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Jonah Goldberg is tired of the vicious hypocrisy of these people…

...for that matter, so am I.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  August 2nd, 2011 at 01:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

‘These people’ being the media, and their contemptible willingness to accept a double standard when it comes to violent rhetoric. After screaming for so long about every possible hint of a suggestion of a possibility of violent speech from the Right, it’s amazing what will be forgiven when it comes from the Left:

Tom Friedman — who knows a bit about Hezbollah — calls the tea partiers the “Hezbollah faction” of the GOP bent on taking the country on a “suicide mission.” All over the place, conservative Republicans are “hostage takers” and “terrorists,” “terrorists” and “traitors.” They want to “end life as we know it on this planet,” says Nancy Pelosi. They are betraying the founders, too. Chris Matthews all but signs up for the “Make an Ass of Yourself” contest at the State Fair. Joe Nocera writes today that “the Tea Party Republicans can put aside their suicide vests.” Lord knows what Krugman and Olbermann have said.

Then last night. on the very day Gabby Giffords heroically returns to cast her first vote since that tragic attack six months ago, the Vice President of the United States calls the Republican Party a bunch of terrorists.

Regardless, No one cares.

After making a probably-accurate prediction that the media will leap on the next opportunity, however tenuous and/or mendacious, to attack the right’s rhetoric as being violent, Jonah concludes ‘Well, go to Hell. All of you.” To which I append: right on. But I’ll add a suggestion for those quote-unquote ‘moderate’ or ‘reasonable’ Republicans out there who are legitimately interested in repairing their reputations with their more conservative brethren*; calling out egregious Lefty violators of the civility principle on either the talk shows – or the cocktail party circuit – will do wonders for their relationship with the rest of the party.

If not their social life – but then, the rest of us have suffered socially for our beliefs and our affiliations; why the heck should they be immune to that?

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*No, there really are. I am a moderate Republican on social issues, after all. I’ve just simply avoided the subtly insidious trap of getting into the unethical habit of sneering at more socially conservative friends in order to try to curry favor with socially moderate enemies. I am not the only squishy Republican in the United States of America who is capable of making that choice.

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  • msctex

    . . .ceases to be, as the fuel is essentially removed from their tank. Their stance on almost every issue can be broken down to the idea of having cake and eating it too, with nakedly hypocritical attitudes and stances being the inevitable result. Direct contradictions and logical impossibilities are all they have to offer, but combined with flowery, childish notions of a bastardized brand of Equality, they always sound nicer than anything harsh Reality has to offer.

    And, as Jonah G. here makes clear, it is far past time for the Grownups to get very, very angry.

  • Tbone

    1. Core morality. They can not discern right from wrong. As such, their hypocrisy is inherent.

    2. Common sense. Stuff that they do and say that is obviously stupid actually seems like good ideas to them.

    3. Economic Reality. Money may grow on trees, after all, it must come from somewhere.

  • rightwingmom52

    Yes, it ticks me off, but their doing so will only serve to make them look like the temper tantrum throwing children they are. I’m also glad it’s gotten to the point that it’s not just the media heads, but also our elected officials. What better way for them to alienate the better portion of the citizens of this country, I say have at it.

    I agree we should call them out on their hypocrisy, and I agree anger is an appropriate response from time to time, but we need to use this to our advantage by keeping our arguments focused on the issues. Turn it back on them. Sigh when they call us names and point out that we’re happy to discuss issues when they are ready to act like adults.

  • johnt

    What ever happened to the Unity & Bring us all together? Was it all crap? This of course is their own bile going out of control, But in the media and in Dem circles, my guess is it is also an effort to incite. And a dangerous incitement to the feeble minded, potentially violent in it’s results.
    The more they want, the more they hate. But not the real thing, only us.

  • rightwingmom52

    Nothing wrong with their genetics. Liberals make their choices the same as you and me. They just choose selfishness, theft, abortion, corruption, etc.

  • http://www.ArchitecturalShots.com mdyou

    I read this earlier today in the L.A. Slimes, and along with the bad economy, got me thinking…

    Everybody is catching on to the whole sordid mess. And do you know why no one is hiring? I’ll tell you why.

