Double Standards
Do you know what is stuck in my craw this morning? Do you have any idea what has me so vexed that I'm spitting nails? I'll tell ya. It is the Double Standards of the Left. That's what.
Case in point:
Pat Robertson, Republican, says some inane, unhelpful, and quite obviously shocking things to garner press attention (he called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez). And what happens? Nancy Pelosi gets her panties in a bunch and demands that Robertson apologize. And so he does.
But when a Democrat says some inane, unhelpful and quite obviously shocking things to garner press attention (Can you say Cindy Sheehan?), what happens?
I'll tell you what happens. The press licks it up. Like sharks lunching on chum, they froth at the mouths to get the story out there. Other people rally to her like she's some kind of soothsayer in a Zero Mostel comedy. She says that the Iraq war was illegal, that "Bush Lied" and her son died, she calls for the impeachment of the President and bringing him up on War Crimes charges. She's even called the President a terrorist - the worst if my memory serves me correctly. She says that both the War in Afganistan and Iraq are really all about Israel, and if we'd just get rid of the neocons and get out of the Middle East, everything would be pre-9/11 happy again.
Is anybody, and by that I mean somebody with the so-called public stature of Nancy Pelosi, going to demand that Cindy apologize? Hell no.
But does that mean that Pat Robertson is wrong and Cindy Sheehan is right? Hell no.
All it really means is that the left won't attack her because she's on their side and the right won't attack her out of respect for her son. She's got everybody by the short hairs, and it pisses me off. Don't get me wrong, she has every right to spew her bullshit far and wide. But then, the first amendment doesn't just protect Ms. Sheehan, it also protects the speech of Pat Robertson. So he should be able to spew his crap just as far and wide as she does.
And don't give me that crap about Robertson being a "public figure" held to a higher standard and Cindy Sheehan being a "private citizen" in mourning. Cindy has been speaking in public for some time now (even before squatting in Crawford) and is no less of a public figure than Robertson now. In fact, I suspect she's getting far more press than Robertson on a daily basis.
So, that's what pisses me off. Republicans are called on the carpet if they say anything extreme and an apology is demanded. Democrats say something stupid and are embraced as "media darlings."
So, to step into Nancy Pelosi's serviceable pumps (ewww, I feel so dirty) I do hereby DEMAND that Cindy Sheehan apologize to the President, our fighting men and women, and me personally for making my bile rise (remember, I'm pregnant). I'm gonna keep griping until she apologizes.
