{"id":476955,"date":"2010-03-26T18:07:12","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T22:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011453224_heatedrhetoricandthehealthcaredebate.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-26T18:07:12","modified_gmt":"2010-03-26T22:07:12","slug":"heated-rhetoric-and-the-health-care-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/476955","title":{"rendered":"Heated rhetoric and the health-care debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shades of 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n

Editor, The Times:<\/p>\n

In August of 1964, the GOP presidential nominee, Sen. Barry Goldwater, emerged from the national convention stating, \u201cExtremism in pursuit of liberty is no vice!\u201d<\/p>\n

I had been a moderate Republican. I could not follow a party that offered a radical fringe pardon for whatever extreme acts it might take. Millions of Americans did what I did \u2014 I left the GOP.<\/p>\n

This week, the GOP of 2010 has again departed from sanity [\u201cVandals target Democrats over health-bill vote,\u201d page one, March 25]. The GOP\u2019s so-called leaders are inflaming their radical fringe with exhortations to \u201ckeep the crosshairs on ,\u201d \u201ctake aim at ,\u201d and barely veiled threats. All of this seems to be because some \u201chated liberals\u201d believe the concept of majority rule is the rule of the land.<\/p>\n

This kind of misguided thinking by Republican leadership, if not immediately turned around, will undoubtedly lead the GOP even lower than the mistake Sen. Goldwater made.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Richard Griswold, Sequim<\/em><\/p>\n

Disturbing images, present and past<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your disturbing front-page picture of a shattered window and the article brought back images of the \u201cKristallnacht\u201d riot when Nazis threw bricks with messages through Jewish windows; when Social Democratic Reichstag members (parliament) were verbally and physically abused; when Jewish members were called \u201cChrist killers\u201d; when minorities were spat on and called traitors; when the rest of the world wondered what happened to the country that used to be a formidable force in arts and sciences and a budding Weimar Democracy.<\/p>\n

Didn\u2019t the majority vote for President Obama and his promise of health reform?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t we expect promises to be kept?<\/p>\n

Has the minority party lost its moral compass over an issue that is standard policy with our friends in Europe, Asia and the Middle East?<\/p>\n

\u2014 James Behrend, Bainbridge Island<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Putting the shoe on the other foot<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the day after the invasion of Iraq. A mob of African-American protesters gathers outside of the entrance to the White House, screaming imprecations and waving American flags. Several hold signs accusing President George W. Bush of sending young black men to die for a family vendetta. A group of white Bush aides nervously makes its way through the crowd, hearing racial slurs and shouts of \u201ckiller\u201d and \u201cmurderer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democratic Party representatives and senators exhort the crowd into a greater frenzy.<\/p>\n

Two Republican congressmen who support the war report that unknown people have hurled bricks through windows of their home offices. One receives death threats made against her and her family, including use of the word \u201cassassinate.\u201d<\/p>\n

An anti-war leader releases the home address of a pro-war representative.<\/p>\n

Someone cuts a propane line leading to the house, creating the danger of a massive explosion. Police reveal that the house is actually the family home of the brother of the representative. When contacted, the activist who supplied the address calls the episode \u201ccollateral damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does it take much to imagine the reaction of Republican politicians and the conservative media had any of this actually happened? Does it even require your imagination?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Paul Goode, Redmond<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shades of 1964 Editor, The Times: In August of 1964, the GOP presidential nominee, Sen. Barry Goldwater, emerged from the national convention stating, \u201cExtremism in pursuit of liberty is no vice!\u201d I had been a moderate Republican. I could not follow a party that offered a radical fringe pardon for whatever extreme acts it might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-476955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}