    It’s obvious that the business/regulatory climate is such that the uncertainty dashes the best of intentions. But there is something else. It’s not a conspiracy, it is a largely unspoken but HUGE factor. “If I hire, or expand, and it works, I might help reelect this fool. I think I’ll just wait”,

  • msctex

    It is Nurture, not Nature. Too many examples of people seeing the light.

  • Flagstaff

    Speaking of the press, it isn’t mentioned often enough that the press and religion are the only non-governmental ‘entities’ specifically protected by the first amendment, and of these two, the press is the one whose ‘freedom’ is protected. That protection has essentially been interpreted to mean ‘the press can say anything it wants to that isn’t slanderous or libelous.’

    There is great justification for this protection, because without it countries can easily end up with complete state-controlled media, not just a state-sponsored media outlet in every part of the country like we have. In Britain they’re presently being treated to the spectacle of a major publisher being brought before Parliament, given inadequate personal protection, being grilled about possible criminal activities having been committed by some of his low-level employees, and being threatened with restrictions on his ability to publish (whether those threats are specified or only implied). South American dictatorships are, of course, the prime example of this issue–every time Hugo Chavez is threatened by the truth as reported, he simply shuts down the offending newspaper, and the rest of the media if he feels like it. I won’t go into the many harmful effects such systems have on the well-being of those parts of the population that have inquiring minds.

    However, here at home the problem is not of state interference, it is a press filled with publishers and reporters who have willfully taken the same side in matters politic. They’ve allowed their editorial opinions to wash over their reporting responsibilities to the point where they’re submerged in the flood.

    Fortunately, there are folks around like Jonah Goldberg and Bernie Goldberg who are willing to call them out on it, others like Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity who will invite the Goldbergs and others to speak out on their radio and television shows, and media moguls like Rupert Murdoch who control press outlets like Fox News who will disseminate their counter-comments widely, making them available to more people than saw or heard the offending comments in the first place.

    Opinion columnists like Thomas Friedman or politicians like Nancy Pelosi or comedians like Jon Stewart have every right to express their opinions–only the true believers think their words are anything more than that–and to describe their comments as a ‘double standard’ is as irrelevant as it is obvious; but those who claim to be news ‘reporters,’ such as Chris Matthews or Paul Krugman, who blur the line between ‘reporting’ and ‘supporting,’ need to be clearly identified as ‘SPIN, NOT NEWS.’

    Or, as Bernie Goldberg said yesterday on The O’Reilly Factor, “These people who are calling the Tea Party ‘terrorists’ are the people who won’t call REAL terrorists ‘terrorists.’”

  • Flagstaff

    I meant to suggest that the press might take a look at organized religion and consider how its Constitutional protection has gradually failed it.

    The protection afforded the press could atrophy as well, most likely at the hand of the very people the press goes to such lengths to support.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    has been held up to a historic amount of anger and diatribe, thus conveniently forgetting the eight year hate fest against Bush.

    Selective memory is their cornerstone, which is one reason that no one watches, or reads the MSM anymore.

  • earlgrey

    Biden’s behavior was unbecoming of an elected official. Even if you can’t grasp the economics of the tea party vs. liberal philosophy most people can recognize a lack of class and decorum.

    I also think that the MSM and the democratic political elite are starting to sound more and more like each other.

  • pantera

    social liberal and a fiscal conservative = a Republican.
    social conservative and a fiscal conservative = a Conservative.

  • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil truth

    Moe, that your footnote (particularly your third sentences) the encapsulates the difference between you and an organization like GOProud.

    Or for that matter, between you and too many of our so-called conservative leaders and pundits.To wit:

    No, there really are. I am a moderate Republican on social issues, after all. I?ve just simply avoided the subtly insidious trap of getting into the unethical habit of sneering at more socially conservative friends in order to try to curry favor with socially moderate enemies. I am not the only squishy Republican in the United States of America who is capable of making that choice.

    The point being that your footnote provides a basis for coexistence between social conservatives and social moderates that does not involve a mendacious “truce” or unilateral disarmament.

