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Bulletin: Dissent no longer patriotic

Feb 10th, 2009 by Taylor Armerding

Remember, not so long ago, when dissent was “patriotic”? Remember when Democrats who favored immediate withdrawal from Iraq - who hoped the U.S. would lose the war because it would make President Bush look bad - would throw tantrums if anybody called them on it, because, they said, this was an unfair questioning of their patriotism.
What a difference three weeks makes. Now, with Democratic President Barack Obama in office, long-time Democratic strategist Robert Shrum is accusing Republicans who won’t roll over and blindly vote for Obama’s $840 billion “stimulus” package of being “Taliban Republicans.”
So, now that power has changed hands, it is not only just fine to question the patriotism of administration critics, it is fine to label them as sworn enemies of the United States, bent on inflicting mass casualties through terrorist acts.
Apparently, the rules of political debate are whatever Democrats say they are.

Posted in Taylor Armerding, Uncategorized | Comments

  • Reality Based Critic
    Uh, Taylor ... I think you missed something. Shrum was making fun of National Republican Campaign Committee chairman Pete Sessions, who said *his own party* ought to borrow tactics from the Taliban. Here's the item Shrum was referring to, published in The Hotline on Feb. 5:

    "Sessions wants to take an 'insurgent' approach to what he sees as House Dems' heavy-handed tactics. 'Insurgency we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban,' he said. This insurgency, he added,'may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with.'"

    The Hotline then added: "To be sure, Sessions isn't comparing GOPers to the Taliban. But ... wow."

    Wow, indeed. Please try to get your facts straight.

    Here's the item in full:

    http://is.gd/j7t3
  • jacrlsn
    Apparently you are either afraid to or don't won't to comment on what Taylor is writing about- the two faced-speaking with forked tongue- liberal/democrat/republican conspiracy to blame everytthing on someone else and not to take responsibility for their own actions. Its been very interesting that for the last 8 years, everything that went wrong was George Bush's fault, but now when ? is going right, its wait and see give the "one" a little time
    THE POLITICIANS IN OFFICE TODAY ARE NOT PATRIOTS- IT IS WHATEVER IS GOOD FOR THEM AS INDIVIDUALS FIRST, AND THEIR PARTY SECOND. IF SOME THING IS GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY, "OH,GOOD" BUT THAT IS NOT THEIR PRIORITY. .
    Whether Taylor Amerding quoted right of whether he misstated a quote, it is because of people like you that the evil people stay in power.
    VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS
  • Taylor Armerding
    >"To be sure, Sessions isn't comparing GOPers to the Taliban. But ... wow."

    Thanks for the comment - as the Hotline noted, Sessions was not comparing the GOP to the Taliban. My point is that Shrum was.
    There are plenty of groups who state publicly that they are going to adopt some, or most, of the tactics of their opponents. But that doesn't mean they adopt the identity, or the goals, of those opponents. I've heard gay rights groups call for adopting the tactics of those who oppose them. But, it would be absurd, based on that, to call them American Homophobes.
  • Reality Based Critic
    Actually, Sessions *did* compare his party to the Taliban. The Hotline was just being nice. Shrum's entire column is built around Sessions's bizarre comment. Why can't you admit that you blew it?
  • ImNotAnOstrich
    Come on now, its not like Sessions was calling for a jihad against America.... Oh wait a sec maybe he was.
  • Reality Based Critic
    Oh, boy. I just looked up the article in The Week from which you drew Shrum's quote. Shrum himself noted that the Taliban label had been proudly adopted by Sessions. So you did not simply make a mistake — you were intellectually dishonest.

    http://is.gd/j7wB
  • jacrlsn
    I strongly suggest that you take some time and assess your intellectual capacity as well as your honesty.
  • frank
    The point is how democrats felt it WAS patriotic to question or even attack their current president (bush at the time) for something that they believed in, however when the shoe is on the other foot they think it is partisan and unamerican to question the president
  • Reality Based Critic
    The point is that a leading Republican likened his own party to the Taliban, and Taylor Armerding falsely claimed it was the Democrats who did it.
  • macsurf
    Reality based critic, why are you surprised? Mr. Armerding does such things all the time.

    In terms of Republicans being "unpatriotic" for having walked in virtual lockstep against the stimulus package, I don't think they're unpatriotic. I just think they are following their defacto leader, Rush Limbaugh, in a coordinated effort to sabotage the new president because they know if he succeeds in helping us get out of this mess they and Junior largely created, they will be in the political wilderness for the better part of a generation.

    And in terms of critcizing Obama, I voted for him and I think he is making a serious mistake in deploying nearly 20 thousand more troops to Afganistan.

    he's walking into a likely quagmire that could do to his presidency what Vietnam did to LBJ's.

    But I don't believe saying that makes me unpariotic.

    It simply means I think independently.
  • JasonW
    Aside from the woeful misreading of the Shrum/Sessions incident... how short is our memory nowadays? Does anyone remember what it was like trying to voice a dissenting opinion beginning on September 12, 2001? Anyone want to try disagreeing with the Patriot Act the first time around? Or disagreeing with President Bush in general? How about pointing out the inconsistencies in Colin Powell's presentation to the UN? We've eased up on disagreeing with all of this recently, but at the time it was tantamount to treason. Just ask the Dixie Chicks!
  • JasonW is right on the mark. Taylor, you clearly have eliminated the immediate post 9-11history from your brain. I think of how the Republicans went after Georgia Sen. Max Cleland in the 2002 election, branding him soft and un-American because he wouldn't vote for the bill to create DHS because he had legitimate concerns about the structure as presented. Here's a guy who lost half his body on the battlefield in Vietnam and the Republicans basically branded him a traitor. There's no doubt that Democrats engage in the same behavior for the sake of advancing their own cause. And I think there should be a healthy debate about the current economic blueprint Obama has put forth. No bill should ever be pushed through without the vetting the Founding Fathers had in mind. I just wish you would stop pretending that hypocrisy is limited to the party you don't like.
  • macsurf
    BBrenner, you're 100% right on.

    What the Repubs did Cleland in 2002 was beyond vile politics, it was TRULY unpatriotic
  • cobrapestcontrol
    something to think about

    http://www.cobrapest.com
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