama (a man who's only crime appears to be being black AND having the nerve to successfully compete for the Presidency of the US) and Osama bin Laden (a man who masterminded the killing of thousands of Americans). The two are equal in Ms. Trotta's mind.
Strange how folks like Ms. Trotta and Mr. Beehner don't understand that taking offense at that comment isn't political correctness. But, of course, they do understand. They just want to browbeat those of us with a modicum of good manners into believing that somehow we are wrong in valuing other people and their feelings..
Sometimes, I despair for this country that I love so much.
Dude, if you think Hillary was implying that then you have logic deficiencies. I already explained why in Bromwich's thread, so please go educate yourself there, but in the meantime, let's take a different look at what YOU are implying.
If Obama was assassinated, who do you think the party would pick as his replacement? Hillary of course.
Do you think it would matter if Hillary was "still in the race" or if she had "conceded defeat" by that point?
No, of course it wouldn't. Even if Hillary ended her campaign 2 months ago, she'd still be the choice if anything happened to Obama.
There is no logic behind your (and far too many others') misinterpretation of her comments. However, there's one thing we DO know for sure, and that is that the majority of people "involved' in politics to the extent that they actively support a candidate are INCAPABLE OF VIEWING FACTS OBJECTIVELY AND (over)react to every event through the prism of helping their candidate win.
Yes, it is silly when one thinks that another can joke about the assassination of a presidential candidate, the first black presidential candidate to win the party's nomination, and everyone should just turn their heads and laugh it off. You must be kidding me!! I wonder about the motivations about people who make arguments like this one and if they are really Democrats at all.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I get so tired of that old worn out usage of "politically correct." (As I've noted in two other posts on this thread.) There is no such thing as "politically correct." It's simply a phrase pulled out to excuse rudeness or offensive language and behavior.
When I was offended at the joke (which I've now heard twice) "they need to put traps around the White House because a beaver and a coon are trying to get in," the response was "Oh, we don't always have to be politically correct." YIKES!!! When did being politically correct become more objectionable than being rude and insensitive?
Just a moment....
There is politically correctness to the point one hesitates to speak because whatever is said can be misconstrued as "un-p.c.". And there is what, I assume, you mean common decency.
To call a person the n-word throws decency right out the window. On the other hand, if a person is not comfortable with the term "Black" and consider it PC to call them African-American because to refer to one by color is rude, that's PC gone wild.
That's also my opinion.
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