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Political Hay
The Boys Who Cried Crazy
When principles become less important than marginalizing political opponents.
It was the day after Rand Paul’s filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination, and all was not well at MSNBC. Lawrence O’Donnell took to the cameras to accuse Paul of being “empty-headed” and pulling a “stunt.” The Kentucky senator was guilty of “spewing infantile fantasies about a serious subject” that might turn off mature critics of President Obama’s drone program.
O’Donnell then brought in guests E.J. Dionne and Ryan Grim. Usually the interview segments on Lawrence’s show consist of everyone sitting inside a warm intellectual bubble, exchanging insufferable smirks and musings about how Republicans don’t believe in the Theory of Relativity. Then someone inevitably exacerbates his carpal tunnel from patting his own back too many times, O’Donnell takes a commercial break, and returns five minutes later for his “Rewrite” segment where he shouts at the camera in a fake Boston accent. But this time was different. Dionne and Grim (tepidly) defended Paul, leaving the flaxen-haired host sputtering. “Rand Paul is stark-raving mad!!” O’Donnell projected.
Paul’s filibuster has produced some lane-swerving on both the right and left. For conservatives, it came in the form of tension between the small-government and hawkish wings of the movement. For liberals, it was bumbling confusion, with a few standing with Rand, others mumbling caution, and many more calling him a lunatic.
This debate on the right was always going to occur. Following the difficulties of the Iraq war and the ascendancy of Barack Obama, conservatism has been moving in a more libertarian direction. But for the left – the same people who spent the Bush Administration in high dudgeon about civil liberties abuses, and often spoke in far harsher terms than Paul — there is no excuse. Liberals across the board should have been hailing Paul’s filibuster as a necessary check on executive power.
So why weren’t they?
Some of it can be explained by the fact that their guy is in the White House. This is a problem not just for the left, but political parties in general. If Rand Paul were filibustering President Bush’s drone program, it’s difficult to imagine the GOP Senate leadership paying him any heed, let alone joining him on the floor. Likewise, Democrats are going to be reluctant to criticize Barack Obama. Such is politics.
But I think there’s something deeper and more sinister at work here: The American left has dedicated much of its energy over the past three years to marginalizing its political opponents. Whether the right is asking for spending cuts, entitlement reform, or an investigation into the Benghazi attack, the response is always the same: conservatives are deranged nuts and their argument is the new Birtherism.
The urge to cry crazy has run deep into the roots of American liberalism. Newspaper columnists have devoted gallons of ink to the seemingly limited proposition that House Republicans are insane. Some writers, like the Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky, seem incapable of writing about anything else. MSNBC commentators chortle their way through segments, utterly impervious to the notion that someone out there might take deficit reduction or the strict constructionism seriously. Those ideas, you see, are crazy.
It’s often asked whether conservatives have become too hateful of the president. This is a fair question; hatred, though it wakes you up in the morning and keeps the embers burning at night, can only advance you so far before logical argument must take over. But there’s a flip side to this question that rarely gets asked: Have liberals become so contemptuous of Republicans, has calling conservatives insane become so burrowed in the leftist critique, that the left risks marginalizing itself?
Consider the recent health care arguments before the Supreme Court. Conservatives started making a constitutional case against Obamacare in 2009. A New York Times/CBS News poll showed that 68% of respondents supported overturning either some or all of the law. Yet the left remained in smug hibernation, fully content that the Supreme Court would see through conservatives’ craziness. “[J]ust a few years ago,” wrote a drowsily awakening Linda Greenhouse a few months before the ruling, “the constitutional argument against the [Obamacare individual] mandate struck most people who thought about the matter as frivolous.”
After the justices knocked around the Obama Administration’s lawyers, the left sat bolt-upright in bed. “I’m telling you all of the predictions – including mine – that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong,” said a panicked Jeffrey Toobin. Were it not for John Roberts’ waffling, the Supreme Court would have struck down Obamacare entirely on the basis of a legal argument the left derided as nuts and unworthy of serious debate.