    Which is, in a nutshell, that at the end of the day, both still can sit together at the same bar and have some friendly drinks (alcoholic or not) together and civil conversation.

  • earlgrey

    conservatives have willingly allowed their mouths to be duct taped by iberal/pop culture for so long, that I rarely see a glimpse of it in most people. I guess I am in a conservative echo chamber.

  • funwithknives

    as evidenced by Progressives not bringing it up anymore. Then we had Schumer’s overheard phone exhortations (EXTREME to the NTH power) and his directives from on high. Now they follow up with”Terrorists”, and the like. Name-calling and Falsehoods/ Demonization are two stock-in-trade symptoms of the mental condition known as Progressivism. Krauthammer says it best: “When Symptoms like this were noted, As a Psychiatrist I always called them PATIENTS !”
    So here again, we have Liberals literally handing us intellectual ammunition, we can use to assist in their downfall. Who in this country really likes,or listens to a whiny liar? Who is metaphorically locking and loading? How much Free Stuff can we continually throw out?

  • acat

    Indoctrination vs. teaching critical thinking and then lots of facts upon which to base ones’ own thoughts…

    It’s in the “genes” of the liberal culture, if not in the genomes of the induhviduals themselves.

    Mew

  • Tbone

    crooks, stupidity and economic ignorance as highly as does academia. Believe me , I spent 10 years on the board of regents of a private university and all three traits were in great demand in hiring faculty.

  • earlgrey

    I imagine that race card will creep up in the 2012 elections. They will try to use it any way they can (except in Allen West and Tim Scott’s districts :) )

  • msctex

    . . .bats create guano. It is a by-product of harnessing contradictions for a living. So yes — Academia is currently where people go to find work where they are not forced to think, at least not beyond proscribed points.

    As with so much, it has probably always been so, but never so true as it is today.

  • msctex

    I probably qualify as a Social Liberal, if only by default, but I agree with every word Jonah G. wrote.

    This is a far more fundamental matter, which boils down to the rights of the individual versus an imagined functional collective.

  • runner12

    meme way too much for me, but this piece by Jonah Goldberg is great. He accurately calls out the blatant hypocrisy on the Left and then tells them to go kick rocks.

    Awesome.

  • fisk2521

    Recently read a post on a local website forum about our failing school district and how we sent two administrators to Cuba to learn how the Cubans educate their children?.. really. School taxes are higher and higher every year and the schools continue to fail?those that are not ?exempt? (40%) are paying 100% of the taxes and frankly being forced to put their homes on the market after living here their entire lives. That?s NY State for you, tax everyone out of existence and don?t look back.

    The Poster tells everyone to ?cool it? that the money used was ?Grant money? and didn?t cost taxpayers a thing. I wondered who this “Mr. Grant” was and how you get him to give you cash, but thought better of responding since there are many like this man who actually think state money is ‘free’….federal as well, which is where I guessing this money actually came from filtered through Cuomo’s office

    Mr. Goldberg’s expression of disgust and decision to simply tell the liberal establishment to go to hell is well taken by me. I have felt for a very long time that we simply must ignore the hype, rhetoric, and blatant lies and fight back to win back our country.

    Churchill once said ?You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life!?

    So let?s just have at it.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    I would like to make yours my signature quote of the month here at Redstate:

    “The Libs took over the school because the private sector doesn’t value crooks, stupidity and economic ignorance as highly as does academia.” — Tbone, 08/02/2011

    I think it pretty much sums up our public education situation.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    My favorite bumper sticker for the coming election:

    If you voted for Obama in ’08 to prove you’re not a racist,
    Vote for someone else in ’12 to prove you’re not an idiot!

  • AceInTX

    I am not the only squishy Republican in the United States of America who is capable of making that choice.

    For me at least…I don’t put people in the category of Squish or RINO simply because they’re moderate…if I’ve ever given that impression I apologize to you and anyone who has taken offense at my use of those descriptors.

    I can respect principled moderates who take a position for one reason or another and who defend their position with principled and well reasoned arguments.

