If anyone thinks other Democrats are gonna follow Michelle Obama’s plea to take the ‘high ground’ against Trump and Republicans attacks?
They are crazy…
In an interview on CNN, the erstwhile advocate of “if they go low, we go high” switched around to unapologetically call for going low, at least until Democrats retake some power in Washington.
“You cannot be civil with a political party,” she explained, “that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about.” She added that if Democrats retake a house of Congress, well, then, “that’s when civility can start again.”
Clinton’s statement is yet more confirmation of the radical mood of the current Democratic Party, not just in blessing tactics that once would have been anathema to the mainstream, but questioning the legitimacy of core elements of our system. The party’s base is just a few steps — and perhaps the loss of another big national election to Donald Trump — from beginning to give up on our common national life.
Civility is a rather fundamental thing to throw under the bus. It isn’t knowing that you really shouldn’t stick your pinky in the air when drinking a cup of tea, or how to tell the difference between a soup spoon and a teaspoon.
Derived from the Latin word civilis, relating to public or political life, civility is the basis of our life together, assuring that disagreements are settled within certain bounds and don’t escalate into blood feuds.
This doesn’t mean that there can’t be intense arguments, harsh condemnations, passionate controversies and partisan donnybrooks. These are all endemic to a free society and very healthy things. It does mean that there are certain widely accepted guardrails.
This is now thought to be a sucker’s game, though, from the attorney-provocateur Michael Avenatti to former attorney general Eric Holder to the opinion outlets of the center-left. Vox ran a piece that argued, “Civility is not an end on its own if the practices and beliefs it upholds are unjust.”
Hillary Clinton offered one of her most direct rebukes of President Trumpin months on Thursday after Trump accused her of colluding with Russia during the 2016 presidential election at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania Wednesday night.
At the rally Wednesday night, Trump told an arena of supporters that there was “collusion between Hillary, the Democrats and Russia” during the 2016 election, despite offering no evidence for his claim. An intelligence community assessment in 2017 concluded that Russia’s efforts were aimed at undermining the Clinton campaign.
“There was a lot of collusion with them and Russia and lots of other people,” Trump added during the rally.
“Seriously, you asked Russia to hack me on national television,” Clinton responded in a tweet Thursday afternoon…….
Hillary Clinton isn’t the only returning live political fire at Republicans…
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday fired back at White House chief of staff John Kelly over reports from the day before that he called her an “impolite arrogant woman” in a 2017 email.
“Absolutely most insulting conversation I have ever had with anyone,” Kelly wrote, according to BuzzFeed News.
“What an impolite arrogant woman. She immediately began insulting our people accusing them of not following the court order, insulting and abusive behavior towards those covered by the pause, blah blah blah,” he added, referring the Trump administration’s travel ban.
“Was I tough on John Kelly in that phone call? You bet I was. Apparently he thought I was an ‘impolite arrogant woman,’ ” Warren tweeted….
top image…Huffingtonpost
bottom image…The Hill