Let Garofalo's Tea Party Slur Speak for Itself

Sometimes, your opponent makes your case for you. We’ve been disturbed for some time by the vitriol and hate we’ve observed coming from the organized-Left both online and offline, but a recent interview of Janeane Garofalo on MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann illustrates this trend so well, we feel the best argument we can make is merely to point to their example. In this extended clip, Garofalo calls everyone who participated in a tea party a racist and argues that the Republican party has become about white supremacy.

Garofalo’s slur is so off-the-mark, it doesn’t concern us that much. However, we are concerned with the ease with which she aims to cast the hurtful “racist” label on those who disagree with her about the ideal size and scope of government. Garofalo and the rest of the old Air America crowd, including venomous haters Rachel Maddow and Al Franken, are increasingly successful at setting the tone for legions of young people who were attracted to online political advocacy by the charisma of Barack Obama and the money of Moveon.org.

We don’t usually give advice to the organized-Left’s army of online devotees, but this time we’ll make an exception: If you are tempted to echo talking points from the Air America crowd on your blogs and websites and in comments and forums, we urge you to pause and think about what you will become if you absorb their hatred and make it your own. You don’t need to play gentle, but try to choose evidence and ideas over hate and vitriol — you’ll be more persuasive and emerge with your heart in a better place.