Civility from Democrats, Vol. 7

Not to be Outdone by Vice President Biden, House Democrats Accuse GOP of Wanting Women to “Die on the Floor” and “Trying to Suppress [the] Vote”

• Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi today accused Republicans of wanting to let women “die on the floor,” as her lieutenant Steve Israel charged Republicans with “actively and on a daily basis trying to suppress [the] vote.” Another House Democrat said Republicans oppose “clean air and clean water.”
• The House Democrats’ rhetorical race to the bottom comes a day after Vice President Joe Biden made the outrageous claim that not passing the president’s second stimulus would result in more rapes and murders in America.
• This name-calling and scare tactics from national Democrats is painfully ironic given the Democrats’ bold pronouncements on the importance of political civility at the beginning of the year. 

BACKGROUND 

Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi today accused Republicans of wanting to let women “die on the floor,” as her lieutenant Steve Israel charged Republicans with “actively and on a daily basis trying to suppress [the] vote.” Another House Democrat said Republicans oppose “clean air and clean water”: 

PELOSI: REPUBLICANS “VOTING TO SAY THAT WOMEN CAN DIE ON THE FLOOR OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS”: “ ‘Under this bill, when the Republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor of health care providers … it’s just appalling,’ Pelosi told reporters on Thursday. ‘I can’t even describe to you the logic of what they are doing today.’” (Seung Min Kim, “Pelosi Calls Abortion Bill Deadly,” Politico, 10/13/2011)

REP. STEVE ISRAEL: REPUBLICANS “ACTIVELY AND ON A DAILY BASIS TRYING TO SUPPRESS [THE] VOTE”: “The Republicans are trying to engage in a system of voter suppression that’s going to alienate 5 million voters, most of them senior citizens or many of them senior citizens across the country. There is no reform more important than ensuring that every American has the right to vote. And it is this majority in the House of Representatives, this Republican majority, that is actively and on a daily basis trying to suppress that vote. So if you want to talk about specific reforms, we want to open up the system, clean the system, the Republicans have stood by their special interest buddies every step of the way, whether it’s advertising in congressional districts secretly or trying to stop people from casting their votes.” (Remarks from Rep. Steve Israel, MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” 10/13/2011) 

REP. JIM MCDERMOTT (D-WA): REPUBLICANS WANT TO GET RID OF LAWS, ELIMINATE “CLEAN AIR AND CLEAN WATER”: “All we’re doing over here is tearing the EPA apart as though if we didn’t have laws, if we didn’t have clean air and clean water, somehow we’d have jobs in this country. It makes no sense whatsoever.” (Comments from Rep. Jim McDermott, MSNBC’s “Jansing and Co.”, 10/13/2011) 

The House Democrats’ rhetorical race to the bottom comes a day after Vice President Joe Biden made the outrageous claim that not passing the president’s second stimulus would result in more rapes and murders in America: 

BIDEN: “GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT THE [RAPE AND MURDER] NUMBERS WILL BE THIS YEAR” IF WE DON’T PASS ANOTHER STIMULUS: “ ‘In 2008, when Flint had 265 sworn officers on their police force, there were 35 murders and 91 rapes in this city,’ Biden said. ‘In 2010, when Flint had only 144 police officers, the murder rate climbed to 65 and rapes–just to pick two categories–climbed to 229. In 2011, you now only have 125 shields. God only knows what the numbers will be this year for Flint if we don’t rectify it.’”

“The vice president also seemed to suggest that the Obama administration’s first stimulus is the reason rapes and murders were not even higher in 2010 and 2011. ‘And God only knows what that number would have been had we not been able to get a little bit of help,’ Biden said.” (Daniel Halper, “Biden Warns of More Rapes and Murders If Jobs Bill Is Not Passed,” The Weekly Standard, 10/12/2011) 

BUT OBAMA’S SECOND STIMULUS STILL HAS ZERO DEMOCRAT CO-SPONSORS IN THE HOUSE: (Thomas.gov, Accessed 10/13/2011) 

ASSOCIATED PRESS FACT-CHECK: BUT THE TRUTH IS EVEN MANY DEMOCRATS ARE OPPOSED TO OBAMA’S SECOND STIMULUS: “When Obama accuses Republicans of standing in the way of his nearly $450 billion plan, he ignores the fact that his own party has struggled to unite behind the proposal.” (Erica Werner, “SPIN METER: ‘Obama’s Jobs Bill Sales Pitch Disconnects Rhetoric, Reality,” Associated Press, 10/10/2011) 

THE DEMOCRATS’ ECONOMIC PLAN: ATTACK THE TEA PARTY: “Senate Democrats will brand Republican opposition to President Barack Obama’s jobs plan as ‘tea party economics,’ a top Democrat said Wednesday morning. Whether the White House will adopt the same strategy is unclear. …

“Democrats will blame any Republican opposition to those measures on ‘tea party economics,’ a ‘tea party double-dip recession’ and ‘tea party gridlock’ – a nod to recent polling that shows the grassroots movement is losing favor with the American public.” (Scott Wong and Manu Raju, “Dems to Blast ‘Tea Party Economics’,” Politico, 10/12/2011) 

This name-calling and scare tactics from national Democrats is painfully ironic given the Democrats’ bold pronouncements on the importance of political civility at the beginning of the year:

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 IN 2010: “A BASIC LEVEL OF CIVILITY” THE WAY TO “KEEP OUR DEMOCRACY HEALTHY”: “Now, the second way to keep our democracy healthy is to maintain a basic level of civility in our public debate. … But we can’t expect to solve our problems if all we do is tear each other down. (Applause.) You can disagree with a certain policy without demonizing the person who espouses it. You can question somebody’s views and their judgment without questioning their motives or their patriotism.” (“Remarks by the President at University of Michigan Spring Commencement,” The White House, 5/1/2010) 

DNC CHAIR DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: “It’s easy to throw bombs and to be incendiary, not so easy to sit down and to actually govern.” (Remarks from Debbie Wasserman Schultz, CBS’ “Face the Nation”, 5/29/2011)