Civility from Democrats, Vol. 8

October 20, 2011

Dems Accuse GOP of Supporting More Rapes and Murders, Opposing Clean Air and Water

Vice President Biden has repeatedly insisted this week that those who don’t support stimulus 2.0 are allowing more rapes and murders in America.
President Obama himself repeatedly accused Republicans of opposing “clean air and clean water.” Sadly, other Democrats are following Obama and Biden’s rhetorical lead.
We wonder if this is the kind of language President Obama meant earlier this year when he called for a “more civil and honest public discourse” that he promised could “help us face up to the challenges of our nation.”

BACKGROUND

Vice President Biden has repeatedly insisted this week that those who don’t support stimulus 2.0 are allowing more rapes and murders in America:

BIDEN THIS WEEK: OPPONENTS OF STIMULUS 2.0 WILL ALLOW MORE RAPES AND MURDERS IN AMERICA: “ ‘I wish these guys who thought it was temporary, I wish they had some notion of what it was like to be on the other side of a gun, or [to have] a 200-pound man standing over you, telling you to submit,’ Biden told a crowd at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on Tuesday, adding, ‘Folks, it matter, it matters.’ …

“ ‘The other thing I’ve hear from my friends who oppose this – this whole jobs bill – [is] that this is just temporary,’ Biden said.

“ ‘Well let me tell you, it’s not temporary when that 911 call comes in and a woman’s being raped, if a cop shows up in time to prevent the rape. It’s not temporary to that woman,’ said Biden. ‘It’s not temporary to the guy whose store is being held up and there’s a gun pointed at his head, if a cop shows up and he’s not killed. That’s not temporary to that store owner. Give me a break! Temporary.’”(Joseph Lawler, “Biden Suggests a Vote Against Jobs Bill is a Vote for Rape,” The American Spectator, 10/19/2011)

BIDEN LAST WEEK: “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.’” (Daniel Halper, “Biden Warns of More Rapes and Murders If Jobs Bill Is Not Passed,” The Weekly Standard, 10/12/2011)

President Obama himself repeatedly accused Republicans of opposing “clean air and clean water”:

OBAMA YESTERDAY: GOP’S “PRIMARY IDEA” IS TO “ROLL BACK REGULATIONS THAT KEEP OUR AIR AND WATER CLEAN”: “And the primary ideas in their jobs plan was to roll back regulations that keep our air and water clean; to go back to the system we had in Wall Street that caused this crisis in the first place” (“Remarks by the President on the American Jobs Act,” The White House, 10/19/2011)

OBAMA HAS SAID GOP WANTS DIRTIER AIR AND WATER SEVEN TIMES THIS WEEK: (“Search: air and water,” The White House, Accessed 10/20/2011)

Sadly, other Democrats are following Obama and Biden’s rhetorical lead:

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)

We wonder if this is the kind of language President Obama meant earlier this year when he called for a “more civil and honest public discourse” that he promised could “help us face up to the challenges of our nation”:

FLASHBACK TO OBAMA IN JANUARY 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)