The left didn’t mothball their “crazy!” accusations then. But now there’s some evidence that things are starting to change. It began with the sequester. Republicans decided early on to let the automatic spending cuts take effect, and several liberals responded by instinctively calling this crazy. But then the debate aligned in an unfamiliar way: conservatives were rationally explaining why sequestration cuts would have a minor impact, while the president was embarrassing himself with apocalyptic fantasies of starving first responders and poison in the food supply. Since it was Obama who seemed outlandish, the cries of crazy didn’t stick.
Then came the Paul filibuster, which twisted liberals into horrible contortions. If their conduct during the Bush Administration is any indication, most progressives support Paul’s concerns. But to say so would be an acknowledgement that Paul, a man who they’ve spent the past three years fitting for a straitjacket, is not only right, but did more to sound the alarm about civil liberties abuses than they ever have.
For many, the solution was to seize on a few of the rough edges from Paul’s 13-hour speech and use them to dismiss the filibuster altogether. Paul had cited George Orwell’s 1984 and raised an entirely hypothetical and hyperbolic example of a drone bombing Jane Fonda. Thus James Carville could still comfortably compare everything to Birtherism. The smirks were back in place. Crying crazy could go on.
But as with Obamacare, their dismissiveness is running against the trend. Paul’s filibuster energized the GOP, brought conservatives and libertarians together, aligned Republicans with young people, and gave the right a much-needed dose of passion. It’s a lot harder to smirk someone down when the popular culture (even Jon Stewart!) disagrees with you. Suddenly the left appears vacuous and hypocritical.
George Will wrote in 2000 that “The Gore campaign is like an old jalopy with one gear — fear overdrive.” Today the progressive’s functional gear isn’t fear (although that still comes up), but dismissive accusations of insanity. The left, which once fought for civil rights and liberties, is becoming a clutch of mandarins, holding the Overton Window in place and emitting grunts of superiority towards any who try to move it.
As we’re now seeing, this can only work for so long. “Crazy,” like “stupid” and “dumb,” is a fine adjective when you’re engaged in interlocution with first-grade boys on the swing set. But as the crux of a political argument, it gets a bit stale.
About the Author
Matt Purple is The American Spectator’s assistant managing editor.
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Jack in Wi| 3.13.13 @ 6:33AM
I stand with Rand against the lunatics McCain, Graham, the Bushes, Cheney, Romney and all the others who have destroyed the Republican Party, and conservative movement.
Gary B| 3.13.13 @ 8:08AM
Me, too. Notice how the old guard cringes when the Constitution is brought into the argument.
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TLP| 3.13.13 @ 9:56AM
There was an important lesson in what Rand Paul did. He stood up there for Thirteen Hours to make his point. And the lesson was that he did it, not because it was Easy, but because it was Hard. Meanwhile, just down the road a piece? The guys living on Easy Street were enjoying a Free Meal.
I've said it, before: It's a Goddamn Shame that the only Aircraft that failed to reach its target on 911 had to be the one that could have actually DONE SOME GOOD.
These people have lost their way. These Senators and the people in the House Leadership, have long since forgotten where they came from. They've forgotten what it means to be Men. What it means to Stand for Something. That one Airplane could have swept away the Dead Wood that has, for far too long, looked out for #1, while taking a #2 on We the People.
Lawrence O'Donnell? (Read Kaminsky's story on The Lack of Men)
A Scientific Survey has determined that 20% of Americans suffer from a Mental Disorder. Gallup claims that 20% of Registered Voters consider themselves Liberal. And in the last two Elections, a Street Hustler from the Southside of Chicago who Organized for Louis Farrakhan, taught ACORN how to Agitate and Terrorize, has been surrounded by Atheists, Muslims, Communists, Marxists, Anarchists, Domestic Terrorists, Foreign Terrorists, Black Panthers, and sat in a Racist/Anti-Semitic/America Hater's Church for 20 Years, got the Votes of roughly 20% of the American People.
It'a wonder we've lasted this long.
homme nike air max BW | 3.13.13 @ 6:38AM
Paul’s filibuster has produced some lane-swerving on both the right and left. For conservatives, it came in the form of tension between the www.shoxinfr.com/nike-shox-r6-c-11.html small-government and hawkish wings of the movement. For liberals, it was bumbling confusion, with a few standing with Rand, others mumbling caution, and many more calling him a lunatic.
