John Hawkins has a link roundup of liberal bloggers who have used the “f” word (and no, I don’t mean the slang word for sex) and have, of course, been able to do it free and clear without any condemnation from their fellow lefty bloggers. Now, contrast that to the right taking one of their own to task for doing so, and we have yet another glaring instance of a Toldjah So.
The left hasn’t learned - and likely never will - that it’s important to practice what you preach. To the Nutroots, incendiary commentary uttered by ‘their side’ should be excused and in some cases praised, and when all else fails the ‘free speech’ banner must fly, even when that’s not the issue. But when it comes to similar comments from the right, hell hath no fury like a broad-brushing agenda-driven dishonest liberal. This is one of the many things that I believe distinguish the adults on the right from the juveniles on the left.
And before people start emailing me that there are instances of the right not taking their own to task, please save it. The exception isn’t the rule, and one also must remember that in some cases where the right hasn’t taken their side to task, it was because they didn’t feel like their side said anything wrong (scroll).
There is a difference between saying uncomfortable truths that ‘offend’ career whiners versus saying something that is purposely inflammatory which adds absolutely nothing to the debate and only serves to give the opposition red meat to use against you. They’ve learned that demagoguing an issue is so much more of an ‘effective’ way of ‘winning’ on an issue. The left refuses to acknowledge this, because doing so would require a level of openness and honesty which so many of them do not possess.
Oh, and BTW, I’m with you, Sean Hackbarth, Rick Moran, Captain Ed, and others signing on to the letter asking CPAC not to invite Ann back to the conference. Don’t worry - she’s not being silenced, as there will continue to be many other venues as well as media outlets ready and willing to accommodate AC.
Update: He shoots, he scores!
I disagree.
There’s a difference between using the term as something to point to, as in “some bigoted people out there think its ok to call someone an F”, and between actually using it in a derogatory manner, which can be determined by the context.
By your standards, we’d have to take any publisher of a slang dictionary to task. Which is absurd.
Just my 2 cents.
Comment by Sundown @ 3/5/2007 - 8:32 pm
It’s worth remembering that this is not the first time Ann Coulter has been in trouble for making deliberately outrageous statements… and I don’t mean the “raghead” one from last year, either. Recall that she used to write for NRO, and lost her job post 9/11. Not for the original article in which she said we should (paraphrasing from memory) “invade their countries and forcibly convert them to Christianity,” but for her public behavior afterwards, when NRO refused to run her follow up and she avoided contact with Goldberg and Lowry, while publicly attacking them in interviews. At the time, it looked to me like a manufactured incident (by her) to cut herself loose and get the maximum attention from it.
Now more than ever I’m convinced of it. I used to find her amusing, and admired her willingness to take on all comers. Lately, she strikes me as an embarrassing loose cannon.
Comment by Steve Skubinna @ 3/5/2007 - 10:46 pm