Sunday, September 13, 2009



The Leftist double-standard again

I can't say it better so I am just going to quote Taranto on this. Both posts below are from his most recent column:
"As President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, the nation's rapidly deteriorating discourse hit yet another low," writes Dana Milbank of the Washington Post:
"It happened at 8:40 pm, just after the president vowed to lawmakers that his health-care reform proposals would not provide benefits to illegal immigrants. As millions of Americans watched from home, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted at the president from his fifth-row seat: "You lie!" . . .

The national debate, already raw for years, had coarsened over the summer as town hall meetings across the country dissolved into protests about "death panels" and granny-killing. Guns were brought to Obama appearances. A pastor in Arizona said he was praying for Obama to die.

But even by that standard, there was something appalling about the display on the House floor for what was supposed to be a sacred ritual of American democracy: the nation watching while Cabinet members, lawmakers from both chambers and the diplomatic corps assembled.

Wilson was only the most flagrant. There was booing from House Republicans when the president caricatured a conservative argument by saying they would "leave individuals to buy health insurance on their own." They hissed when he protested their "scare tactics." They grumbled as they do in Britain's House of Commons when Obama spoke of the "blizzard of charges and countercharges."

To be sure, Milbank has a point about the disgraceful state of America's national discourse. Why just a few weeks ago, as TalkingPointsMemo.com noted, a prominent Beltway reporter claimed falsely that the secretary of state was "getting a bottle of Mad Bitch," a fictitious beer brand.

Milbank's reference to the Commons reminds us of something John Gibson of Fox News Channel once said:
" Maryanne Marsh, what did you think of those audible jeers, boos, for the president? It sounded a little like the House of Commons: that grumbling that comes from the back-benchers when they don't like something Tony Blair said. That isn't very common for state of the union speeches, is it?

The reference to Tony Blair may give away that this is an old quote--from 2005, after President Bush's State of the Union Address. We found it in a MediaMutters.org report titled "Pundits Called Dems' Reaction During Bush Address 'Unprecedented,' but Republicans Booed Clinton."

One certainly can't say that what Wilson said--"You lie!"--was anything unprecedented. Indeed, the president had just gotten done saying exactly the same thing about ObamaCare critics. And by the way, Wilson quickly apologized. Obama still hasn't.

Source

15 comments:

J. Birch said...

Funny, i recall Dana Milbank being one of the leftist media-maggotts who were always amused by the endless insults to GWB over his eight years in office. And no, i am not a GWB fan.

Obviously, those on the Left (ie: the MSM) see president Odumbo as their god, and as such, will not tolerate anyone even disagreeing with him, even though he was clearly and openly lying during that speech. That it is every American's right (and responsibility) to disagree with our elected officials, apparently means nothing to Leftists when it's their god.

As for S.C. Rep. Wilson, it was (IMO) sad to see him run out and start apologizing to everyone he saw after his remark. If you don't believe in what you say, and aren't willing to stand behind it, then keep your mouth shut! Now the Marxists who control the House will see that he's punished, but good. I think he should be, not for his remark, but for his cowardice.

Anonymous said...

Despite all the traditional "yah boo" in the UK House of Commons, it isn't allowed to accuse another MP of lying so some in the past have said "terminological inexactitude".

Kaelinda said...

Have you read ANY of the five bills currently being considered in the Senate? Have you read the House bill? You need to know - and apparently do not know - that NONE of these bills are the Health Reform law. NONE of them have been enacted. ALL of them have lots of editing to survive. President Obama specified in his speech what HE wants in health care reform. That's what everyone's been clamoring for - presidential leadership. So he gets up there and specifies what he is looking for and Wilson calls him a liar. I should think Obama knows better than Wilson what it is that Obama wants.

On another point: Those who are reduced to calling the President names have already lost the argument. I'm not going to engage in any further battle of wits with unarmed opponents.

Anonymous said...

I should think Obama knows better than Wilson what it is that Obama wants.

Perhaps a refresher course is in order for you. HR3200 was the bill that Obama approved of and said needed to be passed before the summer recess. He and the White House helped promote it, endorsed it, and wanted it to be passed.

