Thursday, September 17, 2009

Remember When Dissent Was Patriotic?

I was listening to Nancy Pelosi get hysterical today. How that women ever got into a position of authority in this country is beyond me. Anyway, before we get on to that, a look back at the first (and hopefully last) inaugural address by President Obama:

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.


Now, apparently Nancy Pelosi disagrees:

"We are a free country, and this balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance," Pelosi began. She then became emotional as she recalled the events, startling the reporters gathered for the weekly news conference.


Well apparently while dealing with foreign terrorists who like to fly planes into buildings, balancing security and rights is not a dilemma, but when dealing with those evil Republicans on the other hand, then you really have to be careful...

4 comments:

Wicketywack said...

Obama was talking about the false choice between either torturing people on the one hand, or keeping our ideals on the other.

Pelosi is talking about the fact that wingers are bringing loaded weapons to town hall events where the president is speaking. Also, the many many signs that make clear violent threats. Do you think that kind of behavior is acceptable?

James B. said...

No, she is talking about free speech.

"I saw this, myself, in the late '70s in San Francisco," she said. "This kind of rhetoric was very frightening and it created a climate in which violence took place."


The example she gives of the 70s wasn't even political violence, it was just some nutjob.

They are talking about different rights obviously, but it is the same principle, freedom and safety are opposing factors unfortunately, they just have opposing viewpoints depending on convenience.

And no, I don't believe violence is appropriate, but I don't recall Nancy crying for 8 years of people attacking Bush constantly, making books and movies about him being assassinated, all the Bushitler comparisons. Most of the violence now has been on the left anyway, look at the guy who got his ear bit off, or the union thug who beat up that guy in Missouri.

James B. said...

And need I remind you, it was Pelosi who said that her opponents were "carrying swastikas". Nevermind that the people doing that are Larouche Democrats.

Wicketywack said...

Well James, the discussion about which side has been more violent historically is pretty subjective. We could each list examples til we're both blue in the face.

I do remember people carrying Bush-Hitler placards at demos in DC. I know, because I attended a few anti-war protests because I live in DC. However, there were VERY few of these types at the demos.

I do agree a lot of these Nazi comparisons are the Larouchies, however it seems with this crowd, there are huge numbers that make reference to violence. Here in DC, you saw a lot more of those signs with this protest than I ever remember from the anti-war folks.

There just seems to be the blind anger with a lot of people on the right now. I'm not even sure what they're so angry about. Czars? Spending? Health care? Who knows. The only people who've been able to articulate on the right are people like David Frum, whom I actually have respect for and think he's worth listening to. But these protest people seem to be an entirely different lot from him. David Frum has been writing about some of the very concerns that Pelosi is talking about.