Friday, August 22, 2003

Demetrios Speaks

In comments, reader Demetrios sez:

The Republicans certainly have every right to do it, just as they had every right to impeach Bill Clinton for sex. It's arguable whether they have the "right" to re-redistrict Texas; and they certainly did not have the right to purge the Florida rolls illegally of African-American voters in 2000. They didn't have a right to eavesdrop on Democratic strategy sessions in VA; and they had no right to call the Capitol Hill cops to remove Democrats from a House library. They have varying degrees of rights (or not) to do these things. But the sum total of it indicates a real allergy to democracy, to fair elections, and to the will of the voters. If Democrats displayed the same pattern of contempt for democracy, this would be a national story, and the party would be excoriated daily on the editorial pages of the "liberal" New York Times and Washington Post. As it is, the media refuses to connect the dots and make this a story. It's to their shame; but thank goodness for Joe Conason, Al Franken, Eric Alterman, Sidney Blumenthal and other smart liberals who are writing about what trash the Republican Party has degenerated into. Maybe, if it's just repeated often enough and intelligently enough, the rest of the media may start to catch on.
Indeed.