Kerby Anderson

After some of the political battles on Capitol Hill and after the political ads during the mid-term elections, I think most of us would like a return to civility. Hillary Clinton explains when civility might once again become part of the political process. She told CNN, “You can’t be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.” So she concluded that if the Democrats were “fortunate enough to win back the House and/or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again.” Michael Barone made two observations about her comments. First, you can be civil even if you are convinced the other party is not. Don’t say that you cannot be civil when what you mean is you don’t want to be civil. Second, her prescription for civility is essentially this: “Just let Democrats win the elections, and then Republican senators and their wives can eat dinner in restaurants without being forced out by jeering crowds.” Michael Goodwin expressed alarm at Hillary Clinton’s comments and wondered why there wasn’t any significant outrage or response to her comments. “Clinton knows we’re already in the danger zone when it comes to the political temperature. Her comments, then, are as reckless as bringing a can of gasoline to a bonfire.” One other anomaly is also worth mentioning. Not only is there little outrage about the comments by Hillary Clinton, Maxine Waters, and others. There also seems to be a deliberate attempt to prevent anyone from using the word “mob” to describe the menacing actions by progressives. David French details the number of times just on CNN when guest commentators were told not to describe these actions as mob behavior. Not only can we not expect civility any time soon, but we cannot even use appropriate words to describe incivility.