For some reason, I didn’t get the TrackBack and thus missed Dan Riehl‘s reply to my “Congress Receiving Death Threats” post. Given that 18 hours have passed, I’ve decided to write a new post rather than bury my response as an update.
He’s right that I mistakenly attribute a post with Doug Powers’ byline at Michelle Malkin’s site to Michelle Malkin. I’ve corrected the original post in brackets. My apologies to Michelle if she disagrees with Powers on the matter.
As to his larger point that I’m “smearing” conservative bloggers: Hogwash. I simply linked three prominent blogs, representative of plenty of others, arguing that the Republican leadership has no responsibility to do anything since any violence isn’t their fault. I agreed that Republicans aren’t at fault but argued that, given the heated rhetoric of the campaign against healthcare reform, responsible leaders should do what they can to calm people down. This is a minor point of disagreement, frankly, and in any case my linking to their posts as exemplars of conservatives holding the contrary view hardly constitutes a “smear.”
Amusingly, the post of Dan’s that I linked is filled with said overheated rhetoric:
What’s a matter, Steny? You folks were high-fiving it all around immediately after acting like complete tyrants forcing a bill down the throat of Americans who told you repeatedly how much they didn’t want it. You certainly looked and sounded tough enough then. Now, you cowards are afraid to go back to your districts and face the voters? Why am I not surprised.
[…]
You really thought making America over in the image of socialist Europe was going to be that simple? I swear, sometimes these Leftists are just soooo dumb! It’s hard to be a man of the people when you’re afraid of them, Steny. Come out, come out, wherever you are. I can’t wait to see some of their townhall events.
And, no, people should not embrace violence of any kind. But making yourself be heard is an American right. Use it while you still can, America. At this rate, I’m afraid it won’t be too long before you won’t. Pelosi says she thinks they found just the model they need to bring change about. Who knows what these two-bit tyrants have in mind for us next. Obviously, they don’t care what we think, anymore. So, why should we care about them not wanting to hear us out? Let your voices be heard while you still can!
This is just ridiculous. Yes, it’s true that we’re slightly more socialist than we were Monday. But we’ve been moving inexorably in that direction since the 1930s, under Democrats and Republicans alike. Otherwise, it’s absurd to argue that a party that won the White House and overwhelming control of both Houses of Congress in fair and open elections — even winning a plethora of House seats deliberately drawn to elect the opposite party — is somehow tyrannical for pushing through its policy agenda using the institutional tools available. And, seriously, there’s some sort of creeping limitation on free speech? People have been writing and speaking out on this issue in droves for more than a year.
Further, while Dan explicitly rejects violence in the post, it’s not hard to imagine someone who genuinely believes Congressional Democrats are “complete tyrants” (or is it “two-bit tyrants”?) trying to make “America over in the image of socialist Europe” and take away our inalienable right to free speech rejecting Dan’s rejection. Hell, if I actually believed that, I’d be ready to mount up.
Instead, I believe my party controlled the reins of the Federal government for six years, pissed away the trust that had gotten them there, and we’re now paying the price. Having policies you don’t like passed into law is what happens when your side loses and the other side wins. Republicans fought an admirably tough rearguard action but didn’t have the votes to quite pull it off.
At this point, we can either rant and rave about how unfair it all is or try to leverage this loss into victory in November under the banner of “This is what happens when you elect Democrats.” Given that the law frontloads the goodies and offloads most of the costs onto “the rich” and future generations, that might be tough. But that’s nonetheless how one behaves in a Republic.