    Those I and most of us label “Squish” or “RINO” are the Romney’s, Grahams, McCain’s and Snowes who act conservative in election years and then defecate on all of us after being elected. They are the ones who will slip on a conservative skin when it suits their personal ambitions and uncloak to wreak havoc on conservatives in the middle of combat with the enemy by taking the leftist/statist side.

    I’ve always found you to be principled in your moderate positions therefore, I don’t rate you in the squish category….just a little misguided…heh

  • Tbone

    That way you can cover up my poor proofreading. LOL

  • nickchagouris

    BREAKING: Sudden epidemic of TEAPARTIPHOBIA spreading across America. Blue States hit hardest. Sufferers finding temporary relief by listening to continuous loops of 2008 Obama speeches on iPods. More to follow…

  • cacharlie

    - very predictive, Fisk! I once heard an old friend, sweet guy trying to convert me to liberalism telling of his trip to Cuba with fellow Superior Court Judges sponsored by our friendly U.S. Gov. Talk about confused. His wife packed gift bags of asprin and other basics he said Cubans are lacking, and then raved when he returned about the enlightenment he’d seen in Cuban politics. Go figure why the last fifteen years our courts have been bleeding out.

  • davesinsanantonio

    when they hate it is for a righteous cause. So their hate, violence, lies, and hypocrisy are okay, It is just our side that is bad.

    When you convince yourself that only you can truly “understand”, and only you can truly “care”, then you can easily convince yourself that the end justifies the means, and you can then rationalize anything away. In fact, you can convince yourself that the vilest things are actually righteous. That is why they can keep hurting the very people and things they claim to care so much about–because intentions are so much more important than outcomes. And emotions are so much more important than facts. As long as you “care” it doesn’t matter that other people actually suffer.

  • mcked

    Republicans need to fight harder to win. The left has been reduced to name calling for lack of anything substantial and its aimed at the uneducated/ignorant section of our population (DITW) democrats that still believe democrats are for the poor. Haa, those days are long gone, the left would like MORE poor people to keep them in power. How things have changed!

  • earlgrey

    Just curious.

    I work in an area that is a mix of poor, welfare high minority population and young hip liberals. I see so many Obama stickers (even new ones for 2012), I find myself seething with rage by the time I get to work (you konw like your typical terrorist :) ).

  • Jim Tomasik

    on Germantown Road.

  • earlgrey

    the view on Germantown. BTW, i do remember seeing an anti-Obamacare billboard during the Obamacare fight off of I-40 near Covington Pike.

    Conservatives need to be more agressive in getting our message out. Seems like we are struggling a bit, but many of us have just started to try.

  • Jim Tomasik

    …

  • earlgrey

    affect me. My workplace and much of my commute is in some of the less desirable areas of district 9. I am not sure I could stomach having Steve Cohen as my representative. Don’t know how they will ever get rid of him though.

    BTW, Do know of any GOTV groups working in Shelby County? I am active with some Republican clubs, but everytime I see a Cold Warrior post I feel guilty that I should be doing more.

  • 1689

    “Jonah concludes ?Well, go to Hell. All of you.? To which I append: right on.”

    We need an entire party with this tea-party attitude. Nothing get’s turned around until our determination matches that of Satan’s party. The squishy women like Collins, Snowe & Brown [sic] are clueless as to how much trouble we’re in: 16 Trillion in debt by the end of Comrade Obama’s term, led by a marxist ideologue with Islamic sympathies, whose entire regulatory state is hell-bent intent on shutting down our capitalist society. We’ll be lucky if we get through the next year and 1/2 without anarchy & martial law imposed.

  • keysconservative

    I’m old enough to remember when being a journalist meant something in this country. Journalism was, at one time, a very respectable profession. An independent body without political motivation fiercely committed to uncovering the truth and holding our elected representatives, regardless of party affiliation, accountable for the things they said and did. Those days are long gone now and the result is pathetic. We now have a political party whose members can do and say whatever the hell they want without fear of repercussions. If it weren’t for FOX News and Talk Radio God only knows how much worse it would be. MSNBC, CNN and the other liberal ‘news’ outlets’ shows bear an alarming resemblance to the Jerry Springer Show with a political theme. All that’s missing is a screaming studio audience filled with liberal white trash and a bald guy in a black t-shirt. Otherwise, they’re pretty much the same.

