Polarizer-in-Chief: Democrats Follow Obama’s Lead in a Rhetorical Race to the Bottom

In a Time of Grown-Up Challenges, Obama and Democrats Resort to Disturbing, Childish Scare Tactics and False Attacks

President Obama once spoke of how “a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to the challenges of our nation”:

OBAMA IN TUCSON SPEECH: “… ONLY A MORE CIVIL AND HONEST PUBLIC DISCOURSE CAN HELP US FACE UP TO THE CHALLENGES OF OUR NATION …”(President Barack Obama, “Full Speech: Obama Urges Civility at Tucson Memorial,” PBS’s News Hour, 1/12/2011)

OBAMA AT HOUSE GOP RETREAT, JAN 2010: “I raise that because we’re not going to be able to do anything about any of these entitlements if what we do is characterize whatever proposals are put out there as, ‘Well, you know, that’s — the other party’s being irresponsible. The other party is trying to hurt our senior citizens. That the other party is doing X, Y, Z.’ …

“That’s why I say if we’re going to frame these debates in ways that allow us to solve them, then we can’t start off by figuring out, A, who’s to blame; B, how can we make the American people afraid of the other side.” (President Barack Obama, “Remarks By President at GOP House Issues Conference”, The White House, 1/29/10)

However, recent comments by Obama and his allies in Congress suggest that what passes for “civil and honest public discourse” among Washington Democrats is disgusting and offensive tirades intended to scare America’s workers and families at a time when they want more solutions and less trash-talking.

In recent weeks, Obama and Democrats have variously accused Republicans of a “war on women,” “bombing innocent civilians,” wanting to “kill women,” targeting “children with autism or Down’s syndrome,” deliberately depriving “6 million seniors” of meals, and being Nazis. We’re not kidding:

OBAMA, APRIL 13, 2011: GOP WILL HARM “SOMEONE’S GRANDPARENTS,” “POOR CHILDREN,” “CHILDREN WITH AUTISM OR DOWN’S SYNDROME”:“One vision has been championed by Republicans in the House of Representatives and embraced by several of their party’s presidential candidates…This is a vision that says up to 50 million Americans have to lose their health insurance in order for us to reduce the deficit.  And who are those 50 million Americans?  Many are someone’s grandparents who wouldn’t be able afford nursing home care without Medicaid.  Many are poor children.  Some are middle-class families who have children with autism or Down’s syndrome.  Some are kids with disabilities so severe that they require 24-hour care.  These are the Americans we’d be telling to fend for themselves.” (Jake Tapper, “Throw Grandma From the Train,” ABC News’s Political Punch, 4/13/2011)

OBAMA DOUBLES DOWN: I’M “DESCRIBING” GOP NOT “CRITIQU[ING].”“Look if you look at my speech yesterday it was not so much a critique of what the House Republicans have proposed as it was a description of what they’ve proposed.” (George Stephanopoulos, “Exclusive Interview with Obama: Video and Part One of Transcript,” ABC News, 4/14/2011)

INCOMING DNC CHAIR DEBBIE WASSERMAN-SCHULTZ DOUBLES-DOWN ON COMMENT THAT GOP BUDGET IS A “DEATH TRAP FOR SENIORS”: “Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the Florida congresswoman tapped by President Obama to lead the DNC, said she stood by her characterization of Republicans’ 2012 budget as a ‘death trap’ for seniors.

“When pressed on whether she intended to say that the GOP budget put seniors’ lives at risk, Wasserman Schultz doubled down.

