Bob CollinsIt’s pretty unusual to see an opinion coming from the hallowed halls of NPR, so it’s a little surprising to see Scott Detrow, NPR’s congressional correspondent, conveying an opinion on the brouhaha over Sarah Huckabee being asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia the other day, even if he’s right.
That touched off the usual 24/7 cable news back-and-forth with the declarations of hurt feelings and moral high grounds.
Oh, please.
Take it, Detrow.
1) it often sidesteps the fact that the President of the United States built a big part of his political brand on mean personal insults, and 2) it often seems to boil down to "we should be polite to powerful white people"
— Scott Detrow (@scottdetrow) June 26, 2018
Politics is more theater than policy anymore and it’s what people eat up, even while insisting they want something they don’t really want.
People — at least the people who don’t know how to turn off the political news — want blood and the heads of their opponents.
Like this guy, showing his Minnesota Nice.
Again, our photographer took this in Minnesota. I had the location wrong the first time. Apologies. pic.twitter.com/OwuCt7WAUr
— Patricia Zengerle (@ReutersZengerle) November 6, 2016
Or this woman…
The woman who shouted an obscenity at President Trump last week was an intern for Senator Maggie Hassan, and has since been suspended. https://t.co/crjwaRd0GM
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) June 26, 2018
This woman…
2/2 Here's a video of that woman screaming in Jim @Acosta's face last night at Trump's South Carolina rally.#TuesdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/GpXhLumRHo
— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly 🌊 BWCS (@AynRandPaulRyan) June 26, 2018
Civility?
A video showed a woman in California unleashing a diatribe against Mexicans, calling them rapists, animals and drug dealers https://t.co/HKFECUIBJL
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 26, 2018
NPR’s Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep, too, is pointing out the uncivil misdeeds of politicians and their disciples, which, no doubt, will earn him scorn by those who believe the job of journalists is merely to repeat the ongoing hypocrisy rather than stand up to the theater of victimization.
Want to get this straight. The President is criticizing a member of Congress for a lack of civility by calling her “an extraordinarily low IQ person.” Is that it? https://t.co/0pWbfcH9s3
— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) June 26, 2018
Hey thanks for listening, and saying NPR has good journalists. We’ll keep hearing a range of views, while insisting on facts from everyone. A free and full public debate is itself an American value. And a news program where everyone agreed with you would not be of much use. https://t.co/daC1hDNwKF
— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) June 26, 2018
Related: After a ridiculous days-long bad-faith debate on civility, can the press manage to learn self-respect? (Vox)
