In my last column, long time friend and occasional interlocutor A.I. draws our attention to Paul Krugman's recent New York Times column, in which Krugman accuses Republicans of "eliminationist rhetoric." Here is a juicy bit:
What has been really striking has been the eliminationist rhetoric of the G.O.P., coming not from some radical fringe but from the party's leaders. John Boehner, the House minority leader, declared that the passage of health reform was "Armageddon." The Republican National Committee put out a fund-raising appeal that included a picture of Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, surrounded by flames, while the committee's chairman declared that it was time to put Ms. Pelosi on "the firing line." And Sarah Palin put out a map literally putting Democratic lawmakers in the cross hairs of a rifle sight.
All of this goes far beyond politics as usual. Democrats had a lot of harsh things to say about former President George W. Bush — but you'll search in vain for anything comparably menacing, anything that even hinted at an appeal to violence, from members of Congress, let alone senior party officials.
One thing we now know about Krugman: he has a remarkable ability to make a fool of himself. A few weeks ago he accused Republicans of living in "a different universe" because they believe that unemployment benefits can retard economic recovery. But Krugman himself had said the same thing in an economics text book that he wrote!
Above Krugman denies that Democrats ever say anything that even hints at an appeal to violence. But Krugman himself said this in an earlier column:
A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy… But meanwhile, pass the health care bill.
Of course, it would be stupid to think that Krugman was even hinting at violence in that quote. Hanging someone in effigy may be an ugly bit of political theater, but it is an old American tradition in politics and in sports. Rarely if ever does it hint at real violence.
For the same reason the first quote was thoroughly stupid. When someone says it is or isn't "the end of the world," Mr. Krugman, they usually don't really mean the end of the world. Neither did John Boehner mean that the Anti-Christ was pushing the health care bill.
The Pelosi ad urged its audience to fire Speaker Pelosi. In this context, Mr. Krugman, "fire," means remove them from a position.
Sarah Palin's map, to which Krugman refers, is reproduced at Powerline. It does indeed use crosshairs to indicate 20 House districts. These are House Democrats, according to the ad, from districts that "we carried in 2008" and who voted for the health care reform. The obvious meaning is that these districts are vulnerable in the upcoming election.
It is very common to speak of "targeting" members of the opposite party. Indeed, military metaphors are ubiquitous in politics. We talk about picking off Democrats or Republicans, of battle ground states. Even the word campaign originally referred to a military action.
Krugman, of course, is waging a campaign of calumny against the Republicans. He wants to convince his readers that we ought to reject their policies because they are bad people. See ad hominem. Unfortunately for him and his cause, he is dreadfully incompetent at it.
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