Blue v. Red

Bob Kerr’s Condescension

By Justin Katz | August 23, 2009 |

Sometimes Bob Kerr is really difficult to take, and I’m beginning to put my finger on the reason. In his Friday column, he characterized Rep. Barney Frank’s quip that conversation with a particular town hall participant would be like “trying to have a conversation with a dining room table” and query as to her planet…

Gut Feeling Confirmed: ACORN Disavows Langevin Event E-Mail

By Monique Chartier | August 19, 2009 |

Following up on Justin’s unease, I conveyed the e-mail in question to the Rhode Island office of ACORN. They responded quickly with the following statement. An e-mail from Rhode Island Young Republicans that supposedly included an e-mail message from ACORN to our members is entirely a hoax and a fabrication. We have seen this pattern…

Just a Gut Feeling

By Justin Katz | August 18, 2009 |

By now, you’ve probably seen somebody or other mentioning this: As you are aware in our prior email, we need your presence at Congressman James Langevin’s Town Hall Meeting at the Warwick police Station 99 Veterans Memorial Drive, Warwick, Rhode Island. We are planning on arriving early at 1:30PM to fill the hall before the…

The Casual Assumption of Correctitude

By Justin Katz | August 17, 2009 |

There are surely practitioners of the stratagem on both political wings, and it’s the sort of ploy into which one can slip from time to time, but it seems to me that it is much more characteristic of liberals to weave rhetorical comforters that allow them to slip opinions through as objective fact. This, from…

An Old Tale in a New Context

By Justin Katz | August 13, 2009 |

Bill Sammon recalls a day, back in 2002: When Bush visited Portland, Ore., for a fundraiser, protesters stalked his motorcade, assailed his limousine and stoned a car containing his advisers. Chanting “Bush is a terrorist!”, the demonstrators bullied passers-by, including gay softball players and a wheelchair-bound grandfather with multiple sclerosis. One protester even brandished a…

Unions Sowing Fear in the Streets

By Justin Katz | August 11, 2009 |

As a follow-up on the subject of organized labor stoking civil violence, it turns out that one of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members who crossed into physical violence in St. Louis wasn’t just a overexcited layman: Elston K. McCowan is a former organizer – now the Public Service Director of SEIU Local 2000…

The Origin of Civic Violence

By Justin Katz | August 10, 2009 |

It does more than prove the group’s extremely low opinion of its audience’s awareness and intelligence that a propaganda video from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) ends with the scene just after a half-dozen of its members, with racial slurs on their lips, had beaten up somebody protesting Congress’s intentions with healthcare. Just after…

The First Murmurs of Political Ugliness

By Justin Katz | August 7, 2009 |

John Loughlin, the presumed Republican candidate for Patrick Kennedy’s seat in Congress, has issued a press release stating that “the Congressman has a basic obligation to share his in-depth knowledge” about healthcare legislation at three to five town-hall-style meetings. As a matter of an elected representative’s responsibility, Loughlin is absolutely correct, but constituents might have…

Here Are Yer Angry Mobs!!!

By Marc Comtois | August 7, 2009 |

Dana Loesch has some pictures of the “angry mobs” showing up at the Health Care Town Halls (you know, where there is supposed to be an open discussion, yada yada yada). Here’s an example: Scary! Peggy Noonan: The leftosphere and the liberal commentariat charged that the town hall meetings weren’t authentic, the crowds were ginned…

Tolerance!

By Justin Katz | July 29, 2009 |

Remind me, again, who the intolerant bigots are? The police are investigating an assault Tuesday on Bald Hill Road. The weapon of choice: soda, salsa, eggs … “Your basic garden variety of food condiments,” Capt. Robert Nelson said Wednesday. It started as the four men stood at the median on Bald Hill Road and East…