It must be my old age or my age-induced political bias. But two things have happened in the presidential race in the past 24 hours that illustrate how rude and uncivil the race has become.
1. It is traditional that the opposition lay low during the week of the other party’s convention. In the past that has meant that one generally kept out of the limelight and avoided making news while the other party celebrated its nominee and wound up its troops for the remaining few weeks of the race. IIRC correctly both parties stayed out of the way during the 2000 conventions, and the Republicans stayed out of the way during the Democrat convention in Boston. But the Democrats apparently have decided that the old rules don’t apply, and have had Kerry out at the American Legion today, and McAuliffe has been all over the media describing how outraged he is (and by inference, how outraged Americans should be) by the very audacity of everything said by the Republicans at their own convention.
2. And then there’s this story:
Eleven protesters were arrested Wednesday on the floor of Madison Square Garden, site of the Republican National Convention, law enforcement officials said. The protesters were members of the AIDS activist group ACT UP and will face trespassing charges. They shouted and carried signs on the convention floor during a speech by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card…All the hecklers had valid floor passes. The U.S. Secret Service said the screening process is working and no one who has demonstrated inside the convention has had a weapon or posed a threat to anyone.
And this idiot thinks it was a good idea. I suppose that many of those who are opposed to the President are cheering, but I find it appalling. How does acting like a bunch of spoiled children help one’s cause? Are they so insecure in themselves, their cause and their candidate that they can only disrupt, not debate?
I have no problem with hurling the occassional invective, especially when the hurling is fueled by passion, but I have found that disagreements are far more agreeable when the points are made by gentlemen and gentlewomen, not whining simps who resort to disruption for its own sake. I’m sorry that my evening’s plans will cause me to miss the collective outrage from the mainstream media. Hmmm. Outrage. Sure.
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