Confession: Liberal columnist says left lies, intimidates to silence right

[Rich]

Interesting that the rest of the room is laughing at the comic on the stage

Yeah, I wouldn't call it laughing. I would call it denial.

[Rich]

I directly addressed the points she made: every political group attacks dissenters, so singling out liberals for it is like saying "the left uses negative ads in campaigns!"

That's not directly addressing the points. I think you've missed the point.

[Rich]

She's claiming to be a liberal who is persecuted by her own by breaking rank.

Uh... that's not the message she is sending.

Wow. Where's the headslap emoticon?

[Rich]

But she receives a regular paycheck to come on TV and discredit liberalism.

So you've seen all of the interviews she's done on Fox News?

[Rich]

I don't think her disdain for the far left wing of the Democrat Party comes because she is a paid contributor on Fox News (she is also a paid contributor on left leaning publications). I think her disdain for the left comes from how she perceives Hillary Clinton was treated by the left wing of the Democrat Party in the 2008 primaries. She's not a big fan of Obama, she is an ardent Hillary Clinton supporter as she worked for the Clintons. While working for the Clintons she was one of the more "radical" members of the administration. She was very vocal in supporting gay rights, more than anyone else. She thought Don't Ask Don't Tell was a half measure.

There was a lot of residual animosity between the Clinton wing and the Obama wing of the Democrat Party after the 2008 primaries and Kristen Powers is one of those Clintonites that has not let that go. So I think her perception is more formed from the behavior she saw from the left during those primaries.

Granted she supports a woman who was a terrible political candidate (and early signs for the 2016 election seem to indicate more of the same) that was soundly defeated by a guy who was an exceptional candidate in 2008, but that's besides the point.

And I am sorry but I agree. In most of my interactions with liberals, progressives or whatever the leftists call themselves, I have experienced exactly what she is talking about. Granted, I have had somewhat similar experiences with SOME religious conservatives/evangelicals, social conservatives and neocons, but they aren't going around preaching tolerance. So that is what stands out to me about the left, that they preach tolerance, inclusion etc etc... but the minute you give an opinion that even slightly differs from them, you need to shut up, you aren't going to be tolerated. I would say I experience that in about 85% of my interactions with liberals. I think liberalism has become very dogmatic and rigid in preaching tolerance and being intolerant of even the slightest deviation from their opinion. It sort of reminds me of the book Animal Farm...

That is what Kirsten Powers is saying in her book and to take it a step further, some will levy racist attacks at minorities, sexist attacks at women and even homophobic attacks at gays who do not prescribe exactly to what they (the liberals) believe is right. Saying that she is criticizing the left for doing what everyone else does misses the point. Everyone else isn't fighting for the tolerance of people while simultaneously becoming intolerant of people. Tolerance isn't a staple of conservatism, it is a staple of liberalism. So liberals should be consistent in their tolerance and tolerate opposing view points rather than try to shout them down with ridicule and insults (oh the irony...).

[Spider-Dan]

I understand where you're coming from, but from my perspective, the author is relevant to this particular editorial.  She's claiming to be a liberal who is persecuted by her own by breaking rank. 

I think the point is that she is a token who is parading herself as a persecuted liberal specifically so she can take these counter positions to give herself legitimacy, where she wouldn't otherwise have it.

Attacking the messenger in this case is needed, because the message itself is about the messenger.

Precisely.

To wit: if Kirsten Powers is not a "self-proclaimed liberal," this book is totally pointless; a conservative complaining about liberal attacks is not a noteworthy observation.  The significance of her book is derived entirely from her purported position as a "liberal;" she is criticizing her own, which is supposed to lend weight to her argument.

...except that her professional day job is ALREADY to criticize "her own" at a network built around criticizing liberals.  The foundation of her supposed objectivity (i.e. even as a non-conservative, she agrees with the conservative viewpoint on this matter) is fatally undermined.

[Spider-Dan]

Saying that she is criticizing the left for doing what everyone else does misses the point. Everyone else isn't fighting for the tolerance of people while simultaneously becoming intolerant of people. Tolerance isn't a staple of conservatism, it is a staple of liberalism. So liberals should be consistent in their tolerance and tolerate opposing view points rather than try to shout them down with ridicule and insults (oh the irony...).

While on the subject of irony:

You just said that tolerance is not a staple of conservatism.
Yet conservatives are perfectly happy to criticize liberals for their... lack of tolerance?

If we're going to start playing the irony card, conservatives complain all the time about political correctness and liberal victim culture, yet are happy to start cheering people like Kirsten Powers when they claim victim status, and are filled with indignant outrage over politically incorrect comments when directed towards conservatives (e.g. Sarah Palin's "retarded" son).

So for all the conservative talk about how liberals should be more tolerant, the right openly argues against excessive tolerance while claiming victim-of-intolerance status whenever it's convenient.  Hence, my previous "why are you so intolerant of my bigotry?" comment.

[Sunstroke]

Yeah, I wouldn't call it laughing. I would call it denial.

You can call dog poop a sausage, but I don't recommend you putting it on a bun.

[bsmooth]

Ok, I was talking about interracial marriage in what you quoted above...

The Bible was used to deny interracial marriage, just as it is being used to deny same sex marriage currently. There are multiple passages in the Bible that anti-miscegenationists used.

[Spider-Dan]

I would like to add that for all the complaining about "why are you attacking the messenger?", look at the title of this thread:

Confession: Liberal columnist says left lies, intimidates to silence right

Remove the word "liberal" from the title and this thread (and the book it's based on) immediately loses all value;  it's trivial to find many examples of "columnists" that say much worse about the left.

All of the impact of this book is derived from Powers' status as a self-proclaimed liberal; without it, she's just another Ann Coulter or Dinesh D'Souza preaching to the choir.  So attacking the messenger is not only valid, but completely relevant.

[Dave Gray]

Uh... that's not the message she is sending.

Wow. Where's the headslap emoticon?

I feel like I gave you a reasoned response.  You can laugh me out of the conversation if you'd like.  But I feel that the heart of the story, as it's presented is that the message is valid because of who is sending the message.

[Fau Teixeira]

Dinesh D'Souza

just to derail ..

this guy is a douche .. and should be in prison

[Spider-Dan]

Here's a thought experiment:

Imagine a conservative Republican who worked in the GHW Bush administration.
Now imagine this conservative comes out as gay and goes to work for MSNBC.
Then imagine that this conservative writes a book decrying the bigotry of the right ("his own team").
The right would dismiss said book out of hand in ten different ways.

This is Kirsten Powers.  She worked for the Clinton administration, she became a born-again evangelical Christian, she went to work for Fox News, and now suddenly she has had two separate awakenings:

1) Christians are persecuted in America, especially by Obama
2) Liberals are intolerant of dissent (particularly dissent founded in evangelical Christianity, I imagine)

[Sunstroke]

just to derail ..

this guy (Dinesh D'Souza) is a douche .. and should be in prison

Have to admit that I had never heard of the guy before your post, but got a good laugh when I read about the sentence handed down when he was found guilty for illegal campaign contributions. According to the article, D'Souza must attend weekly therapeutic counseling sessions.  I have to wonder what sort of therapeutic counseling you give to corrupt financiers?

"I know I shouldn't have used straw donors to give money to that candidate...would someone please give me a hug?"