7-08| 3.13.13 @ 7:15AM
Let’s not get carried away here. Paul may be the left’s straw man for standing under the loony lamp post but before you get too joyous do not forget his name is Paul and therefore by definition IS as mad as a march hare. Proceed at your own peril – this is more of a case of “enemies of our enemies are our friends.” The only thing Paul’s do at election time is get one group (their own) to stay home.
Paul could be very effective at humiliating the progressives – more power to him; but he is, as his father was, a divider not a uniter. What we need is someone to champion a selective foreign policy, not a proponent of abandoning of our allies.
I support the “stand back and let them kill each other” policy but the “stand back and let them kill our friends, our regional buttresses, and democracy based governments in general” absolutely disqualifies him from the Oval Office.
OP4| 3.13.13 @ 8:15AM
As I was reading it, I was thinking that there are plenty on the right who would rather call names than debate.
Thanks for proving it.
Bob K| 3.13.13 @ 10:50AM
Indeed; let us not get carried away here.
I didn't support his old man in the past and it is very likely I won't support him in the future either but he has as much right to run in the Republican primaries (as they are now set up) for President as he did to filibuster in the senate. If "his" ideas end up keeping voters home it is not because they are "his," it is because they already exist and are out there and that he is articulating them.
John Lukacs has said repeatedly that "people don't "have" ideas; they "choose" them.
If you want to call for a closed convention to decide who will be the nominee for President then do so. It may or may not work but if it doesn't work then understand that you are as complicit in dividing the Republican Party as are the Paulistas when you start calling people whom you disagree with "mad as a march hare."
7-08| 3.13.13 @ 11:30AM
"Mad as a March hare" refers to the incessant leaping and gyrating behavior of breeding rabbits. The males do this to attract attention as a mating display and to look about for competing males from the elevation above the grass that jumping provides. It is not an accusation of insanity it is a reference to Paul attracting attention to himself in a spectacular manner. Tragically (really tragically) we now must listen to the incessant ranting of phase two Paulbots for four more years. Rantingm which as last time, will accomplish nothing but derision, wasted time, and wasted energy. Leave him in the Senate where his disruptions directly effect the progressives - do not put him on the national stage.
Guimo| 3.13.13 @ 1:40PM
7-08 must be part of the Israeli Lobby.
C. Vernon Crisler | 3.13.13 @ 11:25AM
I agree. It's possible Rand is moving away from his father's extreme McGovernite position, but conservatives should tread with caution when it comes to Rand.
Still, he did raise an interesting question about the extent of a president's powers, and provided some nuances and qualifications, so conservatives were right to support him in this instance. Time will tell, however, which side of the national security divide he will come down on.
volcanbird| 3.13.13 @ 4:23PM
So why wasn't Obama disqualified then.....he will let them kill our friends, our regional buttresses, and democracy based governments.
Jack in Wi| 3.13.13 @ 7:34AM
7-08: We need to divide the wheat from the chaff and you are chaff. Ron Paul has been right about virtually everything fro the last 30 years. You and the Bush, McCain and Romney gang have been wrong. You have ot go.
7-08| 3.13.13 @ 8:15AM
The Wisconsin der fuhrer is not viable
While his penchant for Paul’s undeniable
It’s a father-son screed
Of which there’s no need
The cheese head is simply maniacal
Von Mises Jr| 3.13.13 @ 7:56AM
Rush says it is not boasting if you can do it. Likewise, the warnings by people such as Rand Paul and his father are not fear if they will actually happen.
Matt brings up ObamaCare. People such as I have been explaining for three years that the passage of this law was going to raise the cost of health care, reduce access and destroy your Constitutional rights of Life, Liberty and Property. Now premiums are skyrocketing 25%, FL has a doctor shortage and Palin's "Death Panels" are real. So how freaking crazy was Betsy McCaughey, Ken Cuccinelli and a simple guy like me now?
Obama increased drone strikes about four-fold compared to Bush. He and Brennan sat in secret meetings deciding who to kill without the Congress or a Judge. To her credit, even Rachael Maddow understood Separation of Powers and had the guts to speak up: http://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=rtPBPSVaf4w&feature=youtu(dot)be
Kudos to Rand Paul and Rachael Maddow. Patriots stand up for the truth regardless of Party. When are others going to stand up?
