Liberal McCarthyism: Bigotry and hate aren't just for right-wingers anymore.

Opinion Journal ^ | 8/8/06 | LANNY J. DAVIS

[Valin]

WASHINGTON--My brief and unhappy experience with the hate and vitriol of bloggers on the liberal side of the aisle comes from the last several months I spent campaigning for a longtime friend, Joe Lieberman.

This kind of scary hatred, my dad used to tell me, comes only from the right wing--in his day from people such as the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, with his tirades against "communists and their fellow travelers." The word "McCarthyism" became a red flag for liberals, signifying the far right's fascistic tactics of labeling anyone a "communist" or "socialist" who favored an active federal government to help the middle class and the poor, and to level the playing field.

I came to believe that we liberals couldn't possibly be so intolerant and hateful, because our ideology was famous for ACLU-type commitments to free speech, dissent and, especially, tolerance for those who differed with us. And in recent years--with the deadly combination of sanctimony and vitriol displayed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Michael Savage--I held on to the view that the left was inherently more tolerant and less hateful than the right.

Now, in the closing days of the Lieberman primary campaign, I have reluctantly concluded that I was wrong. The far right does not have a monopoly on bigotry and hatred and sanctimony. Here are just a few examples (there are many, many more anyone with a search engine can find) of the type of thing the liberal blog sites have been posting about Joe Lieberman:

[Chi-townChief]

Well, Lanny never was the crispest cracker in the box.

[Huck]

lol...yours is one of those posts....you know when you read a story, you have a gut reaction to it, and you're about to post something when you read the first reply and it's short, sweet, and right on point? good job. DUH Lanny!

[Coldwater Creek]

I think that I have heard Lanny spew his share of vitriol.

[No Truce With Kings]

An Eagle was soaring through the air when suddenly it heard the whizz of an Arrow, and felt itself wounded to death. Slowly it fluttered down to the earth, with its life-blood pouring out of it. Looking down upon the Arrow with which it had been pierced, it found that the shaft of the Arrow had been feathered with one of its own plumes. "Alas!" it cried, as it died,


"We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction."

Live by the arrow, Lannie; die by it.

[JasonC]

They can't admit the slightest fault without poring a bucket of filth over those who told them so.

[The G Man]

The liberals are bigoted, hateful, A Holes?

Quick! Call Drudge!

[ncountylee]

Just seeing Lanny's name causes me to cringe from the memory of his Clintonista voice.

[poobear]

What a great awakening for you Lanny. Hence, my tagline.

[Chi-townChief]

It is pretty funny when someone of Davis' "stature" just discovers something that's been obvious to everyone else for decades. I dare say that lefties/liberals/pigressives are inherently much more bigoted and hateful than "right-wingers."

[metmom]

Now, in the closing days of the Lieberman primary campaign, I have reluctantly concluded that I was wrong. The far right does not have a monopoly on bigotry and hatred and sanctimony

Say it ain't so.

[Valin]

On "Lieberman vs. Murtha": "as everybody knows, jews ONLY care about the welfare of other jews; thanks ever so much for reminding everyone of this most salient fact, so that we might better ignore all that jewish propaganda [by Lieberman] about participating in the civil rights movement of the 60s and so on" (by "tomjones," posted on Daily Kos, Dec. 7, 2005).


My My, such tolerence!

[jmaroneps37]

The rat is now seeing what happens when you get in bed with the wild anti American left.

[poobear]

??

You got the right guy?

[BallyBill]

I've always respected Mr. Davis for debating his beliefs, but man, hate has ruled the leftwing since at least 1968(I wasn't really around before that).

[ketelone]

COMMUNIST!

[randita]

Mr. Lamont and all other liberal Democrats should remember the McCarthy era and not fall into the trap of the hypocrisy of the double standard--that it's not OK when Ann Coulter dispenses her venomous hatred, but it is OK when our side's versions of Ann Coulter do.

Coulter has a yeoman's grasp of political polemics and delivers her pointed barbs with humor and a smile. This is a highly honed oral and written skill. Emmett Tyrell also is an expert in polemics. Lanny Davis has always seemed to me as humorless, so it's no surprise he wouldn't grasp the style of Coulter or Tyrell.

Even here on FR, the best points in a discussion are made with a play on words or a doctored photo. You can't read FR and not ROTFL. There are many very clever people here.

Liberals, both bloggers and frontmen, just drip with meanness and vitriol. No skill or intellect needed for that -- just blind hatred.

[Brilliant]

"Bigotry and hate aren't just for right-wingers anymore."



You need a barf alert for that one.

[Valin]

Just an example for your tagline.
No flame was intended.

[1066AD]

Moreover, the support he gets from these haters should not be attributed to Mr. Lamont--nor should he be blamed for their extremism, bigotry and intolerance. But he ought to denounce them.He hasn't as yet.

Says it all.