Those here in the Hillary camp have been under increasing pressure from opponents to her campaign. I exhausted my supply of Flags, as did several others in HN&V, this morning.
in a Diary I wrote more than eight years ago, I tried to illustrate some limits dictated by courtesy on the understanding that we’re all democrats, here, and that victory for democrats is our shared goal. In that Diary, I quoted a letter from Dean Acheson to Harry Truman, advising him on rhetoric during the campaign (this was after Eisenhower had taken office):
From "Truman," by David McCullough, p. 972:
I. About other Democratic Candidates:
(a) Never say that any of them is not qualified to be President.
(b) Never say that any of them can't win.
(c) Never suggest that any of them is the tool of any group or interest, or is not a true blue liberal, or has (or has used) more money than another.
These are rules Acheson set out to help the election of progressives, and they remain good advice.
In reviewing the rhetoric used to attack Hillary’s candidacy, how many used the lines above that Acheson warned of? I haven’t seen anyone say that Hillary is not qualified, but the critiques of her posted in daily Diaries here make heavy (if not exclusive) use of saying that she’s unelectable and/or is a tool of Wall Street/big money/the 1%, lies as a matter of political expediency, and/or is a warmonger. If the tempo and tenor of the rhetoric is to increase as we approach the first caucus results, it’s going to become shrill, indeed. I think it’s not a question of being politically correct, but of courtesy.
The more extreme criticisms are alienating not just the readers, but the writers, too. If you end up believing your hyperbole, how are you going to vote for the blue column if she’s nominated and you’re in the habit of referring to her as an oligarchical, warmongering tool of the MIC and Wall Street?
I was here eight years ago, so I remember the crushing disappointment of her failed candidacy, despite my long hours at her campaign headquarters and in New Hampshire. She’s a woman for whom I’ve always felt great affection and the campaign eight years ago was a slow motion train wreck of despair, after Iowa.
As the veterans here have indicated, it was worse, then. I was called a warmonger, a racist, and a coward, at various times, but the criticisms of Hillary are worse in both tone, terms, and in frequency, this time.
Take a breath, people.