While appearing on “Andrea Mitchell Reports”, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) — chair of the Democratic National Committee — said this about how some Democrats are distancing themselves from President Barack Obama:
“What I say to independent voters, is that the demonization of our leaders — like President Obama, like Republicans did to Nancy Pelosi in the 2010 campaign — is absolutely unacceptable. And I think that they will reject it across the board. People know that each of us that runs for office stands on our own record, and it’s irresponsible for a political party to engage in that kind of negative demonization, particularly of the President of the United States.”
I’m all for condemning demonization, but this is yet another case of people preaching civility without practicing it. Wasserman Schultz is someone who routinely calls her opponents names and caricatures them, while denouncing them if they behave likewise.
These are some of the things Wasserman Schultz has said about Republicans in just the past six months:
* with respect to the economy, the GOP is “hoping for failure … so that they can get a political victory in the election next year”;
* Republicans “want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws”;
* the GOP is “anti-women” and “their record is a war on women”;
* “Republicans want to end Medicare as we know it and yank the safety net out from under our senior citizens, deny them affordable health care”;
* the GOP is “essentially waging war on the unemployed”; and,
* the Medicare proposal laid out by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) would “literally be a death trap for seniors”.
Wasserman Schultz also complained that Fox News overlooks invective coming from Tea Party rallies. Yet it doesn’t strike her as equally hypocritical that she denounces the name-calling aimed at Democrats and Obama while she hurls invective at Republicans.
Wasserman Schultz is right to call for an end to demonization. But it’s precisely this sort of hypocrisy that dooms civility. So long as our leaders continue to preach civility while refusing to practice it, the call for civil debate is going to be dismissed as bogus and insincere.