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Democrats Shouldn't Apologize For Using Fighting Words - Says the New York Times!!! [1]

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Date: 2022-09-05

Get out there and kick some more!

Bashing the New York Times is a blood sport around here. But sometimes the Times actually gets it right. Two op-ed columns, one by an editorial board member, spell out how the Democrats are right when they say Republicans are out to destroy the country.

First, Charles Blow: Biden Shouldn’t Apologize to Republicans

Republicans are outraged — or possibly simply pretending to be outraged — that President Biden has, in recent speeches, warned that “MAGA Republicans” are a threat to democracy and, at one point, called the philosophy fueling Trumpism “semi-fascism.” But there is no scandal here. Biden was simply calling a thing a thing. In fact, I would prefer that he be even more pointed and not try so hard to dodge the charge that he’s casting the net too widely.

Blow even takes Biden to task for toning down the truth of his “semi-fascism” call:

Make no mistake: A significant portion of Republican voters have done exactly what Biden has tried to exempt them from having done. A Public Religion Research Institute poll published in November found that nearly a third of Republicans agreed with the statement “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”

There is no “both-siderism” here. Blow wants the Democrats to stand by their words and keep on calling out the Republicans for what they are: in the thrall of a monster:

Democrats have to stop falling for the line that calling out the dangers that some voters present to the country is somehow a divisive, offensive, unfair attack on the innocent. No person who voted for Trump or supports him now is above being named and shamed. Biden doesn’t owe Republicans an apology; they owe the country an apology.

Moving on . . . Michelle Cottle, who is on the NYT editorial board, writes: Abortion and Trump Are Giving Democrats a Shot

It was unsurprising, if still depressing, to witness how thoroughly the G.O.P.’s moral compass has been shattered. Today’s Republicans will snuggle up with even the creepiest of characters, so long as those characters are Trump-approved. (See: Gaetz, Matt.) In the category of not so much depressing as horrifying: Republican voters elevated legions of election-denying conspiracymongers. In Michigan and Nevada, the party’s nominees for secretary of state are so far down the Stop the Steal Rabbit hole they may never see daylight again, while Pennsylvania Republicans’ choice for governor is so disturbing that some former party officials there are lining up to endorse his Democratic opponent. But for overall wingnuttery, it is tough to beat Arizona, where G.O.P. voters went all in on reality-challenged MAGA ravers up and down the ticket.

Once again, no “both sides do it.” Cottle gives marginal credit to Georgia Republicans for defying Trump to renominate Kemp and Raffensperger, but then goes to praise the Democrats overall:

Democrats, meanwhile, are learning to love their inner culture warrior, going hard at their Republican opponents on the issue [of abortion]. Even Republicans who express support for limited abortion rights are getting hit as Democrats seek to paint the entire G.O.P. as a threat to women’s bodily autonomy — which it mostly is.

So, the Times, or some at the Times, are saying “Dems, good, GQP, bad.” Yes, I exaggerate. But not all that much. And some of it is no doubt motivated by the desire to have a good fight that they can use to sell more papers. Doesn’t matter, much. These Times writers are calling on Democrats to do what we’ve been urging them to do all along: Get out there and fight! And DON’T back away from your words when the Republicans — who praise nastiness when it’s their side that does it — cry that we’re beating on them, poor little innocents that they are.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/5/2120914/-Democrats-Shouldn-t-Apologize-For-Using-Fighting-Words-Says-the-New-York-Times

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