It is clear to me that the Pelosi wing of the Democratic Party doesn’t believe in robust democratic debate–when it is in power, that is. Otherwise, dissent is patriotic.
Nancy Pelosi has now darkly warned that the agitated current political mood–which, if anything, she unloosed by likening Town Hall Obamacare protesters to Nazis and thugs–could result in violence. Her allusion is to the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. From the story:
I have concerns about some of the language that is being used because I saw … I saw this myself in the late ’70s in San Francisco,” Pelosi said, choking up and with tears forming in her eyes. “This kind of rhetoric is just, is really frightening and it created a climate in which we, violence took place and … I wish that we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made.
Here’s the thing: Moscone and Milk weren’t murdered because Dan White was set off by a poisonous political atmosphere. Rather, they were murdered because Moscone refused to reappoint White to the Board of Supervisors after he quit in a fit of pique. He murdered Milk–not because he was gay, as the legend now has it–but because he had been White’s friend, and then–overheard by White–strongly advised Moscone to refuse the reappointment request because of White’s instability. In other words, White murdered Milk because White felt personally betrayed, not because of the political atmosphere.
Pelosi is a disgrace because she is trying to stifle debate and depict her political foes as inspiring violence, planning to blame them if anything happens. And while we’re at it, so is Jimmy Carter the race baiter. And to think, I worked for him in the 1980 election.
September 17th, 2009 | 5:19 pm
Obama Obama Obama Pelosi Obama Obama nah nah nahh
is this a bioethics blog or just another right wing republican soapbox?
Did you used to complain about Bush torturing people too? Doubt it…
September 17th, 2009 | 5:50 pm
My thoughts exactly Wesley. As soon as I heard her comments I thought to myself “that’s a pretty big distortion of what happened to Moscone.” The killings had nothing to do with policy or rhetoric.
Revisionist history at its best.
The sad part is that most of the criticism being leveled at Pelosi is basically accusing her of faking the tears. The problem with that is that it allows the more important distortion of history to go unchallenged only further cementing the false legend that Milk was killed because he was gay.
September 17th, 2009 | 6:02 pm
Jim Jones spouted a lot of rhetoric at the same time and who in San Francisco complained?
September 17th, 2009 | 9:37 pm
Even if Pelosi’s comparison was off base, I have to agree that people showing up at political rallies with automatic weapons and talking about the “blood of tyrants” is pretty damn disturbing.
September 18th, 2009 | 10:09 am
Pelosi seems unable to make a distinction between reality and fiction. She’s got the emotionality of a Cindy Sheehan. It wouldn’t surprise me if she recently saw the movie “Milk”, cried her eyemakeup off, and believed the Hollywood lie. What really scares me is that in the face of losing her agenda, she and the loony Left are possibly planning the very violence she is decrying so as to set the stage for extreme government intervention against tea party Americans, pro-lifers, ex-military, etc. in order to ensure domestic tranquility. . .
September 18th, 2009 | 1:07 pm
Ouch! Them strong words Wes! Dan White as a supervisor many times made it clear that he was the only one before the deluge, after having opposed Briggs as well as some of the most discriminatory anti-gay initiatives on employment and housing. Milk attended White’s children’s baptism, that’s how well they knew each other. OK we know why you would like to let gun toting wingnuts at anti-Obama rallies off the hook. Twinkie Defense! And you question Carter’s take on the anti-Obama protests. Carter who was born and raised in the South who has lived through it all? I am surprised you have learned little after having worked with that great man on his campaign in 1980. I am sure I know racism when I see it. Pity you don’t care.
September 20th, 2009 | 12:08 am
I’m really discouraged by Washington politics today. People like Pelosi are so two-faced and transparent in their agendas.
Go back to your million dollar mansion Nanci, and try to reflect on how the rest of us live, if you can..
http://www.vortexpuddle.com/
September 20th, 2009 | 2:47 am
guvna: Thanks for dropping by. The post is relevant because Pelosi is using her supposed fear of violence as a way to stifle robust democratic debate about Obamacer.
September 20th, 2009 | 9:50 am
Wes,
More this time from Bob Herbert in the NYT, whom I am sure even you with all your virtuosity wouldn’t want to debate. Quoting here,
<>
You can spin the racist rhetoric all you want, because I know you aren’t one, much as you would want to defend the reactionaries and the status quo. This is just a reminder about the company you keep. Just in case you get into a tu quoque, here’s Herbert in the same article,
<>
To end this article, while asking you and your friends to question yourselves
<>
September 20th, 2009 | 9:18 pm
Wes,
This is your blog, so you have the last word. But did you have to snip out all those quotes from Bob Herbert? This rhetoric has gotten way beyond nasty. Forget me, you will have a tough time convincing yourself that wingnuts aren’t bigoted when they walk around holding signs that say
<> Call off this madness. It’s gone too far, way too far.
September 20th, 2009 | 10:02 pm
kaangeya: I rarely edit comments, and when I do, I say that I have. I did not snip out the Herbert quotes. That is how the comment came in. Feel free to repost.
September 21st, 2009 | 10:57 am
So, I recently learnt regarding Law training, if you have arguments and facts present those. If you do not have those, pound your fist on the table. If you lack that, cry like a babe? I pray it is her woman conscience making herself heard. May the Lord guide her.
September 21st, 2009 | 10:58 pm
“What really scares me is that in the face of losing her agenda, she and the loony Left are possibly planning the very violence she is decrying . . .”
Pelosi’s loony and your reasons for believing this are? Funny, Franky Schaeffer on the Left almost mirrors your argument in warning that some wingnut on the Right is likely to let loose with gunfire. But he can at least point to increased gun sales and the fact that gunfans are mostly conservative.
September 22nd, 2009 | 10:49 am
Ken, not to mention that the right-wingnuts are the ones showing up at town hall meetings and rallies carrying automatic weapons. Ever see Pelosi carrying an AK-47?
Call me alarmist, but I tend to think the chances of spontaneous gunfire are a lot greater when there are guns present.
September 24th, 2009 | 3:59 pm
From Wikipedia: Main article: Moscone–Milk assassinations
Late in 1978, Dan White resigned from the Board of Supervisors. His resignation meant that Moscone would choose White’s successor, and thus could tip the Board’s balance of power in Moscone’s favor. Recognizing this, those who supported a more conservative agenda talked White into changing his mind. White requested that Moscone re-appoint him to his former seat.
Moscone originally indicated a willingness to consider, but more liberal city leaders, including Milk, lobbied him against the idea, and Moscone ultimately decided not to re-appoint White. On November 27, 1978, White went to San Francisco City Hall to meet with Moscone and make a final plea for re-appointment. When Moscone declined to reconsider his decision, White shot and killed Moscone, then went to Milk’s office and shot Milk, killing him as well.
Dianne Feinstein, President of the Board of Supervisors, was sworn in as the city’s new mayor and in the following years would emerge as one of California’s most prominent politicians.
White later turned himself in at the police station where he was formerly an officer. The term “Twinkie defense” has its origins in the murder trial that followed, in which Dan White was convicted of the lesser crime of manslaughter.
Although Bay Area Congressman Leo Ryan (a friend of Moscone), NBC reporter Don Harris and two others died in the tragedy at Jonestown only nine days before Moscone’s murder, no connection between the shooter Dan White and the Peoples Temple has ever been made or proven.
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