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Political Blood Sport
Thomas Jefferson must be apoplectic in the Great Beyond. He warned that only people who are "well-informed can be trusted with their own government." Well, look what's become of us.I met up recently with two old friends in California, Jeff and Mary, who told me they are worried about terrorism. But it's not Osama bin Laden they fear -- it's George W. Bush. These are otherwise sensible people: He's a doctor; she owns an antiques store. Which is why I was stunned to hear them predict that Bush will stage a terrorist attack this fall to ensure his reelection.
"Seriously?" I asked. Seriously, they said.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, not after seeing an "ad" on the website of the liberal advocacy group Moveon.org, that compared Bush to Adolf Hitler. That's the sort of vitriol that's "informing" the public today. And it's hardly confined to the Left.
During the Iraq war last spring, some conservatives said that liberals were secretly hoping Saddam Hussein would teach President Bush a lesson in humility. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly growled that "some Americans were rooting against their own country -- that their ideology was so ingrained it was better for them if things went badly in Iraq, even though that would have caused more American casualties."
Welcome to the politics of America, 2004. Thoughtful debate has given way to angry, polarized arguments in which there is no compromise and no middle ground. Shades of gray, you ask? Stop being so wishy-washy! When it comes to abortion, you're either a baby-killer or a religious nut. Try to explain that women should have some abortion rights, but that a fetus is also more than just body tissue, and you're likely to get shouted down in midsentence. And good luck talking about affirmative action -- whether you're pro or con -- without being called a racist.
Politics have become a year-round blood sport -- both for the partisan gladiators and for the media that cheers them on. For evidence, just scan the bestseller lists. There you'll find liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, whose book Dude, Where's My Country? hit No. 1 by taking aim at "screaming, foaming-at-the-mouth right-wingers."
Moore also calls George Bush "an appointed President [who] uses the dead of 9/11 as a convenient cover, a justification for permanently altering our American way of life."
From the other side comes conservative commentator Ann Coulter, who sold a half-million copies of her book Treason, arguing that liberals are "either traitors or idiots" who routinely "side with the enemy" and "aim to destroy America ... with their relentless attacks on morality and the truth."
Flip on the TV or radio and you'll find dozens of partisan talking heads in a nonstop shouting match of escalating nastiness. "The only thing that sells is the screamers," laments Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "Twenty years ago, there were a lot more shows with reasonable discussions. Today people just yell sound bites at one another. And if you don't, you're not used again."
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