THE RIGHT, WHERE DECENCY IS NO LONGER A VIRTUE:

Rethinking Obama's political performance in Tucson (Byron York, 01/15/11, Washington Examiner)

The point Obama wanted to make was not that political rhetoric caused the violence but that such rhetoric -- like, for example, criticism directed at Barack Obama -- should be toned down. So even as he conceded that rhetoric did not cause the violence, Obama argued that it should be muted anyway. And he cloaked his appeal in so much emotionalism, in so many tear-jerking references to the recently departed, that some in his audience might not have noticed he was making the political point he wanted to make all along.

Imagine a calculating Democratic political strategist. What would he have wanted Obama to accomplish in the Tucson speech? He would have wanted the president to send the message that the political debate has gotten too rough and should be moderated.

Mr. York has wandered way off the talking point here. After all, the Right has spent the last week arguing that it only rarely engages in immoderate rhetoric but that the Left uses it constantly. So if violent rhetoric is a political winner how could it help Democrats to tone it down when they use it most?

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 16, 2011 9:28 AM