At least 20 Republicans and Democrats in Congress have announced they will sit side-by-side during tonight's State of the Union address in order to display a 'spirit of bipartisanship.'
The arrangement was suggested by Democrats in response to the Tucson massacre in which conservatives were blamed for 'stirring up a culture of hate.'
Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, the Tea Party, and conservatives in general were singled out as the perpetrators of the Tucson attack during which Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was critically wounded and federal judge John Roll was killed.
For 4 days Barack Obama allowed Democrats and other liberals to make these unconscionable charges without rebuke.
Only at the Tucson memorial service did Obama urge the Left to tone down the accusatory rhetoric, thus allowing the President to appear to rise above it all as 'the great statesman.'
Yet Obama himself has engaged in the very rhetoric he condemned, as reported here, and no sooner had the speech in Tucson left the President's lips than Democrats in Congress went right back to referring to Republicans as Nazis over the House vote to repeal ObamaCare.
These factors beg the question, is the seating arrangement at the State of the Union address this evening nothing but window dressing?
If the rhetoric of the Left is any indication, it is precisely that, which begs yet another question, why are some Republicans falling for this obvious ploy?
After all, for a full 10 years Democrats and vitriolic pundits of the Left have engaged in the most despicable rhetoric imaginable, much of it aimed at George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Now that the country seems to be turning against the Democrats, as shown by the horrific losses the Party sustained on November 2, the Left wishes to play nice.
Serious questions must be raised concerning the motives of those who suggested the mixed seating arrangement.
Are they attempting to short-circuit the plan of House Republicans to dismantle much of the Leftwing agenda by implying that any strongly-worded rhetoric is unacceptable now that the other side has the power? Is the seating arrangement designed to minimize the visual impact of the greatly diminished Democrat ranks in Congress, compared to last year? Is this simply a ploy to allow Democrats and Obama to continue to claim the moral high road in that they have convinced some of those 'mean, nasty Republicans' to play pretty with the very ones who have accused them of being accessories to murder?
To be sure, window dressing and visuals alone mean nothing. But to a sector of the population that looks only at images and hears only sound bytes, such visuals have an impact.
In times such as these when it is all-too-obvious that the Left will use whatever means necessary to undermine, malign, and diminish the strength of the growing conservative backlash against Obama, is this the time to allow the Left to set the tone of the ongoing debate?
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Comments
I wouldn't do it. I can't imagine any Democrat who would be worthy.
True. I wouldn't sit beside a single one of them.
Tony,
You're not blaming the democrats as a whole are you?
I think the repukicraps still have NOT learned the lessons of last November's election.
They still want to bow and appease the demoncraps and go along with their childish yet brilliant "idea" of sitting together so the dem's major losses in Congress won't be as stark to see.
They're just a bunch of dimwits and STILL have no clue. I predict the repubs will be completely irrelevant by 2012 and the people will be looking for a third party to replace both the dems and the repubs.
Well, it is still important to remember that the vast majority of Republicans are not going along with the seating arrangement...it would be unfair to blame the GOP as a whole.
Since the Dems suggested the seating arrangement, they must feel that they have the most to gain. "Come on over and sit with us, and everyone will know that we were right in accusing you of hate speech, and you know it. We will look like we are still in control."
You all are wierd, oh yeah, your republican!
Eric Cantor invited Nancy Pelosi to sit with him and she has flatly refused. It would appear civility has its' limits to the leftists.
She did not flat out refuse, she made arrangements to sit with someone else, a republican.
Personally, it is a bit juvenile. What exactly does it prove?
There's a name for people who can't see through this and unfortunately they make up quite a number of Americans....sheeple. O makes a speech and his ratings go up? Dems lose big and now they want to play nice so the sheeple forget all about the "shove it down our throats"tactics?
Exactamundo Karla.
Who cares? Every time there was an ovation last night, it looked like the whole house was standing. Mission accomplished!
Really? Seriously, I was struck by how few it seemed were actually standing.
A smattering here a few there ...
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