Academic

GREG SARGENT on the Tea Party smears: The Dem party committees have been working hard to pin the ?

By Glenn Reynolds

GREG SARGENT on the Tea Party smears:

The Dem party committees have been working hard to pin the scattered intimidation on GOP leaders, with party officials even scouring the local papers for ways of blaming violence on Republican officials. GOP leaders such as John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and now Brown have already condemned the violence.

The whole thing is reminiscent of the summer, when Dem officials worked hard to elevate the town hall ?mobs? in order to blame the unruly behavior on GOP rhetoric. It?s unclear, however, whether that effort did anything more than create a general sense in the public mind that the health care bill was deeply unpopular, and it?s equally unclear whether the current effort will accomplish anything more than that this time around.

Still waiting for the Dems to condemn Courtland Milloy’s violent rhetoric. (Via Ben Cunningham).

UPDATE: A reader emails:

Professor Reynolds, I just read the story you posted about Rep. Cantor’s office being shot at, and I noticed something in the story:

A senior Senate Democratic leadership aide told Fox News that threats also have been made against Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., called that odd, given that Frumin just sided against the Democrats on a GOP challenge over the package of fixes being considered in the Senate, in effect sending it back to the House for an extra vote.

“The irony here is that he has people threatening him, but here’s a guy who’s held against us,” Conrad said.

It’s like it doesn’t dawn on Senator Conrad that the reason the Parliamentatian is being “threatened” because he has voted against health care. It’s like it never crosses his mind that Democrats could threaten someone.

Yeah, tell it to Jean Schmidt. Or, heck, Eddie Adams.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on March 25, 2010 (boomark / email).