Purp| 3.13.13 @ 1:00PM
Talk to your Insurance company and Employer about that, they are gouging you and you can't do a d* thing about it (until Obamacare is in force Jan 1st 2014) - it isn't Obamacare ... in fact, healthcare costs have grown far slower since the ACA was passed.
volcanbird| 3.13.13 @ 4:29PM
Purp...bullshit! Our premiums have gone up 17% this past year, before that we got hit with 4 % increases. The mandate that we must carry stuff in our insurance plan that we will never use and never wanted...our driving our premiums sky high. This is definitely due to Obamacare.
Minuteman78| 3.13.13 @ 10:11PM
My company has slashed our coverage and benefits, while increasing our premiums. I figured out the 'delta' is about $6,000 a year. That's 3 times my piddling 'raise'. You can thank that f***ing traitor John Roberts for not having the b**ls to tell O-Marxist to go f**k himself.
OP4| 3.13.13 @ 8:19AM
Leftists absolutely refuse to engage in honest debate. Maybe because they know they will lose, or that their beliefs are based on emotion and tied into their faith (as we discussed yesterday). Whatever the reason, they are insane.
People like Paul and Cruz - who believe in the Constitution, in civil and economic freedom, and logic - will win a reasoned debate every time.
Purp| 3.13.13 @ 1:02PM
What's the debate?
If someone is engaging in battle against the United States, i don't care if they are Chinese, Korean, American or Martian - blow 'em up with a drone.
Why are you such a wus?
volcanbird| 3.13.13 @ 4:32PM
And who gets to decide if they are "engaged in battle against the US"? Are people supporting gun-control, which would take away our 2nd amendment rights, engaged in a battle against the US. Should we blow them up with a drone?
Nancy in NC| 3.13.13 @ 8:23AM
Can you imagine the MSM if we attacked the liberals in the same fashion as Rand is being attacked? I believe we should ridicule the nuts jobs such as Maxine Waters and John McCain, and those who continue to elect them. We know it works... Sparks is no longer in Congress when he was exposed for what he really is.
Von Mises Jr| 3.13.13 @ 10:45AM
That is why I call McLame "Elmer Fudd" and think it is incredible that Maximilien "Robespierre" Waters thinks we will lose 170M jobs due to "Sequester" when there are only 140M jobs in America.
I know liberals and the one thing that they can't take is ridicule. That's why I serve it up in double portions with a side dish.
Purp| 3.13.13 @ 1:03PM
Wanna bet? Try your best, you don't best me. Your feeble attempts have stopped, because you know they don't work.
You don't know shit about liberals or anyone except Conservadums.
Von Mises Jr| 3.13.13 @ 2:04PM
Nancy, do you smell sulfur?
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.13.13 @ 8:47AM
Rand Paul's mini-filibuster was about more than money. In the midst of the Sequester panic Rand Paul talked about liberty and freedom, two concepts aborted by both political parties decades ago.
When it isn't about the money mainstream Republicans and elitist Democrats have a tendency to zone out, back to the Twilight Zone of Washington where money is printed and consequences are delayed by kicking, cans and roads.
By not embracing the Sequester talk and discussing liberty and freedom, Ron Paul made himself a target of two main stream Republicans, McCain and Graham.
Let's hope they are primaried out or have enough good sense to leave the Senate where they do more damage than progressives on steroids.
In the offing, Rand Paul focused the debate where it needed to be, not on the trivial pursuit of happiness through economic means, but on liberty and freedom of the individual.
In doing so he didn't make himself a martyr except politically within the limited confines of the leadership of each party who are busy selling the country out for 30 pieces of silver.
Joellen| 3.13.13 @ 8:48AM
Nancy, right on. Here's the deal. Whenever a Republican who stands for the Constitution gets out in the front, the libs saul alinksy him/her with: Racist; Stupid; Sexist, etc.; minus factual statements, just distorted, or cutup comments to fulfill their deceitfullness.
However for those of us on the right, we have ample pickings.
Maxine Waters "170 million people will be unemployed", Obama "the presidents proposed budget will REDUCE the deficit by $400 Billion over the decade, the lowest since Dwight Eisenhower"; Hank Johnson "Guam will sink if too many people on it"; Nancy Pelosi "you gotta read the bill to know what's in it"; and
Joe Biden, well as we all know, I've only got so many characters in my comments.
