Conservative Blogger: The Party of Tolerance??...

Conservative pundit and former Presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan recovers from a direct dressing hit during a speech at Western Michigan University, March 31, 2005.

You know, I have to say I'm pretty sick and tired of Republicans getting a bad rap.

For years we've heard that the Democrats are the "party of inclusion" and that they're about acceptance and tolerance. They're nuanced and liberated. Republicans are "old-fashioned" and disparaged as heartless, bigoted, homophobic and hateful. We're the bad guys. Us.

So, when you hear news reports of people attacking a lecturer who is espousing ideas you would think that, based on stereotype, it would be a hate-mongering Republican, right? Wrong. In the past couple of weeks, there have been three separate incidents where Republican speakers have been attacked by liberal extremists.

On March 30, a man rushed the stage at Earlham College in Richmond, IN where William Kristol was speaking. Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, was nailed in the face with a pie as he delivered a speech on foreign policy. Without missing a beat, Kristol wiped his face after being hit with the pie and said, "Just let me finish this point." He then went on to answer questions from the audience. The student faces a disciplinary review and possible expulsion.

Aside from the irony that Earlham is Quaker college, this doesn't seem to be an isolated incident.

Two days later at Western Michigan University, Pat Buchanan was doused with a cup of salad dressing as he was fielding questions from the assembled audience. The "demonstrator," who was a student at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, faces a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace and was released on $100 bond.

It didn't stop there, though.

Five days after that, another pie was wielded in the direction of conservative commentator David Horowitz who was giving a lecture at Butler University in Indianapolis.

So, are we to believe that these people are part of the culture of tolerance or that they're paragons of acceptance when they're committing acts of assault and battery fueled by narrow-mindedness and hatred? Horowitz described this rash of incidents on his blog as "a wave of leftist violence against conservative speakers on college campuses," and he's exactly right.

What many people fail to realize on the extreme left is that tolerance... acceptance... diversity... they're concepts that don't mean a thing if they don't also include diversity of thought. The Leftists can extend just about every other kind of acceptance except that one. Acceptance and diversity is about a lot more than just what you look like or who you love. True tolerance is about people and everything about them.

Some people get it, like some of the students at Earlham where Kristol was speaking. They invited him to speak as part of their DIALOGUE series. What does DIALOGUE stand for? Diverse Individuals Actively Listening to Others for Greater Understanding and Education. They get it, but they're not the problem. These extremists don't really care about meaningful debate. They can only advance their ideals through violent acts.

Ask yourself this: when was the last time you heard of a Republican pie-thrower? When was the last time a Republican stormed a stage where a Democrat was speaking and threw something at him or her? Exactly.

Well, those Republican speakers must have pressed charges, right? Wrong. Buchanan decided to not press charges, keeping his attacker from facing a felony rap. I don't know if I'd have been as gracious as Pat, that's for sure.

What we're seeing from the extreme left-wingers is a climate of hate and no one wants to call it that. They don't advance their ideas through open debate because they can't--they'll never be taken seriously. They would rather resort to physical violence rather than engage someone in serious discussion. They do it for the camera time and the press--that's all. They want to shock someone. Unfortunately, what really occurs is they harm the message that comes from the rest of their party and the people who do want to debate things on merit.

There are plenty of people on the Left who are very thoughtful and who are also skilled debaters. These clowns are an insult to those people who work really hard to get their message out.

I have yet to meet a Republican who throws stuff at people, though. I've also never met a Republican who didn't welcome open debate or a challenge to his stand on an issue, whether it was from a Democrat or even from a fellow Republican. They can say that we're the "party of exclusion" all they want and throw out things like the Boy Scouts or the "Religious Right" but...well...we're not the ones committing crimes.

Perhaps the Leftist critics and the MSM shouldn't be casting stones. "Party of Tolerance?" Puh-leeze.

William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com

Posted by WilliamSmith on April 7, 2005 02:43 PM to Conservative Blogger