Nancy Pelosi just went off on Republicans attacking Democrats over the Scalise shooting
(CNN)Following a moving speech by Speaker Paul Ryan
in the wake of the shootings at a baseball diamond that left Rep. Steve
Scalise in critical condition on Wednesday morning, you might be
forgiven for wondering whether the nastiness of our politics could
actually change -- at least for a short time.
It didn't.
While Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi both spoke eloquently about our common humanity in the wake of the attacks, within hours the shooting had grown deeply political -- due in large part to the fact that the shooter, James T. Hodgkinson, expressed a number of anti-Republican and anti-Trump sentiments on his social media feeds.
And
now, less than 36 hours removed from the shots ringing out in
Alexandria, Virginia, we are already into the condemnation stage of our
all-too-predictable political process.
Pelosi
was asked Thursday about "the possibility that this incident could be
used against Democrats or the Democratic Party politically" because some
conservatives had suggested "vitriolic rhetoric from the left being in
some way to blame."
Here's how she responded:
"I
think that the comments made by my Republican colleagues are
outrageous, beneath the dignity of the job that they hold, beneath the
dignity of the respect that we would like Congress to command. How dare
they say such thing? How dare they? Well I won't even go into the whole
thing. I can't even begin, probably as we sit here, they're running
caricatures of me in Georgia once again, earned over a hundred million
dollars of vitriolic things that they say, that resulted in calls to my
home constantly, threats in front of my grandchildren. Really,
predicated on their comments and their paid ads. So this sick individual
does something despicable and it was horrible what he did, hateful. But
for them to all of a sudden be sanctimonious as if, they don't, never
seen such a thing before. And I don't even want to go into the President
of the United States. But in terms of some of the language that he has
used."
Think the question touched a nerve?
Pelosi has been a Republican bogeyman since she rose to the speakership in 2007
-- and, in truth, long before that. Her mention of the $100 million
figure is in reference to the amount of money she estimates that
Republican candidates, party committees and conservative groups have
spent around the country in negative ads attacking her.
Here's one --
from the Georgia 6th special election -- in which the narrator says
"Nancy Pelosi and liberal politicians are flooding into Georgia to try
and stop our Republican majority that's getting things done." (Democrat
Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel will face off in a special
election runoff on Tuesday.)
Pelosi's broader point is that demonizing the people who disagree with you isn't unique to Democrats.
And,
she's right. Both parties -- particularly in the last decade or so --
have embraced the idea that people who disagree with your political
views are, at best, misguided and, at worst, evil. Phrases like
"disagree without being disagreeable" or "reasonable people can
disagree" have disappeared from our political dialogue. People who
disagree with you are to be scorned, shunned and ignored -- not engaged.
A 2016 Pew poll on partisanship and polarization showed
that 45% of Republicans and 41% of Democrats viewed the other's
policies as a "threat" to the country. Both those numbers increased from
the last Pew poll on polarization in 2014. Fifty-five percent of
Democrats in that survey said the Republican party made them feel
"afraid" while 49% of Republicans say the same of the Democratic party.
People
hate the "both sides do it" nature of some corners of mainstream
journalism, believing that it creates a sense of equivalency when there
is none. Fair enough.
But in this case, both sides do
do it! Casting your political opponents as not just wrong but dangerous
motivates the bases of the respective parties. And fired-up bases turn
out. And that, for most politicians, is plenty of justification to keep
playing to the extremes rather than trying to land somewhere in between
those two poles.
Until the
electorate stops rewarding politicians for saying the most outlandish
things about the other party, they will keep right on doing it -- no
matter how many attacks like the one Wednesday morning happen.
Depressing but true.
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