  • Jim Tomasik

    the cold warrior concept in regards to TN. I must be missing something. I would love to get involved with that here.

    Also, if redistricting goes the way I think it will, I hope to be very active in GOTV.

  • 1689

    One more thing. It’s easy to say in an article, “Go to Hell, All of You.” Wow, how brave! But until you say those types of confrontational words on those national TV shows on which you appear, Jonah, we’ll know you don’t really mean it — and that you’re one of those straw men that CS Lewis talked about. So we’ll wait & see.

  • rightwingmom52

    if you missed it first time around or if you don’t already have this info.

    volunteerstate, a poster here, wrote this diary:

    http://www.redstate.com/volunteerstate/2011/03/19/knoxville-tn-precinct-committee-elections/

    He and I traded emails because I shared a contact I had in middle Tennessee so they could perhaps find a way to work together. Anyway, he noted in his email that “The co-chair here in Knoxville of the Tea Party is trying hard to push this (GOTV & Project Precinct). She has a lot of TEA Party connections in Nashville and Shelby County(Memphis). She was elected to the state Executive committee last year. Sally Absher is her name.”

    Sounds like Mrs. Absher would be a good contact. Good luck.

  • mutantone

    The Tea party scares them it would make us fiscally sound, it would stop their uncontrolled spending, all their pork would be cut that scares them. They want to ruin the nation while the Tea Party is trying to save Us. They are not willing to follow the Constitution, while the Tea Party is willing to follow it, that scares them. They want to stay in power and continue their Marxist-Communist agenda and the Tea Party is only trying to reestablish the Republic to it’s once great status and that scares them. They are not able to understand that the Republic is all and the Tea Party sees that and that scares them most because the voters see it as well and they are afraid that their time is short. So like a cornered animal they will strike out in evil ways just like their mind set, and as we can see from the recent events the ones trying to save the Nation are now terrorist while those out to destroy it see nothing wrong with doing so, establish the Marxist-Communist concepts spread the wealth, attack the ones that are making the jobs and have earned their way. And give it to those that are not contributing much to society other than donations to elect them ( it is very hard for the dead to be productive but they seem able to vote often.) It is time to limit the office holder to their terms of office and not allow them to make a life time of it, follow the Constitutional limits as written and not interpreted by them.
    ?The truth is more important than the facts.” – Frank Lloyd Wright
    ?All is in the hands of Heaven except the fear of Heaven? (Talmud, Berachot 33b).

  • funwithknives

    the memory of America in general terms.”On to the Next Crisis” normally means forgetting the Last One. Keep making “Crises” (plural) and keep ‘em confused. Confusion brings disgust and Non-Participation follows. (“They’re All the same…”) This is RAW MEAT for Progressives, as they never say anything, anymore without infantile insults, NewSpeak, and name calling.
    We can do better by showing what debate really is. But we also have to learn about street-fighting and response in a meaningful way. RONNIE TO FRITZ (or was it Jimmy?):”…there you go again”. Each and every time we can, Call ‘em Out. DOEZ-ZA’ GOP got it’s ears on?

  • Jim Tomasik

    I just sent her an email…

  • earlgrey

    I couldn’t figure out how to get to the email address (been a busy day). Or send her my email?

    My email is earlgrey133@hotmail.com

  • williamjameson

    who never self examine nor self conceptualize their misgivings nor the criticism that comes from the real adults on the left and the right. They are low classed fools ranting in hopes that people will follow them and use the rants so the party can have its way. It works to a small degree producing moronic ranters who fail to learn the true facts while dems plot to hoodwink their followers. Such tactics produce the embarrassments that ABC, CBS NBC, CNN and MSNBC refuse to expose because such protestors are worse than any Tea Party member and they want the country to think they have a clue. Liberal Filth!!!

    They lose debates on some bills because they blow all their steam ranting. Being a bully or hatemonger never impresses me, you can’t wear people down with such nonsense. On the other hand they’ve won a few debates and killed important bills with such stupidity like banking reform in 2002 and 2005. Congrats children!