Just reverse the narrative folks, there are so many examples out there to mock the libs.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 3.13.13 @ 10:29AM
You are quite correct, Joellen. The Left and its enablers in the press and popular culture mocked Sarah Palin, saying she was unprepared to be President and intellectually uncurious. In her stead, they accepted Biden as Gaffemaster-in-Chief, despite his having actually demonstrated time and time again he was both unprepared and unsuited for executive power, and intellectually and ethically impaired.
When do we get the HBO movie on Biden?
Purp| 3.13.13 @ 1:36PM
If the Press are the enablers of the Left, then you might as well give up.
You cannot match the power or the reach of the media with Rush Loudmouth or Bill-O the Clown.
On the other hand, Sarah "I can see Russia from my House" Palin made herself a mockery, well documented in the book and movie "Game Change" . Never laughed so hard at that idiot woman.
The amount of knowledge that woman is lacking is stunning ... and you use HER as a victim? Hahahaha .... Yeah, she's stupid is the media's fault.
Like Romney's wife blames the media for him losing? When they couldn't even put his bio movie on during prime time at the Republican Convention and talked about the "etch a sketch" of the campaign, "Corporations are people", "you people have seen enough tax returns" ... they blame someone else? Hahahaha... losers.
Anthony| 3.13.13 @ 3:28PM
Ah yes, Purp our resident village idiot is at it again. Rush and O' Reilly are way too much conservativism for our resident moron in chief, who, likes his deck stacked to the hilt with CNN, NBC, MSLSD, ABC, CBS, NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, ET AL, ET AL, AD NAUSEAM.
And of course, our resident village idiot would not be the shining example of leftist intellectual bankruptcy, without the obligatory reference to Tina Fey and her moronic comment that Purp and the rest of the intellectual morons on the left attribute to Sarah Palin.
Way to go Purp, nobody speaks more eloquently to your stupidity than you.!!!
Purp| 3.13.13 @ 3:49PM
It's called mocking Sarah, fool, something that you consistently fail at doing.
Of course, you don't rebut any of the argument presented, naturally, Conservadum that you are.
Purp| 3.13.13 @ 1:20PM
Whatsamatta? You can dish it out, but you can't take it?
Methinks you are a hurting.... damn shame, ain't it? Payback's a bitch.
Von Mises Jr| 3.13.13 @ 3:36PM
You mean Mr. "Hankey" Johnson.
Hey remember Dear Leader said the world will end March 1st with a "Sequester?"
The DOW is up 8 days in a row and if it finishes up today (now it is unchanged), that will be NINE in a row. Unemployment claims were down and the sun came out again.
Chicken Little "The sky is falling" forgot to tell the markets.
Purp| 3.13.13 @ 3:50PM
It ain't hit baby, wait ... end of the world, no. But tragic cuts that hurt the economy, yes.
All brought to you by the Conservadums in the House of Raperesentatives.
volcanbird| 3.13.13 @ 4:39PM
Just watch what raising taxes does to our economy, all thanks to the dumb, stupid, crazy, jealous, tax anybody but me, democrass.
Von Mises Jr| 3.13.13 @ 5:30PM
Don't let Poop get under your skin. Notice he never cites facts or examples. He talks in generalities since he knows no facts or examples that are logical and true.
Just hold your nose and do what the rest do with Poop: flush it down the bowl.
Anthony| 3.13.13 @ 9:05AM
Until conservatives take back the four pillars of corruption, the media, academia, pop culture, and government, our society will continue to spiril out of control.
O'Donnell is a tool of the left and an admitted socialist. If FDR were president, O'Donnell would be in an internment camp, along with the rest of the radical left.
TLP| 3.13.13 @ 10:20AM
Actually, if FDR was President, O'Donnell's head would be under the blanket on FDR's lap, trying to get his little leg to stand up and walk.
cicero| 3.13.13 @ 10:54AM
Perhaps the more interesting thing about Rand Paul's filibuster was that it put the issue front and center, and actually prompted a response. The Repubs, if they are awake, may have been shown the winning tactic for the next few years. Want to get some witnesses in fornt of a Congressional panel? Filibuster until those 35 folks who escaped Benghazi, and the general who was told to stand down on the rescue attampt are brought forward. The press will be rivited to the floor of the House and focused on the issue for days. Want to know what happened, and who gave the orders on Fast and Furious? Filibuster the House until the docs and witnesses are produced.
