When The Shoe Is On The Other Foot

Get this: The party of “community organizers” is now whining that President Obama’s critics are organizing communities — against his health-care scheme.

So says the New York Post.

I'm not so sure how accurate that is, in that the organizing seems to be decentralized; despite the spittle from the Left, which implies that there are big, dark, ominous players organizing "mobs" against the President's plan, these protests (often at town hall meetings with Congressmen) do seem to be local in nature. Who, exactly, is the heavy player on the right that's organizing them?

When we on the right accused the left of organizing protests, they didn't really object--they knew it was true and were up front about it. MoveOn.org, International A.N.S.W.E.R., and another Soros-funded group whose name escapes me now were three popular groups. I don't hear anyone on the left identifying the big players on the right; if they could, they would, and they'd attack those groups mercilessly. Instead they issue these vague warnings, the purpose of which is not to educate, not to elucidate, not to engage, but to generate anger at the other side. Perhaps that's just what those community organizers on the left do.

Contrast the President's response (see update #2 below) to these Americans who protest his proposed health care proposals to President Bush's response to Mama Moonbat herself, Cindy Sheehan, who essentially camped outside of his house: instead of trying to rally people against her, he said he was proud to live in and lead a country where such dissent was allowed.

Two very different responses. Two very different levels of classiness. Two very different levels of confidence. Two very different attitudes. Two very different men.

Update: Back to the health care debates and intimidation. A racist crowd beat a black man, with one of the attackers shouting a "racial slur" (I wonder which one). Go read the link, it's both short and worthwhile. (First-person account is here.)

Update #2: This from the White House's own web site:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov. (boldface mine--Darren)

Think about that for a minute. Seriously. Explain to me how that statement jibes with any American values, if such things even exist anymore.

Update #3, 8/9/09: Mark Steyn, as usual, has a brilliant take on this topic:

“The right-wing extremist Republican base is back!” warns the Democratic National Committee. These right-wing extremists have been given their marching orders by their masters: They’ve been directed to show up at “thousands of events,” told to “organize,” “knock on doors” . . .

No, wait. My mistake. That’s the e-mail I got from Mitch Stewart, Director of “Organizing for America” at BarackObama.com. But that’s the good kind of “organizing.” Obama’s a community organizer. We’re the community. He organizes us. What part of that don’t you get?

And Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame has a similar view, although presented with much less sarcasm:

This (protests against President Bush, disrupting meetings about social security reform) was just good, boisterous politics: "Robust, wide-open debate." But when it happens to Democrats, it's something different: A threat to democracy, a sign of incipient fascism, and an opportunity to set up a (possibly illegal) White House "snitch line" where people are encouraged to report "fishy" statements to the authorities.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls the "Tea Party" protesters Nazis, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman --forgetting the events above -- claims that left-leaning groups never engaged in disruptive tactics against Social Security reform, and various other administration-supporting pundits are trying to spin the whole thing as a deadly move toward "mob rule" and – somewhat contradictorily -- as a phony "astroturf" movement.

Remember: When lefties do it, it's called "community organizing." When conservatives and libertarians do it, it's "astroturf."

This President does not like being challenged. The Democrat party does not like being challenged. Fascists never do.