Moore sensitivity awareness?

One of the things which traditionally distinguished the "politics of the street" from the politics of those in positions of responsibility was that the former tend to use insulting personal language, while the latter generally behave in something approaching a civil manner. Similarly, children are more likely to call each other names than are adults.

This was on my mind last month as I attempted to analyze Teresa Heinz Kerry's statement that anyone who refused to support her husband's health-care plan was "an idiot." While I did write a post about that, I found myself thinking that it really wasn't worth much time, as it was probably an aberration brought on by mounting campaign pressures and emotion.

Certainly, I thought, they won't do that again.

Today, I am stunned to see an even more outrageous statement from John Edwards:

....if you live in the United States of America and you vote for George Bush, you've lost your mind.
Edwards is not an emotionally distraught candidate's wife, and this is no longer the first time.

Once may be aberrational; twice is policy.

While it's true that Michael Moore described Americans as possibly "the dumbest people on the planet," and it's also (unfortunately) true that his politics have entered the Democratic mainstream, has it been forgotten that Michael Moore wasn't running for high office when he said that?

Don't the Democrats realize that by calling them idiots and mental cases, they've slandered and insulted at least half of the American voters, and demonstrated a clear intent to intimidate the rest? More than an attack on American voters, it's an attack on civility in American public life.

Of course, without a doubt it's also the dumbest campaign strategy I have ever seen.

(Perhaps that's just as well.)

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds shares a photoblog report on Republican victims of a political drive-by shooting in his town, and wonders,

Perhaps tonight someone should ask John Edwards how he feels about such violent behavior.
Well, Edwards has already made it clear that the "victims" in this incident suffer from mental health problems, and Glenn Reynolds admits that "many of them were armed." Shouldn't they at least have their guns taken away in order to prevent escalating cycles of violence?

posted by Eric on 10.05.04 at 03:36 PM





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