Of course, that will require the R leadership to get on board, and actually fight for the American people. Maybe I ask too much.
Mr. O'Ciernan| 3.13.13 @ 12:29PM
I am disappointed by the miniscule level for Senator Paul from both parties, but particularly the Democrats. In 2008, Barack Obama campaigned on shutting down Guantanamo Bay, ending torture, and repealing many parts of the PATRIOT Act. Not only has he failed to do any of these, he's claimed and acted on the right to assassinate U.S. citizens without due process, granted immunity for people involved in warrantless surveillance, and expanded the drone war. Given that Obama campaigned against similar civil liberties violations by the Bush Administration, it is reasonable to assume that he, or someone in his party, would be openly criticizing these acts if they happened under a Republican President.
It's a shame that politicians are less interested in supporting good ideas than in who is proposing them. Rand Paul raises a valid point and Republicans should use this opportunity to demand transparency on the Benghazi incident, drone surveillance, warrantless wiretapping, and secret prisons. The American people deserve accurate information. Without it, they will get more false advertising from politicians.
Connection Not Compromise| 3.13.13 @ 12:37PM
Frankly, I'm much more concerned about the Republicans in Congress who publicly derided Rand Paul than I am about the liberals who cried "Crazy" in taking issue with his stand. That is expected liberal behavior! The fact that more than a few self-described liberals in the media, on twitter, and even on the Spectator blogs decided to Stand with Rand on protecting our 5th Amendment freedom is heartening.
John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and their Big Government friends in the GOP are just as dangerous to the cause of liberty, but far more deceptive. They campaign as Conservatives, but then go off to Washington to spend just as much as the liberals and grow the government just as big. When the heat gets too hot on any issue, they wilt in the name of compromise. Like their liberal buddies, they prefer security to freedom. From them we get No Child Left Behind, Patriot Act, Medicare Part D, Department of Homeland Security and on and on. If anything, McCain's public spectacle on the senate floor exposed himself and his ilk for whom they really are: shams.
Vic| 3.13.13 @ 1:43PM
I disagree. I still feel this MSNBC crowd is more dangerous to the Republicans than the internal losers like McCain, Corker, Colburn, Graham and a bunch of others. MSNBC and the liberal crowd's continuous shouting and lack of response to their accusations from the conservative media is what lost us the last election. When the likes of O'Donnel and Matthews go unanswered, we lose. Matthews recently called for waterboarding Cheney. Not sure how his face would look like if he were waterboarded instead of the sick Cheney. I am sure his face would be a pleasure to observe. I would rather call them out like the writer and Stand with Rand! Rand for President!
Connection Not Compromise| 3.14.13 @ 11:50AM
I'm not so sure about that, Vic. O'Donnel and Matthews have never cast a vote to make a law. They have never crafted an appropriations bill spending a dime of our money.
To your point, yes, they do have a microphone from which they can impact public opinion. But if our elected GOP officials in Washington and Republican candidates were doing their job of clearly articulating a message of freedom and connecting the dots for the American public as to how our current president is destroying those freedoms, I would argue that the Matthews and O'Donnels of the world would have much less clout. Just look at how Rand Paul's simple act of standing up for our right to due process struck a chord with liberals, moderates, and conservatives. This could have been a career-limiting move, but instead it sent a cry of alarm around the country.
Furthermore, once a new government program or department is set into law, it becomes as untouchable as motherhood and apple pie. Once a new generation forgets what it was like to live without a government service or mandate, it is virtually impossible to do away with it.
For those reasons, I would argue that our GOP senators and representatives who grow government, spend our money, and do not defend our freedoms are far more dangerous to posterity than the current blabbermouths on any TV/cable network.
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Dave Williams| 3.13.13 @ 1:59PM
Bravo to Rand Paul for his courage and endurance....but I gotta say, a drone strike against Hanoi Jane would be a terrific idea. Better late than never.
Purp| 3.13.13 @ 3:51PM
Another inmate escaped the asylum...
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