I've been coasting around at the Power Line blog as I know the Philosophers can be counted upon for trenchant commentary on the tragedy in Tucson.
I see that John Hinderaker's take on the political views of Jared Loughner is somewhat fluid. First, Loughner was a "nut"; then for awhile he had no coherent political philosophy; and now, in Hinderaker's most recent contribution to the new civility, he calls Loughner a "left-winger" before concluding that he (Loughner) "isn't the only untreated mental patient on the Left."
Oh, my!
As he sometimes does, Philosopher Mirengoff surprises me by edging toward the perimeter of the reservation. He praises President Obama's Tucson speech, pushes back against some of the ridiculous bravado of his co-authors (persevere to "Paul adds" at the end of the post), and even apologizes for an instance of being influenced by the ambient sneer-snarl at Power Line.
I could agree with Hinderaker about Loughner being a "nut" and having no coherent political philosophy, so I guess it was inevitable that he'd have to move off that square. But it seems to me that we need more words--"nut," since it aptly describes, for example, Sharron Angle, the most recent Republican candidate for US Senate from Nevada, who during her campaign spoke approvingly of "Second Amendment remedies," should not be applied to a mass murderer on one day and to a garden-variety tea-party dolt on another. They aren't the same thing. There is my contribution to the new civility.
But for some hard truths I recommend George Packer, who is especially eloquent on the charge that "Democrats do it, too":
In fact, there is no balance--none whatsoever. Only one side has made the rhetoric of armed revolt against an oppressive tyranny the guiding spirit of its grassroots movement and its midterm campaign. Only one side routinely invokes the Second Amendment as a form of swagger and intimidation, not-so-coyly conflating rights with threats. Only one side's activists bring guns to democratic political gatherings. Only one side has a popular national TV host who uses his platform to indoctrinate viewers in the conviction that the President is an alien, totalitarian menace to the country. Only one side fills the AM waves with rage and incendiary falsehoods. Only one side has an iconic leader, with a devoted grassroots following, who can't stop using violent imagery and dividing her countrymen into us and them, real and fake. Any sentient American knows which side that is. . . .
It's your side, Philosophers.
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