The Mythology of the Liberal-Left in America

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CCCLXV

James Taranto with some insightful observations yesterday. (Quoted ellipses in original.)

.... Street protest is central to the mythology of the liberal-left in America, which romanticizes (rightly) the civil-rights marches of the early 1960s and (less rightly) the antiwar demonstrations of the late '60s and early '70s. In contrast, there's nothing like this on the right, except for the antiabortion movement and the occasional ad hoc protest, like the one in Florida against the Clinton administration's abduction and deportation of Elian Gonzalez.

The liberal media generally present these protests as if they're wholesome, all-American expressions of opinion, glossing over the reality that the protesters are a motley collection of extreme partisans, antieverything nihilists and single-issue fanatics. This allows liberal elites to imagine that their loathing of the president is a populist posture.

Yet although it would be unfair to characterize the protesters as representing the mainstream of the Democratic Party, the differences between the "respectable" liberal-left and the wacko protesters have become increasingly blurred. While we've been out on the town enjoying the parties of the right, National Review's Byron York has been bravely venturing into the fever swamps of the Angry Left. Yesterday he reported on "the 'Big Tent Extravaganza,' a gathering of musicians, actors, and comedians co-sponsored by Planned Parenthood and its affiliate, Planned Parenthood Republicans for Choice":

One featured performer, the comedian Lewis Black, had a message for GOP delegates who might hold other views.

"It is un-fu**ing-believable that since the time I was 15 we have been having to argue this sh**," Black said. "There comes a point where you say, f**k you, enough is enough. There is no argument. It's not your body, a**hole. Shut the f**k up."

Black's words summed up the uneasy division onstage at the Beacon. Every time a speaker at the "Big Tent Extravaganza" offered conciliatory words — as when Sex in the City actress Cynthia Nixon said, "I am here today to applaud and thank and salute a brave and tenacious group of Republicans, Republicans for Choice" — another speaker was considerably less welcoming. Shortly before Nixon spoke, for example, the lesbian comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer said of religious conservatives, "I support any religion that brings people up. Anything that brings people down, your ass is mine. That's f**king bullsh**." Westenhoefer also described her fundamentalist sister as "a whack-job Christian," and added that "Mormons are whack jobs, too." And she launched into an extended discussion of the actor Mel Gibson and his movie The Passion, saying, "He's a f**king a**hole."

Today York has a report on an appearance by former Enron adviser Paul Krugman:

Krugman says he believes the United States needs a "mega-Watergate" scandal to uncover a far-reaching right-wing conspiracy, going back forty years, to gain control of the U.S. government and roll back civil rights.... Krugman told the crowd that the president is simply a front man for larger and more sinister forces.

"We probably make a mistake when we place too much emphasis on Bush the individual," said Krugman, who received a standing ovation when he was introduced. "This really isn't about Bush. Bush is the guy that the movement found to take them over the top. But it didn't start with him, and it won't end with him. What's going on in this country is that a radical movement... that had been building for several decades, finally found their moment and their man in Bush."

Krugman described the conspiracy as "the coalition between the malefactors of great wealth and the religious right." He offered no further details about who, precisely, is in the conspiracy but said that "substantial chunks of the media are part of this same movement."

Krugman said he and other liberals had been "asleep" and unaware of the true dimensions of the danger during the years in which President Bill Clinton found himself facing a variety of scandal allegations. But Krugman said there is a "complete continuity" between today's politics and the "campaign of slander and innuendo" against Clinton. "There's complete continuity going back, really, I think — but this is my next book — you really need to go back to Goldwater. A lot of this has to do with civil rights, and the people who don't like them."

Such paranoid lunacy would be merely laughable did it not come from someone who has a twice-weekly op-ed slot at the once-respected New York Times. Krugman's moonbat ranting encapsulates the combination of rage and nostalgia that is at the heart of the Angry Left. They still think they're fighting for civil rights, a battle their predecessors won two generations ago. They long for another Vietnam; hence the endless insistence that Afghanistan and Iraq are "quagmires." And they fondly remember — and hope for a repetition of — Watergate. This time, they hope, such a scandal will do permanent damage to the GOP and conservatism.

In the 1970s, the left prevailed in persuading America to withdraw from Vietnam, albeit at the cost (which they rarely acknowledge) of subjecting millions of Vietnamese people to communist slavery, and Watergate enabled them to bring down a hated president — something they had been unable to do at the ballot box. For guys like Krugman, that is, the era of Vietnam and Watergate was a time of triumph. But for most Americans it was a low point in recent American history — and certainly not something we'd like to relive....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 09/02/04 07:16:23 AM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode.