This Isn’t A New Republican Tactic
I would direct your attention to FDR’s Fala speech [here’s the audio link for the speech].
I keep hearing about what the Republicans are doing is new, and they have destroyed the comity that once ruled the American political system. That’s a bunch of crap. American politics has been a street fight from the get-go, with a few years now and again between rounds.
The Fala speech was during World War II. Nasty politics have not been suspended for any war in American history, and that claim is only made if a Republican is in the White House and things are going badly.
Read the speech and understand that the tactics haven’t changed in the slightest degree. It even has references to Nazi propaganda techniques being used by the opposing party.
FDR would have definitely been an A-List blogger, although he is snarkier than most of them. This is what a real Democrat and real leader sounds like when dealing with Republican lies. You don’t ignore them, you ridicule them, because they aren’t going to vote for you anyway, even during a world war.
Look back at American history – Republicans always call for a suspension of normal politics when there’s a major disaster on their watch and proclaim it as some hallowed tradition of the United States. Almost all of the “hallowed traditions” cited by Republicans are made up of whole cloth, or some stupid bill they passed.
2 comments
I’d be more inclined to agree with you, Bryan, if I didn’t perceive Wilson’s shout as a planned political gesture designed to detract from Obama’s message. I don’t know if Wilson drew the short straw, or was merely the least vulnerable GOPer to do the job, or was assured the financial support of the wealthy right wing, but IMHO the shout was not evoked by his deep passion regarding the issue of immigration. Someone pointed out that GOPers seated near Wilson did not flinch or even look at him when he shouted: the simplest explanation is that they knew it was coming.
Does anyone else see the hand of Karl Rove in this?
Oh, it was definitely a planned event, but it is totally in line with the standard operating procedure of the GOP. He was probably triggered by a vibrating cell phone to prepare to “bang the big drum”.
His district is strongly contested and he needed money.
If it hadn’t been a set up, Republicans would have abstained in the censure vote.
FDR would have starting calling him “Joe in the Box”, or something similar, and said he didn’t need to apologize because he played his part well and learned his line, something not all third graders can do. Go for the throat, laugh at him.
Look at how Hillary Clinton responded to a complaint by John Bolton, she broke into laughter at the mention of his name.