Alternate headline: "Never let a horrible tragedy go to waste even if there is absolutely no connection between said tragedy and your self-congratulatory boondoggle."
Former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush will serve as honorary chairmen of a new center at the University of Arizona that will focus on civility in political debate, university officials will announce Monday.(italics, ours)
The National Institute for Civil Discourse - a nonpartisan center for debate, research, education and policy about civility in public discourse - will open Monday in Tucson. It was created in the aftermath of the Jan. 8 shootings in the city where six people were killed and 13 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
For cryin' out loud, even the President who cannot make a firm stand on anything, said that there was no linkage between the lack of civil discourse and the wacko gunman. No matter.
Here's the two big cheeses - let's hear what they have to say:
"Our country needs a setting for political debate that is both frank and civil," Bush said in a statement.Eh... what?
Clinton said in a statement that the new institute "can elevate the tone of dialogue in our country."
Being civil is essential to elevating the dialog in this country because right now things aren't very civil and that's bad so that's why the elevation of the civil tone in the political arena that will be brought about by this even newer civility will.... blah, blah, blah, blah.
We would rather shove hot pokers in our eyes than have to sit through just 10 minutes of this drivel.
Well, if they're serious about their charter, vision statement, mission statement or whatever they decide to come up with, we know exactly where their first stop should be.
Don't count on it. Remember gang, all this talk of civility is just the poltical class's polite way of telling you to shut the hell up.
(photo courtesy Left Coast Rebel)
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6 comments:
Deano, love you to pieces, but I absolutely disagee that "all this talk of civilty is just the political class's polite way of telling us to shut the hell up." We won't solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down. We can disagree with certain policies without demonizing the the people who espouse them. You can question somebody’s views and their judgment without questioning their motives or their patriotism. And that's what it's come to, it seems. And that's what we need to try and temper. I think the Clinton/Bush duo is heading in the right direction. It's not that we all have our own views, it's how we project them. It seems in our divided country we all want basically the same things - it's just the "way there" is causing the giant chasm. BOTH SIDES ARE GUILTY. The sign you show is despicable. But you could find those same kinds of signs at Tea Party Rallies with Obama's picture. I've gotten 3 of the same e-mail in the past couple days with an Obama joke at the end (that I could see coming a mile away). I'm sick of the birthers and the lies. I'm interested in solutions, and maybe Clinton/Bush can come up with some. But of course, you don't have to listen or stick a hot poker in your eye :) Mama Max
Deano, love you to pieces, but I absolutely disagee that "all this talk of civilty is just the political class's polite way of telling us to shut the hell up." We won't solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down. We can disagree with certain policies without demonizing the the people who espouse them. You can question somebody’s views and their judgment without questioning their motives or their patriotism. And that's what it's come to, it seems. And that's what we need to try and temper. I think the Clinton/Bush duo is heading in the right direction. It's not that we all have our own views, it's how we project them. It seems in our divided country we all want basically the same things - it's just the "way there" is causing the giant chasm. BOTH SIDES ARE GUILTY. The sign you show is despicable. But you could find those same kinds of signs at Tea Party Rallies with Obama's picture. I've gotten 3 of the same e-mail in the past couple days with an Obama joke at the end (that I could see coming a mile away). I'm sick of the birthers and the lies. I'm interested in solutions, and maybe Clinton/Bush can come up with some. But of course, you don't have to listen or stick a hot poker in your eye :) Mama Max
Didn't mean to publish twice....
Prior to the Internet, no one would know that the left was doing this. The MSM would be able to tell us all that the Tea Party was the only violent group out there.
By the way, I'm with smc500 on this one. It's not enough to point out the loons on the left. We've got to tone down our rhetoric and stop the loons on the right as well.
smc500, thanks so much for stopping by and commenting.
I have a saying regarding money and politics with respect to campaign finance reform: "You will never remove money from politics until you remove power from politics by corresponding degrees". When you have a scenario where there is as much power being wielded by politicians/the government as we do currently, leveraging that power simply becomes a quid pro quo arrangement.
New saying: "You will not remove incivility from poltics until you remove power from politics by a corresponding degree".
Why are we shouting at each other? Because seemingly so much is at stake. If the government was simply delivering the mail, paving the roads and defending the coasts, would the environment be as shrill as it is? Probably not.
I'm all for being civil. This blog, though highly opinionated, is the picture of civility. Birthers, Truthers and the like need not participate here.
However, I am very leery of what I consider crocodile tears over the lack of civility by many in the political class.
For may beliefs and my decision to peaceably assemble as per the 1st amendment I was declared "un-American" by elected officials and likened to the Kristalnacht by allegedly mainstream journalists like Frank Rich of the NYT.
Yet where is the tut-tutting, finger-wagging and lectures by these arbiters of civility when it comes to the union protesters in Wisconsin?
This talk of civility is very much a one-way street.
Sorry, not falling for the civility trap.
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