” ‘That’s exactly what I’m suggesting,’ she said during an appearance on CNN.” (Michael O’Brien, “New DNC Chief: GOP Budget Endangers Senior Citizens’ Lives,” The Hill, 4/14/2011)

NANCY PELOSI SAYS GOP FUNDING PLAN A “WAR ON WOMEN”: “There is ‘a war on women,’ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says, and it’s being led by her own colleagues on the other side of the aisle in Congress.” (Jennifer Epstein, “Nancy Pelosi Calls GOP Budget ‘A War on Women,'” Politico, 4/8/2011)

DC DELEGATE ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON: REPUBLICANS “BOMBING INNOCENT CIVILIANS”: “‘We are absolutely outraged. This is the functional equivalent of bombing innocent civilians,’ she said.” (“Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton Upset Over Treatment of DC During Shutdown Resolution Talks,” My FOX DC, 4/8/2011)

REP. LOUISE SLAUGHTER (D-NY) COMPARES GOP TO NAZIS, SAYS “THEY’RE HERE TO KILL WOMEN”: “In ’94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now they’re here to kill women. … It’s sort of like an old German Nazi movie.” (Dan Joseph, “Rep. Louise Slaughter: GOP Freshmen Came to Washington ‘To Kill Women’,” CNS News, 4/7/2011)

MORE PELOSI: “6 MILLION SENIORS” WILL BE “DEPRIVED OF MEALS”: “In one of the bills before us, 6 million seniors are deprived of meals — homebound seniors are deprived of meals. People ask us to find our common ground, the middle ground. Is middle ground 3 million seniors not receiving meals? I don’t think so. We’ve got to take this conversation from a debate about numbers and dollar figures and finding middle ground there to the higher ground of national values. I don’t think the American people want any one of those 6 million people to lose their meals or the children who are being thrown off of Head Start and the rest of it.” (Glen Kessler, “Nancy Pelosi’s Absurd Math on Senior Citizens Losing their Meals,” The Washington Post, 4/7/2011)

FACT-CHECK: PELOSI’S FALSE CHARGE “RANKS HIGH ON THIS YEAR’S LIST OF BLOVIATED BLUSTER”: “In a city with overheated rhetoric, Pelosi’s statement ranks high on this year’s list of bloviated bluster. It’s bad enough that she repeatedly mixed up 6 million meals and 6 million people — and made no effort to correct the record after her statement was reported in the media. But the figure she used appears to have been invented itself, with little basis in fact.”(Glen Kessler, “Nancy Pelosi’s Absurd Math on Senior Citizens Losing their Meals,” The Washington Post, 4/7/2011)

DNC STAFF PLAN EVENT TO “DUMP TRASH AT BOEHNER’S” HOME: “A Facebook event, entitled ‘If Boehner shuts down the government I am taking my trash to his house,’ has popped up and is gaining steam as the shutdown showdown ramps up on Capitol Hill. If the federal government shuts down, one of the District’s services that will stop is trash pickup. … Goodman is listed in the Democratic National Committee network. Treadway is the political and logistics director for the liberal group Netroots Nation.” (Ed Hornick, “Facebook Event: Let’s Dump Trash At Boehner’s Pad,” CNN, 4/7/2011)

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD), RANKING MEMBER ON HOUSE BUDGET CMTE: “As for Medicaid, the budget ‘rips apart the safety net’ for poor and older people, he added.” (Ricardo Alfonso-Zaldivar and Alan Fram, “Paul Ryan Budget Approved by House Panel,” Associated Press, 4/6/2011)

REP. MIKE HONDA (D-CA): “In an attack on seniors, Ryan’s plan, which The Wall Street Journal reports would essentially end Medicare, increases costs for seniors and reduces benefit. … In an attack on working families, Ryan protects America’s wealthiest 2 percent and corporations by reducing their fair share of taxes.” (Rep. Mike Honda, “OPINION: GOP Budget Is Balanced on Seniors and Lower Income Americans,” San Jose Mercury News, 4/6/2011)

REP. ALLYSON SCHWARTZ (D-PA):  ” ‘It’s unconscionable that Republicans are abandoning our seniors, including our sickest and most frail seniors, for a political cause‘ of reducing the size of government, Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., said.” (Ricardo Alfonso-Zaldivar and Alan Fram, “Paul Ryan Budget Approved by House Panel,” Associated Press, 4/6/2011)