The "Civility Campaign" Guy Just Doesn't Get It

[Bucky]

Mark DeMoss Disbands 'Civility Project,' Citing Conservative Attacks, Grim View On Discourse
Huffington Post | 01/12/11

Mark DeMoss, director of the Civility Project, a two-year-old effort launched at the beginning of the Obama presidency to prompt legislators across the nation to cool political rhetoric, decided to shut the campaign down earlier this month -- even before the latest resurgence of debate about "vitriol" and rhetoric sparked by the events in Arizona over the weekend.

DeMoss, an evangelical conservative with ties to some big-name Republicans, cited a general lack of interest, as well as pervading signs that the nature of political discourse appeared only to be deteriorating during Obama's first two years as president, as justifications for halting his program.

Not even a nice try, DeMoss, ya big loser. You can't just imperiously sit back and command people to act civilly toward one another. You gotta be willing to get into the fray and mix it up with people and goddamn force them to be civil. You gotta kick their asses a little, call them out on their bullshit. Bust some chops for civility, bust some jaws if you have to. Otherwise they'll just walk all over you.

So now he's all, boo-hoo-fuckin'-hoo, no one's being civil like I a-a-asked. No one respects that emo shit. People operate on fear, envy, and greed in politics. This guilt stuff doesn't work on Congresscritters. I'm being charitable here and assuming he was going with guilt as his ploy; the alternative being the ridiculous possibility that he was actually counting on appeals to the angels of our better natures to make people treat each other with respect. Gag me!

If he wanted to have any heft in politics, he should've made people afraid to be uncivil. Start mass media buys announcing that incivility is communistic, or emailing anonymous internet rumors about how only child molesters engage in personal attacks on political opponents. If you can't start a political debate with "I disagree with you, sir, but I'm willing to defend your right to say it," it's probably because you're hiding a Kenyan birth certificate. That would've kicked their asses into line.

Or maybe what civility really needs is a few second amendment solutions...


 

[Bucky]

1. Fall, post, fall!

[bertman]

2. Heh heh. Pretty damn funny, Bucky. nt

[Bucky]

4. ty

fn

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. He actually does get it

[Bucky]

6. There's a slight chance I was employing irony when I wrote that.

[rtassi]

7. I got it ... and enjoyed it! n/t

[placton]

5. yeah, one thing Obama is NOT

is uncivil - say what you like about the President, but he is actually a rational decent person, who talks in complete sentences, not sound bites. Look at his speech this week in AZ, compared to Evita's. er... Palin's. THAT, stupid Mark DeMoss, is the dif between the Dems and the GOP.

[Bucky]

8. It's kind of appalling that DeMoss doesn't see why only GOPers do this stuff.

DeMoss is a koolaid drinker, but to his credit he's not a koolaid hander-outer.

[CommonSensePLZ]

9. "Bust some chops FOR CIVILITY, bust some jaws if you have to"

Otherwise they'll just walk all over you.

o.0

[Bucky]

10. Sadly, some of these people wouldn't recognize civility if it walked up & kicked 'em in the nuts

[Warren DeMontague]

11. The most glaring, obvious problem is that "civility" isn't defined.

I don't care if people say things like "fuck you" or make fun of other people.. Honestly, that doesn't strike me as the actual problem.

The problem is the calls to violence, the thinly veiled threats, the we-need-to-crack-some-librul-skulls type of rhetoric.

[theFrankFactor]

12. Yeah, Liberals Need to Sit Down and Shut Up!

Why, the next think you know, a Liberal might not let the Right keep dunking their head in the fucking toilet. We can't have that. Daisies for everyone!

[theFrankFactor]

13. I Must Add.. We've Really Taken the Lead With Our Current Approach!

Look at how the Right has been kept at bay! Carry on!

[CTPatriot]

14. Lanny Davis

You can't expect to be taken seriously on calls for civility when your partner in that effort is Lanny Davis. I think Davis' butt buddy, Joe LIEberman (oops, look at me being uncivil) was also involved.