July 22, 2015 5:02 AM

Hypocrisy (n.) - What Republicans consider to be reasoned political discourse

Sunday, CNN host Jake Tapper reminded Republicans who were outraged over attacks on Sen. John McCain’s war record that their entire party had been united in smearing then-Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s military service in 2004. CNN correspondent Dana Bash pointed out during a panel discussion on State of the Union that most Republicans thought presidential candidate Donald Trump had gone too far over the weekend by suggesting that McCain was not a hero because he was captured during the Vietnam War…. “Historically, you just don’t go there, you don’t go there against any veteran,” Bash explained. “You certainly don’t go there against somebody who was, you know, effectively in a box for five years.”

It says something about the state of our culture- particularly in a political and journalistic sense- when Donald Trump goes after Sen. John McCain for being a POW and denigrating him for being captured…and the outrage is heard far and wide. Yet when Republicans went after then-Sen. John Kerry’s Vietnam War service, the response was crickets. Republicans are outraged- and rightly so- at Trump for being a doucehbag, when the closest Trump came to combat was getting a hangnail in the Hamptons. Republicans at the 2004 GOP National Convention ridiculed Kerry- a legitimate war hero- mercilessly, some delegates even stooping so low as to wear purple BandAids. Republicans thought it was great fun; it was a time when “Swiftboating” became a thing, and ridiculing a war hero unfortunate enough to be a Democrat was viewed by Republicans as just good clean fun.

To his credit, Sen. McCain considered the source of the verbal vomit and was sanguine enough to pass on a golden opportunity to rhetorically rip Trump a new one. As classy as it may have been for McCain to defer to allowing Trump to hoist himself on his own petard, there’s still the question of why Republicans would jump into to protect one of their own who suffered in the service of his country while ridiculing another so mercilessly. The hypocrisy extant in this scenario is as palpable as it is disgusting.

“Is there a double standard here?” Tapper wondered. “Are Republicans — they say, ‘There’s no place in our party to disparage those who have served honorably.’ Well, unless you’re a Democrat?”

IS there a double standard? I’d think that anyone possessing even the barest shred of decency and fairness would respond with a resounding, “YES!” The generalized attitude appears to be that Republicans must be treated with respect…but Democrats are fair game regardless of how bravely and capably they served. A Republican who was a prisoner of war for five years? A true American hero. A Democrat who served ably in Vietnam, including earning a Purple Heart in combat? A cowardly faker who’s obviously puffed up his service record in order to make himself appear more manly. And that’s just John Kerry. When you throw in Tammy Duckworth (who lost both legs in combat) and Max Cleland (who lost three limbs), the Republican double standard comes more clearly into focus.

It’s disgusting, and though most Republicans don’t feel this way, enough do that it sets a disturbing tone and precedent. When Republicans do it, it’s the bravest, most selfless display of love of country imaginable. When Democrats do it, it’s cowardice and resume-puffing, the worst sort of self-aggrandizement and braggadocio imaginable.

The absolute worst part is that Democrats take it without response. Presented with the opportunity to call out Republicans for their hypocrisy and double standard, Democrats pass. Why we’re collectively so loathe to engage with the trolls is something I’ve struggled without success to understand. Our silence enables them, and until we call them out with vigor and regularity, nothing will change.

WE DESERVE BETTER.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 22, 2015 5:02 AM.

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