Conservatives attempting to pit Clinton against Pelosi on what's "un-American"
August 10, 2009 1:03 pm ET by Sarah Pavlus
NRO's Kathryn Jean Lopez predicts, "I suspect this will be the most linked-to YouTube of the day on the Right." The link is to a video clip of Hillary Clinton saying in 2003, "I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration somehow you're not patriotic, and we should stand up and say we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration."
Presumably, Lopez is suggesting that Clinton's comments are somehow at odds with what Pelosi and Hoyer wrote in their USA Today op-ed today, but they're not.
As we pointed out this morning, Pelosi and Hoyer wrote that "it is now evident that an ugly campaign is underway not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue," and that "[d]rowning out opposing views is simply un-American."
Pelosi and Hoyer did not declare opponents of health care reform - or anybody who disagrees with the Obama administration -- "un-American." They were speaking in favor of "civil dialogue" and against actions that disrupt it and "drown[] out opposing views."
On the off chance that Lopez was merely pointing out a great 6-year-old quote on the freedom of speech from our now-Secretary of State, fantastic. We concur.
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When we were arguing against Bush going to war, we weren't doing it, yelling and screaming and disrupting say, town hall meetings about it. No. There were of course very loud, and large protests, but those weren't in these types of settings.
I am all for debate, and open interaction. The point that you're missing is that these hooligans showing up at these town halls don't wish to debate, they wish to disturb and disrupt. Did you fail to miss that? Probably.
Look, I don't disagree that maybe these folks have a grievance, and some complainst, and maybe even a real question in there, but alas, this isn't what we're seeing, or getting. They don't wish to debate. They wish to be the loudest, and most disruptive. They don't want back and forth and facts, they want their viewpoint, and that's it.
Folks like yourself disregard the fact that when these a-holes come into these meetings, disrupt them, and shut them down, they're not allowing for other people who are there maybe to learn something, to not learn it. People are not being allowed to engage their democratically elected representatives.
That you fail to see the difference between these 2 situations, doesn't surprise me.
Oh yes you were screaming and yelling and disrupting TH meetings and following representatives to their homes.
Democrats disrupting congressmen
I'll go and empty lake Washington with a slurpee cup while you look.
You're hilarious... appears to me that you are a subscriber of the loony belief that MMFA and the Democratic Party somehow operate in concert. In other words, you are a nutty conspiracy whackjob. Here's a tip: switch off the AM radio and educate yourself with the facts, starting with this one: MMFA is a site that monitors and exposes conservative misinformation and has zip to do with the Democratic Party.
Which means that there is far too much nuance in your reply for it to resonate and get through to the masses.