It’s only going to get worse.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
An animal in fear of its life is very dangerous. Even an otherwise mild-tempered family dog can cause serious injury if it thinks it is fighting to save itself.
It is in that light that we see today’s Democratic Party. The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh was just the latest in a string of serious setbacks for the American Left. The Left fought so viciously over Kavanaugh because of their keen awareness that much of their policy success over the past half century has come via diktat from unelected black-robed federal judges rather than via the duly elected representatives of the people of a democratic republic. The Left could not and cannot get done via the legislative process what it has gotten done via the courts. They therefore understand the stakes attendant to Supreme Court nominations. They recognize the impediment to their agenda represented by a constructionist, constitutionalist majority on the high court.
The Left’s Kavanaugh defeat comes following nearly a decade of Democratic losses in state legislatures and governors’ mansions. During President Obama’s two terms, Democrats lost a thousand state legislative seats while watching the ranks of Democratic governors plummet from 28 to 16.
As a result of gains made since 2010, Republicans today are dominant at the state level. They enjoy the trifecta – control of both state legislative chambers and the governorship – in 26 states. Democrats can make that claim in only eight.
Then, of course, Democrats lost the big one. Donald Trump defied the received wisdom of very nearly every political pundit on Earth and snatched electoral victory from the grasping hands of Hillary Clinton. The Left has been in a rage ever since.
Starting with vagina hats at women’s marches on Inauguration Day and continuing to the present day’s chasing of Republicans from restaurants, the cornering of Republican members of Congress on elevators and the harassing of their spouses and children at their homes, the Left has lashed out in ways that we’ve never seen. This behavior has been on display from the rent-a-mob crowd that pawed at the doors of the Supreme Court last week all the way up the Democratic food chain to Hillary Clinton who, commenting on a call for a return to civility, offered this gem:
You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. That’s why I believe if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again.”
Translation: We’re going to keep acting out until we’re back in charge.
That may take awhile. Whatever happens in the midterms, the Left has a long road back to where they were in 2008. They are instinctively aware that their effectiveness as a political force is gravely wounded and they’re acting accordingly.
Thus, we can be certain of two things. One, the unhinged attacks are only going to get worse. And two, this midterm really is for all the marbles.
Just ask the Left.
If you care for your nation’s future, your children’s future, and your own, brothers and sisters, you better get out and VOTE! The barbarians are at the gate.
Call me wistful, but things GOT DONE before all this tribal them-N-us grievance talk.
What LBJ and Ev’ Dirksen — or The Gipper and Tip — accomplished, often after 5, was lots more productive than this fashionable resentment.
#AngerIsTheNewJoy
I agree. So tell your tribe to cut it out.
Tip would never have countenanced what happened this past month in the Senate. Tip vigorously disagreed with Reagan, but he never condoned the kind of over-the-top name calling, heated rhetoric and frequent vulgarity that we see and hear now from Dems.
Show me where Republicans are chasing members of Congress out of restaurants and publishing private information about them on the web. Name me a Dem that has been physically threatened. Show me the Republican analogue to Maxine Waters calling for public physical intimidation of political opponents. Show me gross incivility from any Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. (If the Republicans have any failure in this area, it is from too much civility and an unwillingness to fight back. See George W. Bush radio silence from 2006 on in the face of grotesquely unfair media attacks. See Mitt Romney at the debate on foreign policy.)
Show me any Republican anywhere wearing a hat made to look like genitalia.
And while searching in vain for any of these examples, please spare us the tossing up of Donald Trump’s tweets. They are like passages of scripture compared to the river of vulgarity that is flowing from the Left.
The passage from Hillary Clinton in this piece came from the framing of a question by Christiane Amanpour that referred to a call for greater civility from someone (unnamed) on the right. Hillary’s response boiled down to, “We can’t be civil unless we’re in charge.” I sure as hell never heard anything close to that ever come from the mouth of Tip O’Neill or Lyndon Johnson. Both of those men played hardball and played it well. But they kept it professional.
Not so the current crop of Dems. Not even close.
Oh, and one other thing. Show me any instance ever where Republicans came ANYWHERE CLOSE to treating a Supreme Court nominee from a Democratic president in anything even approaching the horrific way that Brett Kavanaugh was treated this past month. (While you’re looking, I’ll be fixing up MY two exhibits. They are Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.)
You make no room for the possibility that Kavanaugh was a bad apple, which is fine.
Google “confirmation bias.”
NO pun intended.
There is, in fact, VERY little room for the possibility that Brett Kavanaugh is a bad apple. There is zero evidence to corroborate the allegation against him that arose in the 11th hour and 59th minute of the Senate confirmation process. There is a mountain of evidence, backed by a clear and knowable record spanning nearly three decades, that he is a very good man.
That said, even if he is a bad apple, it doesn’t excuse vagina hat-wearing shrieking, doxxing of members of Congress, calls by sitting members of the House to physically intimidate political opponents, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. that we have seen from the Left.
I will be BEYOND delighted to be proved wrong in my prediction that it’s only going to get worse. Little that I’ve seen, however, in the past 23 months, gives me much hope that I will be.
I can say this for certain. I have not once confronted anyone I happened to see wearing a Beto T-shirt. I have not once said that “thousands will die” if the Dems take back the House. I have not unleashed torrents of profanity upon people who voted for Hillary or despise Trump. I would IMMEDIATELY denounce anyone who did.
Nor do you read about or hear about rabidly partisan conservatives demonstrating, shouting obscenities or intimidating lefties. I can’t name of a high profile liberal that has been doxxed or chased out of a restaurant. Can you?