People are reacting to the bills in Congress because, despite saying that health care is the most pressing issue in the United States, Obama hasn't sent any bill to the Congress.

So which is it? Which bill does Obama support? It is not leadership to say that you want things and then not be in the forefront of getting them done.

Instead, Obama has called the people who oppose the Health Care bills "liars," accused them of spreading falsehoods, accused them of spreading fear, and accused them of being in the pockets of medical companies. He then backs up these sentiments with saying that we must pass health care reform now, despite the fact that nothing he proposes takes effect until 2013. He then backs up his charge of "big business" by making a back door, hidden deal the the Pharma group.

On another point: Those who are reduced to calling the President names have already lost the argument.

We aren't reduced to anything. There is a great deal of frustration with a President that says he wants to reach out to have bipartisan support, but yet has not responded to a letter from Congressional Republicans to meet with him on the health care issue that was sent FOUR months ago. His pandering and posturing during the speech was nothing of substance, and even the mighty AP, which has been in his pocket, labeled many of the statements in his speech distortions of the truth or lies.

It is not name calling to label someone as what they are. Truth is a defense.

I'm not going to engage in any further battle of wits with unarmed opponents.

Gee, I haven't heard that one in about 30 years. If that is your example of "wit," you need to run away and cower.

Obama is a liar. If you don't like it, tough. Deal with it. The facts support the conclusion.

LOL said...

Kaelinda, have you ever been so eloquently exposed as the Kool-Aid drinking, leftist dupe that you are before Anon 6:38 posted ?

Anonymous said...

EARTH TO KAELINDA;

What Obama wants is irrelevant. It's what WE THE PEOPLE want that counts!

Bobby said...

Kaelinda, how do you explain that the democrats voted down 2 amendments designed to keep illegals from receiving healthcare and the state from funding abortion?

Obama can make all the promises he wants, but with health care bills having at least 1,000 pages there's a lot of room to put all kinds of crap.

You need to be more skeptical and stop trusting big brother.

Phil In Cow Town said...

Kaelinda,

I wouldn't both luv. Most of the people on this site are so divorced from reality that they think Hitler was left wing. It's like trying to have a reasoned debate with the guy on the street corner who thinks aliens are talking to him through the buttons on his coat.

They're so convinced that no conservative ever has done anything wrong that if you name one, they'll claim that person was never a conservative.

I've quit this site 3 times because I just couldn't take their rampant stupidity anymore.

And for the others who think I'm not addressing your arguments, that's because you're the guy I mentioned earlier. Only you have internet access and don't stand on street corners.

Have good lives, those of you that are still capable of it.

Oh, and I wouldn't bother replying, I'm not reading this anymore.

Anonymous said...

I've quit this site 3 times because I just couldn't take their rampant stupidity anymore.

And yet you keep coming back and not addressing anything that is said. I have always wondered why people such as yourself say that you are bothered by something yet feel compelled to respond and then feel some moral or intellectual superiority when you run away again.

Oh, and I wouldn't bother replying, I'm not reading this anymore.

You can read?

Who would have guessed that?

Ed said...

How did all the kiddies from the Huffpo and Daily Kos get here?

Anonymous said...

To Phil in Cow Shit;

Please keep your word, unlike your leftists friends, and this time stay away!!

Use the Name, Luke said...

"Most of the people on this site are so divorced from reality that they think Hitler was left wing."

Yet somehow, that word "socialist" in "National Socialists" just slips right by you every time. Who is it that's "divorced from reality"?

Anonymous said...

Back to the issue at hand, did anyone notice on the day after the outburst by Wilson, the democrats were busy inserting language in the bill requiring proof of citizenship. Apparently Wilson was correct.

Anonymous said...

"It's what WE THE PEOPLE want that counts!"

WE THE PEOPLE voted in President Obama, dipshit.

Anonymous said...

Kaelinda,

Obama would have signed any one of those five bills and been happy with them despite the simple fact that every single one of them is a steaming pile.

You think you are smart and we who oppose this thrash are dumb but the evidence is against you and it's you who have failed to pay attention and fallen for the lies.