Charles Krauthammer on Thursday attacked the media's recent bogus call for civility in politics.
"The worst in uncivil discourse that we have had in the last decade occurred in the Bush years when the President was vilified, attacked, he was demonized, compared to Nazis," he told Chris Wallace on Fox News's "Special Report." "I do not remember the Times or the mainstream media all of a sudden wagging a finger and pulling a chin about the rise of uncivil discourse at the time" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
CHRIS WALLACE, HOST: Charles, The New York Times noted today that most of the provocative and inflammatory language came from the Democrats most likely because they were on the losing side so all they have is rhetoric. Is all of this attention to words sensible?
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Look, I think it's a bogus issue that was concocted, particularly after the Tucson shooting. It's a continuation, what we heard from Cohen and Jackson Lee is a continuation of the liberal hypocrisy on this.
Howard Dean, a not insignificant Democrat, the former head of the Democratic National Committee, said openly, "I hate Republicans and everything they stand for." That is literally hate speech. I do not remember the Times or the mainstream media all of a sudden wagging a finger and pulling a chin about the rise of uncivil discourse at the time. So I don't take any of this seriously.
There was an attempt by liberals, an obscene attempt to link conservatives with the Tucson shooting through this accusation of civil discourse, and I'm not surprised that uncivil discourse is quite prominent on the Left as we saw today.
Indeed.
The behavior of the media the past two weeks would be laughable if it weren't so serious.
First they immorally tried to pin the Tucson shootings on Sarah Palin, conservative talkers, and the Tea Party.
When the assailant inconveniently didn't fit the template, they moved immediately to calling for politicians and pundits to tone down the rhetoric. However, this plea for civility was only directed at the Right.
As we've continued to see from liberal talkers on television and the radio, as well as the disgraceful comments made on the House floor this week by Democrats Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Steve Cohen of Tennessee, there is absolutely no interest on the Left to tone down anything.
This entire episode has been another in a long line of dishonest attempts by the media to demonize and silence conservatives.
Fortunately, it appears the more intelligent part of the nation that has learned over the years not to trust the press isn't buying it.
(H/T RCP)