OPINION:
Claims that the GOP endangers civilization is Nancy Pelosi at her worst
When it comes to sober analysis of current events and wise leadership designed to bring Americans together, you can’t do better than House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Appearing on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” Mrs. Pelosi said of the upcoming midterm elections: “Civilization as we know it today would be in jeopardy, if Republicans win the Senate.”
Mr. Maher doesn’t like Republicans very much — he once referred to Sarah Palin on the air using a very sexist word and all the great feminist “war on women” liberals clapped like baby seals — but this was a bit much even for him. “This and ISIS are threatening civilization?” he asked incredulously.
“Yeah, it is really important,” Mrs. Pelosi replied.
This is the leader of the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives, folks. The woman who smashed American health care to pieces with a goofy, oversized prop gavel when the Democrats passed Obamacare, and then paraded through the streets waving her gavel and grinning. Democrats are scared to death of the drubbing they look to be taking in the midterm elections, and they’ll do anything to hang on to power — but comparing Republicans to ISIS, the Islamic State?
That’s not really new for Mrs. Pelosi, who said back in 2011, “What we’re trying to do is save the world from the Republican budget. We’re trying to save life on this planet as we know it today.” She was among the leaders of the pack in comparing the Tea Party movement to terrorists, referring to Tea Party-supported Republicans as “legislative arsonists.” In 2009, she wrote an op-ed for USA Today in which she described grass-roots Obamacare protests as “un-American.”
Mrs. Pelosi is one of the most bitterly divisive people ever to assume a leadership position in the United States. Disagreeing with your opponents, and even impugning their motives, is one thing, but calling them traitors and comparing them to terrorists is beyond the pale.
Of course, friendly pro-Democrat media make Mrs. Pelosi pay no price for this. Like every other Democrat, she can be as nasty as she wants to be. Not only will the media politely ignore or forget her outrageous comments as quickly as possible, but they never say her twisted mind offers some sort of window into the dark heart of her party — the way they love to claim every Republican gaffe, no matter how small-time the gaffe-master might be, is a sign the GOP has big problems. No Democrat will ever be expected to denounce Mrs. Pelosi or distance themselves from her remarks. She can toss as many bombs as she wants, and there will never be any blowback.
How do you know a Democrat has gone too far? When you see a bunch of op-eds that say everyone needs to be nicer to each other, both Republican and Democrat political rhetoric is getting too extreme, and it’s a shame we can’t all pick up a “new tone.” Good luck finding a media article that mentions Mrs. Pelosi’s remarks without including all that jazz. It’s a way of relieving her of responsibility for her own out-of-control mouth. Why, she’s just a helpless victim of our ugly political culture.
Mrs. Pelosi is a bully, but when she says a Republican Senate would destroy civilization, she’s not bullying Republicans, or even their voters. She’s bullying Democrats. Like the rest of her flailing party, she’s trying to terrorize wavering, dispirited Democratic voters, especially women, into voting for her train wreck of a party, because no matter how much of a failure it’s been, at least Democrats are not terrorists who want to blow up civilization like those Republicans, right?
A long time ago, a Democratic president famously said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Now his party has nothing to offer except fear itself. Fear is the weapon of choice for bullies, so Nancy Pelosi gets our award for Liberal Bully of the Week.
Rusty Humphries, a nationally syndicated talk-radio host, is a contributor to The Washington Times.
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