In response to my blog post yesterday about the reference to tea parties on a recent episode of Law & Order Criminal Intent, commenters drifted into a discussion of Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer’s “un-American” USA Today op-ed. In my column at Townhall today I point out just how ridiculous and completely lacking credibility the Democrats’ new found concern for civil discourse and informed debate is.
Democrats’ concerns about allowing all viewpoints to be heard accurately would be a lot more credible if they had not been silent when those on the right were being silenced and demagogued. In many cases leading Democrats were not silent, but actively participated in the demagoguery, spreading misinformation far and wide with the assistance of their friends in the media.
There have been many such examples over the past few decades. Remember Democrats’ claims that Republicans wanted to starve old people and school children? You know, back when they used to tell Americans on a regular basis that an increase in spending was really a cut if it was not as big an increase as Democrats wanted? I also point out the times conservatives were not allowed to speak on college campuses because angry liberal mobs became violent. Nancy Pelosi didn’t seem to have a problem with that. I also point to a few of the many examples that show just how concerned Democrats have been with fair, informed accurate debate in the past.
