“I don’t think that fingerpointing and namecalling is appropriate.”
— Tom Daschle, senator
The Trent Lott saga has unleashed the latest of bi-partisan salvos meant to sway the hearts and minds of the American people. The conventional wisdom espoused by the guardians of information and education would lead one to believe that “hate speech” always travels from right to left.
After some research, I found that when one puts it all on one page, the left has its share of the dialogue. I’ve compiled a few thoughtful quotes for your reading pleasure.
Now don’t go emailing me more examples. The list is endless. This is my list, okay?
“We must hate. Hatred is the essence of communism.”
— Vladimir Lenin, Bolshevik leader
“Many of your actions to date and those proposed seem to violate every defining principle of this country over which you preside: intolerance of debate (“with us or against us”), marginalization of your critics, the promoting of fear through unsubstantiated rhetoric, manipulation of a quick comfort media, and position of your administration’s deconstruction of civil liberties all contradict the very core of the patriotism you claim.”
— Sean Penn, actor, in a letter to President Bush
Supreme Court justices were “paving the way back toward slavery.”
— Jesse Jackson, activist
“He is not my president. He will never be my president. Republican comes in the dictionary just after reptile and just above repugnant. I looked up Democrat. It’s of the people, by the people, for the people.”
— Julia Roberts, actress
“Reptilian bastards.”
— George Bushnell, American Bar Association president
House Speaker Newt Gingrich “promotes the policies of a terrorist.”
— Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee mailing
“What they want to do is make war on the kids of this country.”
— Bill Clinton, president
“What they’re trying to do, is literally take away meals from kids… run over kids.”
— Leon Panetta, Clinton chief of staff
“More children will be killed. More children will be raped.”
— A Child Welfare League of America ad
“They’d like to see the (Medicare) program just die and go away. You know, that’s probably what they’d like to see happen to seniors, too, if you think about it.”
— Clinton Press Secretary Mike McCurry
Republicans espouse “a social Darwinism that holds that only the strong deserve to live.”
— Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times
“…the battle of Manila… a fight that killed up to 100,000 Filipino civilians.”
— Judith Havemann, Washington Post, likening GOP efforts to curb Medicaid costs
Jews “Hymie”, New York City “Hymietown”
— Jesse Jackson
“…our drinking water would be dirtier, make more people sick, and would kill more people. Our air would be dirtier, make more people sick, and kill more people.”
— Al Gore, vice president
“Has everyone lost their fucking minds? Doesn’t anybody remember the illustrious Reagan-Bush years when people had no money and no jobs? What has happened to people’s memories? It’s like they have Alzheimer’s or something.”
— Cher, singer/actress
Conservative talk-show hosts are the equivalent of genocidal “right-wing Hutu militiamen” in Rwanda.
— Philip Martin, NPR
“Rather I should die a thousand times and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”
— Robert Byrd, senator, declaring he would never fight in the armed services with a “Negro” by his side.
“No justice, no peace.”
— Maxine Waters, congresswoman
“We think the tragedy in Oklahoma City is the inevitable result of a concerted campaign led by the National Rifle Association.”
— Josh Sugarman, Gun-control advocate
“Just like under Hitler…”
— Charles Rangel, congressman, on Republicans
“Republican storm troopers.”
— Mario Cuomo, former governor
“Look at his ratings – how could such a destructive man be so popular with the American people? Not only is he poisoning our air and water by withdrawing his promise to enforce emissions standards and arsenic regulations, but he’s poisoning our political system as well.”
— Barbra Streisand, singer/actress
“The attempt to resegregate America has begun.”
— Bebe Moore Campbell, author
“You go to the back of the bus.”
— Radio ads aired by Mississippi Democrats
“Uncle Tom Justice.”
— Time magazine article headline during Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings
“There will be no one, no one, who has done as much to set back the options of African-Americans.”
— Leon Higginbotham, former federal judge, on Clarence Thomas
“I think he ought to be worried about what’s going on in the good Lord’s mind, because if there is retributive justice, he’ll get AIDS from a transfusion. Or one of his grandchildren will get it.”
— Nina Totenberg, NPR, on Senator Jesse Helms
The selection of John Ashcroft for attorney general resembled “the way that Ku Klux Klan members worked to improve race relations: They, too, reached out to blacks with nooses and burning crosses.”
— William Clay, congressman
Bush had found Ashcroft “from the Taliban wing of American politics.”
— Julian Bond, former NAACP chairman
“Ich bin ein Berliner?”
— Chris Matthews, quoting John F. Kennedy when he likened Republicans on tax cuts to the Nazi Party
Conservatives want to “do the same thing to us Hitler in his wickedness and evil” did to Jews.
— Al Sharpton, activist
“George W. Bush is like a bad comic working the crowd. A moron – if you’ll pardon the expression. He is a thug. He is dull and dangerous.”
— Martin Sheen, actor
“An Antichrist”
“A Hitler”
“If not Hitler, he is a Goebbels”
“Asshole” and allowing him to speak would be “like having a serial murderer debate the value of life.”
— Hawaii ACLU board of directors who publicly objected to inviting Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to take part in a debate
“I would love to personally escort (Kenneth) Lay to an 8-by-10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, ‘Hi, my name is Spike, honey.’”
— Bill Lockyer, California Attorney General in reference to the chairman of Enron
‘You’ve been a drunk, a thief, a possible felon, an unconvicted deserter and a cry baby… for the sake of all that is decent and sacred take leave immediately and bring some honour to your all-important family name,’
— Michael Moore, director/writer, on George W. Bush in “Stupid White Men… And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation”
“Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone is the latest victim of this clandestine assassination group, racing to consolidate total power in the hands of George Bush. Wellstone was assassinated under the exact same circumstances as Mel Carnahan, two years ago.”
— DemocraticUnderground.com
“The man (Lott) is a card-carrying member of the Klan. I know he has that hood in the closet.”
— Spike Lee, director
I won’t let “the white boys win.”
— Donna Brazille, campaign manager for Al Gore
Ronald Reagan “set a standard for exploiting white anger and resentment rarely seen since George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door.”
— Jack White, Time Magazine
“What happened was they (CBS management) got the willies; they got the Buckwheats.”
— Dan Rather slamming CBS news execs for forcing him to report on Gary Condit
They were too busy “eating watermelons and tacos” to learn how to read and write.
— CBS’ Mike Wallace on why blacks and Hispanics have difficulty filling out loan applications
“…a slip of the tongue”
— Cruz Bustamante, California Lieutenant Governor after a speech in which he used the word “nigger” in front of a group of black trade unionists
“If a Democratic leader had made (Lott’s) statements, we would have to call for his stepping aside, without any question whatsoever.”
— Christopher Dodd, senator
… but names will never hurt me.
