Ugliness, Mendacity and a Complete Lack of Restraint

The Democrat's trained hamsters in the media have begun clutching their pearls as the Trump campaign and other conservative voices suggest that Kamala Harris is not the "moderate" that the media narrative wants the public to believe, nor is she above criticism for her checkered political past. This morning, the NYT became concerned that "raw personal attacks" were already being leveled at Harris. 

But before the hamsters become too agitated, they might want to think back to their own behavior when another female VP candidate, Sarah Palin, threatened an election outcome that involved their chosen one, Barack Obama.

After describing a moderate and competent Governor Sarah Palin that his fellow Alaskans knew in 2008, John Davidson comments:

That was not the Sarah Palin the rest of the country would come to know, not because she went through a radical transformation—although she did play up her folksiness for a national audience—but because the corporate media, who saw in her a threat to the election of Barack Obama, decided to tear her apart, to destroy her politically, even if that meant destroying her personally.

What ensued was the greatest persecution of an American political figure in modern times. Palin, a mother of five who had recently given birth to a baby boy prenatally diagnosed with Downs Syndrome, became an object of hate for the media. Nothing has come close in its ugliness, its mendacity, its complete lack of restraint and, given Palin’s status as the second woman ever to appear on a major-party presidential ticket, the abject hypocrisy of a media establishment that purports to champion women’s rights and equality. 

I would argue that far too many Dems have learned to specialize in "ugliness, mendacity, and complete lack of restraint" during the Trump era, but that's beside the point.

It's perfectly acceptable to question a person's political positions and past actions and to do so harshly. But it's not okay to use vicious ad hominem attacks (e.g., like those used against Judge Brett Kavanaugh just a few short years ago). Democrats called Palin (according to a book by Mathew Continetti):

... ‘freak show,’ a ‘joke,’ an ‘extreme liability,’ a ‘turncoat b*tch,’ an ‘insult,’ a ‘fire-breather,’ ‘xenophobic,’ a ‘sitcom of a vice-presidential choice,’ a ‘disaster movie,’ a ‘shallow’ person, ‘chirpy,’ a ‘provincial,’ a ‘disgrace to women’ who was ‘as fake as they come,’ a ‘nauseating,’ ‘cocky wacko,’ a ‘jack in the box,’ ‘Napoleon in bunny boots,’ ‘extreme,’ ‘radical,’ a ‘vessel,’ a ‘farce,’ ‘Bush in drag,’ ‘not very bright,’ ‘utterly unqualified,’ a ‘bimbo,’ ‘Danielle Quayle,’ the ‘new spokesperson for bellicosity and confrontation,’ a ‘fatal cancer,’ ‘like a really bad Disney movie,’ ‘laughable,’ an ‘odd combination of Chauncey Gardiner from Being There and Marge from Fargo,’ ‘dangerous,’ a ‘bully,’ the ‘biggest demagogue in America,’ the ‘Paleolithic Princess of Parsimonious Patriotism,’ the ‘anti-Wonder Woman,’ ‘judgmental’… ‘dictatorial’ with a ‘superior religious self-righteousness,’ a ‘racist’ who was ‘absurd,’ ‘scary,’ and a ‘token,’ a ‘bantamweight cheerleader,’ an ‘airhead,’ an ‘idiot,’ a ‘librarian in a porn film,’ a ‘Jesus freak,’ a ‘man with a vagina’… a ‘Drama Queen,’ a ‘Republican blow-up doll’ who ‘ideologically’ is ‘their hardcore pornographic centerfold spread,’ an ‘opportunistic anti-female,’ a ‘true Stepford candidate, a cyborg,’ a ‘quitter,’ and—this list is by no means exhaustive—a ‘bonbon.’

Oh yeah ... the hamsters also suggested that Palin's youngest son, who was diagnosed with Downs Syndrome, was not hers, but rather her daughter's love child. Tell me again about "ugliness" or for that matter, misogyny.

But all of that was okay, because ... Palin. Kamala Harris will be rightly characterized as a leftist* and she will be criticized on her positions and past actions, but somehow I doubt that she will be referred to by Republicans as "a bimbo," "a librarian in a porn film," [Biden] "in drag," or a "[Democrat] "blow up doll."

Of course, progressive Dems have two standards when considering what is harsh or inappropriate criticism. When a Democrat woman or man is the target, they demand "civility." But when it's a conservative woman or man who they despise or who threatens their narrative, absolutely anything goes. Even worse, they convince themselves that their "ugliness, mendacity, and complete lack of restraint" is somehow justified because they and they alone are on the side of the angels. To call them hypocrites is far too mild a term.

FOOTNOTE:

*  It could be argued, I suppose, that Harris is not an ideological leftist, but rather a typical power hungry politician who has shifted her positions to the left to mollify the Democratic Party's hard-left base. If she were to be elected and assumes the presidency, there's little doubt that she would govern in a way that satisfies people like socialist Bernie Sanders (a Biden king-maker) and members of The Squad.