Dual Hypocrisy: Health-Care Protests

[thepianominstre]

Who is more hypocritical? The Republicans who complained about anti-Bush protesting now being very disruptive against health-care? Or the Democrats who relentlessly compared Bush to Hitler now complaining about swastikas and Nazi references from the right? (Michelle Malkin is generally a conservative hack but she's got some good points and links (http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/14/the-etiquette-czar’s-rules-for-patriotic-protest/comment-page-1/#comments) about the Democratic side of the hypocrisy). I think both sides have been pretty pathetic, although the tsk-tsk'ing from Pelosi et. al seems to me particularly childish.

[Machu505]

First of all, no matter who you are or what you do, if you're a politician, you're going to get compared to Hitler. There is no avoiding it. Now to the real problem at hand:

The main difference between these protests are what they're about; the Bush ones were war related and the Obama ones are health care/tax related. I think the Bush protests were valid as the Iraq War was an ill-conceived conflict formed from lies and created by the lying liars that told them. The Obama ones, however, I feel are based upon bullshit lies themselves as opposed to being against lies. A subconscious racism among the protesters (as with the birthers too) has been implied as well.

Of course, I'll likely never be in the mindset of these protesters, so I can't speak on their intentions from a personal perspective.

[thepianominstre]

I came to disagree with the Iraq wars and of course feel that there was legitimate reason to protest, and yet I feel there is legitimate reason to protest the health-care stuff too. There's plenty of junk and exaggerations going around, but there are legitimate criticisms of some of the key points, and more importantly, Obama and the Dems are pushing for a bill that doesn't even exist yet, as there's about five versions floating around, each about 1000 pages long that none of the Congressman are going to read through, much less understand before they vote on it. (But of course it only bothered Obama when Bush didn't give them time to read the Patriot Act....)

I think both sides have been hypocritical by attacking the other side for protesting at all (you don't hear the left quoting "dissent is the highest form of patriotism" anymore), and I think both sides have been hypocritical by protesting to such a disruptive and extreme degree (you don't hear the right bemoaning those horrible, shouting, sign-wielding liberal mobs anymore).

[Machu505]

I definitely agree that there has been hypocrisy exposed because of all this yelling, but I also believe that these will do as much good for their cause as the war protests did: essentially none.

[saysmydoctor]

Bush legitimately curtailed fundamental rights, though, so the comparisons make sense.

Comparing Obama to Hitler makes no sense.

[Machu505]

Modern Hitler comparisons are inherently illogical.

[loveisdead]

There is nothing wrong with protesting. Ever. There is something wrong with being wildly disruptive.

[Codi23]

There is nothing wrong with protesting. Ever. There is something wrong with being wildly disruptive.

I completely agree with this statement; it's one thing to protest, and another to be there just to interrupt a discussion (town halls).

[jwicklun]

Yeah right now there isn't much of a difference between the yellers at the town hall meetings and code pink. Both being douchebags on their part.

[open mind]

There is nothing wrong with protesting. Ever. There is something wrong with being wildly disruptive.

the entire point of protest is disruption....it wouldn't be protest without it.

[open mind]

Yeah right now there isn't much of a difference between the yellers at the town hall meetings and code pink. Both being douchebags on their part.

no.
code pink had the truth more or less on thier side, these anti-healthcare boogeymen do not.

[SpacePunk]

I completely agree with this statement; it's one thing to protest, and another to be there just to interrupt a discussion (town halls).

Tell that to the left-wing so-called Anti-Fascist groups in Britain and elsewhere.

They are the biggest danger to Free-Speech right now. Shouting down/Violently disrupting discussion (no matter how abhorrent) is WRONG.

[paper halo]

Tell that to the left-wing so-called Anti-Fascist groups in Britain and elsewhere.

They are the biggest danger to Free-Speech right now. Shouting down/Violently disrupting discussion (no matter how abhorrent) is WRONG.

'Sup BNP talking points.

Also, anti-facist =/= left wing. Though I realise that your main motivation for posting was to make an attack on the 'left'.

[SpacePunk]

Also, anti-facist =/= left wing. Though I realise that your main motivation for posting was to make an attack on the 'left'.


I have no time for the left or the right.

But I find it irritating that the left seems to think it has a monopoly on "rational debate".

[saysmydoctor]

Maybe you should find it irritating the right can't contribute to rational debate--no fault of those on the left that they control it.

[Praetor]

I have no time for the left or the right.

But I find it irritating that the left seems to think it has a monopoly on "rational debate".
There is no mainstream left in this country.

[vodyanoj]

Who is more hypocritical? The Republicans who complained about anti-Bush protesting now being very disruptive against health-care? Or the Democrats who relentlessly compared Bush to Hitler now complaining about swastikas and Nazi references from the right? (Michelle Malkin is generally a conservative hack but she's got some good points and links (http://michellemalkin.com/2009/08/14/the-etiquette-czar’s-rules-for-patriotic-protest/comment-page-1/#comments) about the Democratic side of the hypocrisy). I think both sides have been pretty pathetic, although the tsk-tsk'ing from Pelosi et. al seems to me particularly childish.

You've lost me when you said that Malkin had good points. She is a vitriolic idiot, and nothing more.

And I do not remember liberals calling for assassination of Bush, or lying through their teeth about Bush's policies. Although I am sure some of them acted like idiots, they did not approach the level of bullshit imbecility and lies that Rethugs are exhibiting now.

[vodyanoj]

There is no mainstream left in this country.

Well, there's me.:)

EDIT: Although, come to think of it, I am only "mainstream" by European standards. By wildly distorted American ones, I am somewhere light years beyond the wild left fringe.

[boxingwithstars]

first of all, i have always openly denounced the Bush = Hitler comparisons. i think it's absurd to compare any of the leaders we have elected to Hitler, especially George W. Bush. besides the fact that he started a war, he had little in common with Hitler. but it seems like whenever somebody wants to find a way to voice their disapproval of our president, the first thing they're going to do is compare him to the most evil world leader in modern history. let's face it, it's just going to happen on both sides by people who have nothing more clever to say.

the difference between these protests and the protests surrounding the Bush administration is that most of those were related to the war, and there was very little exaggeration or misconception about what was happening there. the debate on health care has been pumped full of lies, which has resulted in these protests turning into a breeding ground for the ignorant and misinformed.

and of course, anti-Bush protests did not hold the same racially charged undertone that many of these Obama protests do.