On the other hand, finding examples of hate speech on the left is about as difficult as finding sand on a beach. It's simply a matter of turning on the television or radio to a station that carries a liberal talk show. Here are a few examples gleaned form the airwaves by the Media Research Center:
Conservatives Want to Kill Barack Obama: “I really think there are conservative broadcasters in this country who would love to see Obama taken out.” (Ed Schultz)Each of these kind thoughts sprung from the enlightened lips of a progressive Democrat.
Conservatives Are Terrorists: “Do you not understand that the people you hold up as heroes bombed your goddamn country? Do you not understand that Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly are as complicit of the September 11, 2001 terror attack as any one of the dumbass 15 who came from Saudi Arabia?” (Mike Malloy)
Conservatives Want You to Die: “If, in fact, the GOP doesn’t like any form of health care reform, what do we do with those 40 to 60 million uninsured?...When they show up in the emergency room, just shoot ‘em! Kill them!...Do we have enough body bags? I don’t know.” (Montel Williams)
Conservative Congresswoman Would Have Liked the Holocaust: “[Representative Michele Bachmann is] a hatemonger. She’s the type of person that would have gladly rounded up the Jews in Germany and shipped them off to death camps....This is an evil bitch from Hell.” (Mike Malloy)
Dick Cheney Eats Babies: “Cheney, by the way, looks very ruddy. I couldn’t get over that. Like, he must have feasted on a Jewish baby, or a Muslim baby. He must have sent his people out to get one and bring it back so he could drink its blood.” (Mike Malloy)
Dick Cheney Should Die: “He is an enemy of the country, in my opinion. Dick Cheney is an enemy of the country....Lord, take him to the Promised Land, will you? See, I don’t even wish the guy goes to Hell, I just want to get him the hell out of here.” (Ed Schultz)
Rush Limbaugh Should Die: “I’m waiting for the day when I pick up the newspaper or click on the Internet and find that he’s choked to death on his own throat fat, or a great big wad of saliva or something, whatever. Go away, Limbaugh, you make me sick.” (Mike Malloy)
Michele Bachmann Should Die: “So, Michele, slit your wrist! Go ahead! I mean, you know, why not? I mean, if you want to — or, you know, do us all a better thing. Move that knife up about two feet. I mean, start right at the collarbone.” (Montel Williams)
Then there was the Democrat congressman from Tennessee named Steve Cohen who evidently didn't listen to President Obama's speech in Tucson the other day. On the floor of the House he called Republicans liars, compared them to nazis, and managed, not unsurprisingly, to sound a little addlepated while doing it: This sort of thing has been spilling forth from liberal sources for decades, but few on the left have been interested in holding their fellow lefties accountable for it. They're much more avid about condemning Sarah Palin for offering her followers the advice, "don't retreat, reload". One would think from the howling at MSNBC and other left-wing bastions this past week that she was actually passing out ammo to Jared Loughner at the Tucson Safeway.
To his credit Anderson Cooper at CNN held Cohen's feet to the fire in this interview: Maybe reasonable people on the left side of the political spectrum are beginning to recognize the virulence of much of the rhetoric that emanates from their fellow liberals and are becoming embarrassed by it. That would be a good thing. For too many, though, the rule they follow is, if conservatives put crosshairs on a political map it's despicable, virulent hate speech. If liberals say the things quoted above it's bold, robust political dialogue. Some rule.