Quinn's column is very stupid, and shows how cloistered she is, and how self-indulgent, but at least she is trying to confront her own racism. Contrast this with, for example, Rush Limbaugh's repeated attempts to slur Obama and make him a laughingstock, and other less blatant remarks among the punditocracy. I'd say she earns a D+ rather than an F.

Posted at May 6, 2007 8:46 AM in response to Sally Quinn Expresses Beltway Zeitgeist Again

Just to make you feel better, I will create a winger reply. Perhaps it will soothe your nerves while you wait for the indictments:

Because of the criminalization of conservatism, the liberal media has had to back off of... wait... um, back off of helping the Democrats carry out their irresponsible evasion of the social security crisis to spend more time dealing with the um, the criminalization! Anyway, forget all this complicated stuff. The question still remains... why do you hate America? 

Posted at October 19, 2005 4:05 PM in response to Crisis Averted

I believe that Novak is a criminal. He is the lowest of humans, a betrayer of his fellow human beings. He should be shunned by all decent people. He should be in prison for life without parole. All his money and property should be taken away. Generations of schoolchildren should learn that Bob Novak betrayed them and that he helped kill thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and others. Novak's picture should be shown smeared in blood on every major newspaper... etc., etc.

My point has nothing to do with Robert Novak and his pathetically evil record as a human being. My comment is about what we should do when we identify someone as an "enemy of the people," so to speak. And one of the things I believe we should not do is to lower that person to sub-human status. Because that is the way of tyranny and degradation. Haven't we seen enough of that during this catastrophic mistake called the Bush administration?

Don't we aspire to do better? 

Posted at October 15, 2005 1:15 PM in response to Why Patrick Fitzgerald Gets It

Look, I detest Robert Novak too. He is a criminal and belongs behind bars. Nevertheless, I think you demean our attempts to get rid of people like Novak when you call him a "colostomy bag."

There is no need to resort to such dehumanization of someone who is undeniably a person. I write that, not to make an obvious point about his species, but to remind ourselves that these crimes have been perpetrated by our own kind, not by some alien invader, nor by an unthinking beast.

If only the people in power now really were beasts! Then we would not be forced to acknowledge them as members of that exclusive club to which you and I and fascists and liberals all belong, namely those who cannot but call themselves human beings.

Although it seems impossible now, there is always the possibility that backlash upon backlash could somehow lead to a dictatorship of the Left instead of the fascist takeover from the Right which seems to be happening at this moment.

If that day ever comes, I hope no one here will find themselves dehumanizing suddenly vulnerable opponents. Remember the French Revolution and the period afterwards, when changes in the group controlling Paris whipsawed the populace and led to the public guillotining of thousands of French citizens. Even those who richly deserved that fate nevertheless did not deserve to have it meted out by a mob.

I am simply begging that we not in any way allow ourselves to resemble such a mob. It is beneath the quality and goodness of our own efforts to make our country, the country we love, a better place.

Posted at October 14, 2005 9:24 PM in response to Why Patrick Fitzgerald Gets It