Tom Fulks, lecturing on civility?!!

In response to the Tom Fulks’ commentary on civility:

There are few things in SLO politics as ironic as Tom Fulks acting as arbiter of all things uncivil, but for the sake of this discussion, I’ll be polite.

If we are going to use cancer as a metaphor, then first let’s properly diagnose it. Diseases don’t have scapegoats. Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich may be irritants, but it is historically false to believe these two are the onset of the disease of political incivility.

Let’s give credit where credit is due and to whom would want it. This cancer is a distinct and deliberate shift in our national political discourse, from ideas to personalities and to groups. We don’t debate things like tax cuts, health care and national security. We debate oppressors vs. the oppressed. Tax cuts are about the rich. Health care is about the uninsured. National security has a whole host of victims, from Muslims to Hispanic children. Climate change, “we’re all gonna die!”

The cancer, “identity politics.” It has an author, Saul Alinsky. It has a book, “Rules for Radicals.” And it has followers, see Hillary Clinton.

Dan Rather’s list of incivilities is a list of ideas, which should and could be debated, turned into personal attacks. No irony there.