in his Friday column for the Washington Post. Titled Republican rhetoric over the top it totally demolishes the false equivalence some try to offer to avoid confronting how awful some of what spews from the mouths of Republicans and their supporters actually is.
He begins very bluntly:
Not all overheated political rhetoric is alike. Delusional right-wing crazy talk — the kind of ranting we’ve heard recently from washed-up rock star Ted Nugent and Tea Party-backed Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) — is a special kind of poison that cannot be safely ignored.
Let me be clear: I’m saying that the extreme language we hear from the far right is qualitatively different from the extreme language we hear from the far left — and far more damaging to the ties that bind us as a nation. Tut-tutting that both sides should tone it down is meaningless. For all intents and purposes, one side is the problem.
After thoroughly exploring and exposing how horrid the remarks of Ted Nugent really are, and before he pivots to West, Robinson puts it quite bluntly:
This is what distinguishes the flame-throwers of the far right from those of the far left. Nugent and his ilk seek to deny their political opponents the very right to believe in a different philosophy. Agree with me, he says, or be stomped.
Two more brief snips:
There is no symmetry here. The far left may hurl insults at the right but doesn’t scream “fascism” whenever a Republican proposes privatizing Medicare.
Then after challenging Romney to disavow Nugent, and asking Speaker John Boehner whether he agrees with West's assertion about the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus being communists, he concludes like this:
Speak up, gentlemen; I didn’t hear you.
So why isn't the press and the talking heads demanding the disavowals we have yet to hear from Romney and Boehner?
Why is there still false equivalency?
Why are there still more Conservatives and Republicans on Sunday talk shows than Democrats - and forget about real Progressives.
Thank you Eugene Robinson for using the megaphone of your Pulitzer winning column to speak the truth!