The fact is this: widespread, large-scale, industrial strength incivility is not coming from the Right. It just isn’t.
Very good column Mr. Gleiser. Kudos sir.
The only way in my humble opinion to end this insane bad behavior by the left is to completely “politically crush” them on Election Day, Tuesday, November 6, 2018, by voting ALL of the democrats out… And by voting ALL Republicans IN. Democrats must be humbled and brought back down to earth, to rational thinking, and rational behavior.
Voting Republican is soundest course of action to totally uproot the democrats from power as they have done great damage to our beloved Constitutional Republic — the U.S.A.. While President Trump is succeeding brilliantly, he must have a majority in both The House and The Senate to complete his important agenda, the agenda of We The People.
Casting your ballot for Republicans is easiest decision any thinking person can do if you care about our Founding principles as set down by our Framers when our great nation was established.
COMMON GROUND! We both long for more-civil discourse, eh?
Tho my tone is less-gloomy than your it’ll-get-worse rap, I understand that fear sells.
And I’m reminded of the Lennon/McCartney collaboration.
Paul: “You’ve got to admit it’s getting better.”
John: “It can’t get much worse.”
As for that restaurant scene:
1. Shame on rude people.
2. Cruz flunks the IQ test. Next time you’re in Washington I will buy you dinner at The Palm, but I sure cannot afford Fiona, the ultimate show-off see-and-be-seen Ivaka-land. Not the humble Ted Cruz he appears to The Folks Back Home. And when he waltzed-into that predictable episode, his opponent — perspiration-soaked from knocking on doors in every county in Texas — had him in single digits.
The Swamp DEFINED. Like Louie Gohmert berating Park Police for a parking ticket on the mall, they get to DC and go-native.
I’m voting for Republicans Ted Cruz and Louie Gohmert, without reservation as they both push back hard against the asinine ideas of the progressive leftist democrats* [*aka democrat socialists] who have done so much damage to our country and our citizens and our freedoms.
If Kanye’s Oval Office appearance doesn’t say America IS Great Again, what does?
https://cdni.rt.com/files/2018.10/article/5bc13bbedda4c8e6788b4582.jpeg
My Granny always told me that honey attracts more than vinegar. Vinegar is all we have gotten from the left. If hillary had a decent bone in her body she would DENOUNCE the violence from her side. She learned nothing from her defeats…first in 08 to obama for the nomination and 2016 to President Trump. Not even the media could save her, but she is true to her hero Saul Alinsky…never accept blame for yourself, put it on everyone else! Truly, when we have this red wave come November, no one but the left will be to blame. Even democrats have been repulsed by the hatred spewed by the left. Judge Kavanaugh is a good man and deserves to be on the Supreme Court. The left spouts that they are for WOMEN and CHILDREN. You hear it all the time how they do this and that FOR THE CHILDREN. Well, they certainly didn’t do anything for the children of Brett Kavanaugh. Hopefully what happened to their daddy won’t leave them scarred for life. The left didn’t care if they got hurt. As far as women goes, they set women back no telling how many years with this concocted story of this Ford woman who clearly made up these allegations against Kavanaugh. I am here to tell you that if you are raped or assaulted…YOU REMEMBER every detail! This Ford woman doesn’t remember because it DID NOT HAPPEN! Only in her unhinged mind and with the prodding from Feinstein and others on the left.
DARN right about “hatred spewed from the left.”
And Paul’s right, it’ll only get worse.
Look at THIS guy, as-obvious a registered Democrat as those assault-rifle totin’ skinheads who’ve been shooting-up schools and churches:
https://twitter.com/_notfakenews_/status/1051128639335616514?s=21
It is absolutely vital to fully investigate the unethical, immoral, and probably illegal tactics used in leaking Dr. Ford’s identity in defiance of her request for anonymity. Also, according to Dr. Ford’s sworn testimony, she was not aware of the committee’s offer to allow her to testify in any forum that she preferred, including privately in California. This failure, at the very least, constitutes negligence by her attorney to represent the best interests of Dr. Ford. Since there are so many aspects to how this was mishandled by Senator Feinstein and the activist lawyer, transparency is necessary to help repair Justice Kavanaugh’s reputation, as well as for the electorate to make a more informed decision in November. I think that once this egregious behavior is revealed, it will be so repugnant that even some of those who are now undecided will go to the polls to vote against the “mob”. Oh, but wait a second, the astute and eloquent chairman Sen. Grassley has said he just wants to put this all behind him, and mend fences with ranking member Sen. Feinstein. He is very interested in getting some bipartisan legislation passed this year. With that naive attitude, the ranking member Sen. Feinstein may very well be chairman next year. If that unthinkable event occurs, I feel sure that she will be anxious to mend fences and be very bipartisan! When will these establishment fixtures ever learn!
Be careful what you wish for.
This might be one of those “let it be” situations.
Stop asking questions…what’s done is done, y’know?
You are correct Paul. The Left has repeatedly stated that they are not going to change their tactics. Unfortunately, most of the national media outlets are “in bed” with the Left. So, a vast part of the nation IS NOT hearing/seeing/reading about major political happenings in a fair and balanced way.
If Donald Trump physically survives 8 years in the White House history will look back on his presidency as the most trans-formative since that of Abraham Lincoln. Back in his day Lincoln, like Trump today, was also hated by the democrats, so much that he was assassinated. That I am afraid is a viable option for some on the left in how they would deal with Trump since it seems they cannot win elections.
There are convincing arguments to be made that Democrats are responsible for the opioid epidemic, as well as financing and organizing the now-7000-strong assault/march to our border. If we have learned nothing in these past few months, we know that they will stop at nothing to win.