Double Standards

by shamanic

Bruce Bartlett complains about "the liberal playbook" at Townhall today, in an article that is ostensibly wearily critical of Ann Coulter:

Finally, Perlstein dredges up comments on some extremely obscure web site to prove that there is a racist conservative conspiracy to smear Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) for allegedly being a black nationalist (whatever that means)... Sadly, this sort of smear technique is standard in the liberal playbook. All conservatives are held strictly accountable for every faux pas committed by any conservative, anywhere, any time."

I have two reactions to this. The first is a cool, calm, and collected notation that Ann Coulter neither misspoke nor apologized for her performance at CPAC.

The second is less cool, not calm, and in type comes out something like this: WHO THE FUCK IS WARD CHURCHILL???

Because I never really did find out who he is. Some community college professor in Colorado who said something disgusting about the Americans who died on 9/11? And for that, all Democrats were tarred as people who hate America and want a bunch of violent, misogynist, gay hating, religious zealot thugs to take over the world.

So Bartlett can whine all he wants, but smears are sadly in the playbook for both sides. It's just that Ward Churchill is nobody, while Ann Coulter's bile makes the conservative movement cheer.