Michele Bachmann has spoken out and demanded an apology for the song played by the Roots, the “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” house band, when she was introduced as a guest Monday night. Bachmann called the song, “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” by Fishbone, sexist and a sign of Hollywood’s bias. She was unaware of the significance of the song’s title at the time, she said, but was later angered to hear its meaning….”I think the point is,” she told Fox News’s America’s Newsroom, “if that had been Michelle Obama who had come out on the stage, and if that song had been played for Michelle Obama, I have no doubt that NBC would have apologized to her and likely they could have fired the drummer, at least suspended him, none of that happened from NBC and this is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite but it’s also I think it’s sexism as well.”
Never in a million years would I have EVER agreed with the idea that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and I would see eye to eye on ANYTHING…but it seems that today people will be ice skating in Hell.
I despise everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) that Bachmann stands for. She a liar, a hateful bigot, and a Christian zealot who knows little and understands even less of the teachings of the Savior she purports to revere. Nonetheless, I can offer no justification for the reception she received from The Roots on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.” I would argue that “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” is a not inaccurate description of Bachmann. She is a liar, and she’s not above abusing the truth in whatever way she feels will serve her purpose. Her relationship with facts is nothing if not adversarial. That said, must we countenance sliding further down the slippery slope of incivility? Detest what Bachmann stands for- and I most assuredly do- and I’ll have your back from here to when Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity come out fo the closet Doomsday. The problems begin when we accept making our disagreements personal as being a reasonable and fair standard of behavior.
To be fair, Bachmann shouldn’t be condoning by her silence the booing of Michelle Obama at a NASCAR race in Florida. If referring (however obliquely) to Michele Bachmann as a “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” is wrong, then booing the First Lady is also beyond the pale. If we’re to combat incivility, that means we object to incivility on BOTH sides of the ideological spectrum. (Newt Gingrich was right; spouses should be off limits- but that means Michelle Obama is also off limits.) Unfortunately, for too many Conservatives like Bachmann, ugliness towards them is reprehensible, while ugliness towards Liberals is both an understandable and justifiable expression of free speech. If one is bad, then both are bad. It seems that far too many Conservatives are willing to engage in situational outrage.
Above and beyond anything, this sort of thing is just wrong, and it’s characteristic of everything that’s wrong with our public dialogue these days. If we can’t respect each other, regardless of how we feel about our differences, then what hope do we really have?
“Lyin’ Ass Bitch”? Really? That’s what passes for acceptable public dialogue these days?
WE DESERVE BETTER.
