JustOneMinute - Waking up to some joe - Times columnist Joe Nocera would never use the word "jihad" to describe actual Islamic terrorists, but he happily applies it to the Tea Party. And Joe Biden described the Tea Party Republicans as "terrorists", now that dissent is the lowest form of non-patriotism.
Oddly, both Glenn Greenwald and yours truly had predicted this reaction to the collapse of Team Obama and his abandonment of any agenda other than his own re-election and eventual book deal. Over to Greenwald:
On a different note, I am quite certain that VastLeft has captured, in cartoon form, exactly what the rhetorical strategy will be for dealing with liberal anger over this deal (click on image to enlarge):
And only a few weeks back I wrote this:
IT'S NOT JUST SCHADENFREUDE: OK, its fun watching progs gnash their teeth over the antics of The One. But their unhappiness with Obama is also relevant for 2012.
In 2008 conservatives couldn't get excited about supporting McCain, so they got excited about opposing Obama. A similar dynamic will play out on the left in 2012 as they engage in a hate-fest against whomever the Reps nominate. The Bush-bashing and Palin-smashing will seem calm, objective ad dispassionate by comparison, and this will be true even if Republicans nominate Lincoln and Eisenhower.
If you can't get positive about your guy, get negative about the other guy. The Dems are out of ideas and out of people to love, so they need people to hate.
Unfortunately, I agree with you...
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So long as each party cane ensure that a sizable portion of the electorate fears the "other guys" more than they're disgusted with "their guys," the current political games will continue.
Throwing around terms like "terrorist," "Nazi," and "commie" is red meat used to rally the troops, I suspect.
I wish there was a side that didn't use that sort of thing, but judging by the number of Obamas with Hitler mustaches I see... it still sells...
The progressive Democrats lost the battle on the debt and resorted to using terms like terrorist to destroy the "Tea Party" movement. this type of retheroic is unacceptable in America politics.
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