Posted on 10/10/2014 5:24:35 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I think it is fair to say that we may be entering a dangerous phase in American politics when cautious and seasoned, albeit partisan, political analysts and reporters begin to wonder aloud whether their political opponents secretly want their adversaries dead.
Some appear to think that it is inconceivable that the dangerous and casual manner in which the Secret Service has comported itself in recent years, putting the life of the President of the United States in jeopardy, could be a legitimate concern to Barack Obama’s political opponents.
That is what Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank apparently believes. In a Friday appearance on MSNBC, Milbank reassured the hosts of The Cycle that 2014’s political environment is not as favorable to Republicans as many would have you believe. He added that GOP candidates have largely been reduced to stoking undue fears in the electorate on everything from the threat posed by ISIS to the spread of Ebola.
Among the fears Milbank suggests the GOP is aggravating for political gain are concerns that the Secret Service is underperforming.
“They’re even making a campaign issue of the Secret Service,” The Post columnist said, “saying things are so bad that even the President of the United States, the President of the United States we would like to remove from office by the way, is not being adequately protected by the Secret Service.”
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
First, what a shocking and offensive insinuation to make. Yes, Republicans (and Democrats, I’d venture) can oppose a president of the opposite party and also not want any harm to come to them. Second, the suggestion that voicing concerns about the increasingly apparent incompetence in the Secret Service amounts to fear mongering is just as insulting.
In only the last few weeks, a disturbed individual jumped the White House fence and made it deep into the president’s home before being subdued. That intrusion has resulted in the erecting of an entirely new fence around “The People’s House.” Days later, reporters uncovered that Obama was allowed to enter a closed elevator with an individual who had an unsecured handgun on his person — an episode the Secret Service failed to disclose to the White House. For the love of God, the Secret Service’s director resigned in disgrace just nine days ago.
How stupid does Dana Milbank think MSNBC’s viewers really are?
Milbank was, unfortunately, not the only news outlet to echo the toxic charge that Republicans would not be all that upset if harm were to come to Obama. In the pages of The New York Times, reporter Peter Baker marveled over the fact that the GOP is apparently “showing concern for the president’s safety, even while criticizing him.”
The article suggests that even Obama should be “wary” of Hill Republicans showing distress over threats to the president’s wellbeing, and wondered if inquiries into the efficacy of the Secret Service was not a ruse designed to reduce voter confidence in the federal government ahead of the midterm elections.
This is all evidence of a cancerous partisanship, one which Democrats would easily recognize in Republicans but somehow fail to see manifested in themselves. If people like Milbank have grown so hateful of their political opponents that they cannot even recognize humanity in them anymore, they do their readers a disservice by continuing to serve in an analyst’s role; their judgment has grown too clouded, their sense of prudence overpowered by animosity.
For everyone’s sake, maybe it is time for Milbank and others who share this venomous opinion to take a breather.
Because the martyrdom would make that of JFK look like small potatoes, if something did happen to him.
Sadly, it is better for him to limp through the next 2 years and leave as the worst president in US history.
Wonder what dana milbank would do? Nevermind ... These people (like dana Milbank) are not human. Those that would portray people that disagree with a president’s policy (a God given Right) as those whom would assassinate their one, it boils down to ... Can’t fix stupid. Good Luck to dana on her trip down into mental illness. She is half-way there to full blown mentally insane.
Dana is (at least on the surface) a man.
Our politeness and good christian manners are driving the libs batty. They can’t believe we’re not seizing this opportunity to say something outrageously vile, violent and vindictive, like the way they would be doing with a GOP President.
I was certain dana was female. Gosh ... and no offense to females (anywhere).
So Mr. Millbank, are you vacationing to Liberia or Iraq this year, afterall there is nothing to fear, is there?
Unlike leftists, conservatives don’t want harm to happen to a president of either party.
... dana reminds me of a boy named Sue. Parents must have hated him.
This looks like depression is settling in for the journo-listers; best indication I have seen they know that the Senate is gone.
Because we have a vice-president who is a clown.
Milbank should mind the White House and Barack’s Wife and Children.I would leave if I lived there .Poor job.
We don’t want airports and cities named after him. It’s bad enough streets and schools will bear his name.
We all know if he was assassinated, he would be a martyr and conservatives would be in camps
concerns that the Secret Service is underperforming. .... What do you expect? They have been AA’d and PC’d into nothing more than Mall Cops. Whores overseas? Asleep at conferences? Left the door to the WH unlocked? Young chick bowled over by an intruder? Gee, doesn’t this tell any adult somewhere, “Houston, we have a problem”?
Maybe we could name a disease after him. Oh wait, I believe we already have.
:-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.