I received the following email this morning from California Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff. The email is entitled “a party without a spine.” I assume he’s referring to the Republican Party, though I question whether spinelessness is a function of party affiliation.
Schiff, or whoever wrote his fundraising email for him, claims that “Trump and the GOP are cold-blooded and calculated when it comes to the 2022 midterm elections.” Perhaps, though Trump seems to me to be more hot-blooded and impetuous than cold and calculating.
Here is my question: Is the Republican Party, as well as its leadership, any more "cold-blooded and calculated" than is the Democratic Party, with its leadership? Why should we assume that professional politicians, of any political stripe or party, will not do all in their power (that is within the law, and maybe outside it) to win and hold office?
Schiff himself (or his ghostwriter) hints at this towards the end of his email when he asserts that “we cannot, under any circumstances, cede power to the likes of this GOP….” Whoa! “UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES”? What if the Democrats in the House and Senate lose this year's midterm elections? Will they reject the results they don’t like or will they “cede power” by allowing Republicans to replace Pelosi as Speaker of the House and Schumer as Senate Majority Leader?
In addition to political fact-checkers, perhaps we need political-rhetoric-checkers, who are willing to call out Democrats and Republicans for their intemperate language. Over the weekend, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D, MA) said that House Minority Leader “Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a traitor.” Them’s fightin’ words! Many politicians, including Warren, have been accused of misrepresenting who they are and what they believe. And if they seek to deceive the public by denying that which they know to be factually true and verifiable, then we can legitimately accuse them of lying. But calling a U.S. congressman a traitor? That charge should not be easily hurled by one professional politician at another. Whether the speakers are Democrats or Republicans, words matter, and words have consequences. Someone, somewhere ought to push back against the extreme vilification of each party by the other. In the words of one of America’s greatest presidents of either party, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.”