    When will the media ask Obama why he obstructed banking reform in 2005 when we still had time to slow the sub prime disaster in the making.? It was easier to rant racism, pretend the GOP hates black people and lie as if banking reform would kill the housing market. The gop can hang this around Obama neck since Mr. Community organizer was part of the problem. Dems killed the housing market with deals for people only to find they couldn’t repay the loans and that corruption in the market was played out till the fat lady sang.

    Guilt free godless souls of liberalism. What a joke they’ve become. Let them go the way of the Whigs!.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    but it has been widely publicized via e-mail and blog.

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    NT.

  • msctex

    . . .on that hideous campaign informercial thing he had running there for a while on what amounted to his own cable channel?

    Cutting in the reality of what transpired versus what he promised could be a thing of pathetic beauty.

  • Jim Tomasik

    but no response just yet.

  • rightwingmom52

    I do a lot of proofing and editing in my job. My husband says I’m very good at pointing out other people’s mistakes (in a very nice way, of course).

    That said, shouldn’t it be “…as highly as it does academia.”

  • lastgopinillinois

    “conservatives have willingly allowed their mouths to be duct taped …”

    Maybe it is a by-product of the ever increasing political correctness around us. “Run-silent-run-deep” ???

  • Tbone

    NT

  • acat

    and since a blat from Tbone’s horn is sure to follow if I get it wrong …

    is that crooks, stupid people, and people who don’t understand even basic economic principles like supply and demand are much more valued by academia than by the private sector.

    Academia is not held in high regard by the private sector, because it is filled with crooks, fools, stupid people, and ignorant people… with noticeable overlap.

    Mew

  • rightwingmom52

    Shoulda taken off my edit hat after work.

  • rightwingmom52

    I saw the point exactly as acat explained and totally agree – was just reading the words wrong. Chalk it up to a long day, tired eyes and a momentary brain lapse.

  • myron_j_poltroonian

    They justify their temper tantrums by calling them, “Righteous Indignation” and “Speaking Truth to Power”. The old “Do as I say, not as I do”, syndrome.

  • earlgrey

    leader structure. You can check them out at www.shelbyelephants.org. They have just started, and I think could really use some guidance from this group out in Knox County or someother TN Republican group that has had success.

    Anyway, I wanted to let you know about it. They have a meeting on Wednesday morning, if you are interested, I’ll send you the information. I am in jury duty this week so will likely miss it.

    I can’t say for sure that this group has what it takes to make a difference here in Shelby County, but it is a start, and if we got enough of the right people and the right focus, than it could make a difference.

    THey are heavily focused on recruiting people for precinct leaders right now.

  • rightwingmom52

    scheduled in Murfreesboro, TN on Sept. 17. Here’s a link to the info.

    http://americanmajority.org/events/murfeesboro-tennessee-grassroots-activist-training/

    I haven’t been to one (none scheduled in Alabama yet), but it might be helpful if one or two folks could attend although I’m not sure how much it might tie into the precinct chairman issues.

  • earlgrey

    My son has the day off on the Friday before that, and we could potentially tie this in with a family mini-vacation.

  • Jim Tomasik

    been in Iowa.

    Isn’t Charlotte B. involved in this?

  • earlgrey

    They have been meeiting on Wednesday mornings and I have missed last two meetings due to work/jury duty obligations. They are working hard to recruit people who are willing to go door -to-door to canvas and GOTV. They are trying to develop a network. They are focusing on Memphis as the city politics are very liberal (as if you didn’t already know ;) ), but looking to cover all of Shelby County, as we are all affected by county offices.

    I think there is some wisdom in trying to make the very liberal areas more conservative and putting a fight in these areas to help stem the tide of spreading liberalism into suburbs, and because urban politics have gone so far left that it makes more moderate positions seem extreme by comparison.

    The group could benefit from more expertise and many more volunteers. I am trying to get more volunteers (reaching out to other conservative groups in the community) and am thinking of attending the American Majority training session in Murfreesboro mentioned by Right Wing Mom in Septmber.

    I’ll let you know how the group progresses.