Rhetorical Escalation

Rhetorical Escalation

The level of public discourse is sinking to Ma, Ma, Where's My Pa levels. Just a couple noteworthies:

"Former Education Secretary William Bennett told a caller to his syndicated radio talk show Wednesday: "If you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down."

Obviously, Bennett has decided not to pander to the anti-choice wing of the GOP.

A white hot blogosphere exchange launched by Mark Noonan at Blogs for Bush:

I really do urge our Democrats to step back from the edge - you are sitting in a lake of gasoline and you are playing with fire. We on our side will only put up with so much before we start to pay back with usury what we have received.

That really does stylistically echo 19th century attack rhetoric. And Hunter at Kos reponds:

Your party has set aflame the entire political landscape, and now, once burned, you warn sternly from the branches of a burnt-out tree about "playing with fire". You used the ashes of one of the great liberal cities of America, New York City, as war paint for your own sick, racist dreams. You shudder at a burning flag, yet are willing to snip-and-cut basic tenets of the Constitution as needed or convenient.

This has more of a 21st century feel, complete with F-bombs. Still, I can't help thinking of the Cross of Gold speech and other such over the top discourse.