My comment on Greg Sargent's WaPo Column

[markpkessinger]

Greg Sargent had a very thoughtful column in the Washington Post today about the booing of the gay soldier in the GOP debate. I thought he was a little too quick, however, in hauling out that old, stale chestnut of "Of course, it's not fair to tar all Republicans ... blah, blah, blah." Below is the text of a comment I left on the site in response.

markpkessinger wrote:

While you are certainly correct, Mr. Sargent, that it is unfair to tar all Republicans by the appalling sentiments of some members of last night's debate audience (or by equally appalling reactions of the previous two debate audiences), the fact is that many otherwise decent rank-and-file Republicans are in a state of collective denial concerning the extremism of a small minority of their ranks that has been permitted to become the dominant voice driving the party's policy and legislative agendas. Absurd theories about the President's citizenship (based not on evidence but on prior racial bias) , and outrageous displays of bigotry such as we witnessed at last night's debate occur routinely in GOP circles, and the majority of "decent" Republicans sits by in silence.

Politicians who know better allow these sentiments to go unchallenged due to a cynical political calculus whereby they believe such sentiments, irrespective of how damaging they are to the social fabric of this country, will work to their advantage in the next election. Pundits routinely hide behind assertions of false equivalence, without ever coming to grips with the fact that there is simply no current corollary on the left to what has been going with the GOP and the far right. Both ends of the spectrum may have their extremes, but no sane, objective analysis can conclude that extremists are running the show in the Democratic party the way they are in the GOP. And to the extent that ordinary, rank-and-file Republicans continue to willingly avert their eyes to what is going on in their midst, they become tacitly complicit in it, and thus also have a share in responsibility for the fact that it continues unchallenged.

Today 9/23/2011 3:24:59 PM EDT

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Very good

[kayakjohnny]

2. Yes, very good indeed!

:thumbsup:

[roguevalley]

3. until the leadership and candidates of this 'party' come out in

one voice and denounce the fricking hell out of these moments, it is them. They are that moment too. No one has. No one. Fuck them all. They are it because they won't denounce it. This guy is blowing smoke out his backside if he thinks any different. What is unbelievable is not that no one can blame all pugs and tar them as this. What is unbelievable is that they all ARE this.

[KT2000]

4. Spot on!

Very well said.

[11 Bravo]

5. Very nicely said!