That’s what the always-interesting Jen Rubin over at Commentary is calling the increasingly-hysterical (in a non-funny way) reaction of Congressional Democrats to their own constituents:
…citizens got the idea that they could come out—in droves—and give their representatives a piece of their mind. It is all quite a culture shock for the lawmakers, who seem blissfully unaware that somewhere in just about every crowd there is someone with a video camera or a cell phone recording how they respond to criticism. And so far, it’s not a pretty sight.
…and it kind of fits. If you divide the fear into three distinct types – gross-out (purely physical flight reaction to the grotesque), horror (extreme apprehension and concern about a situation), and terror (sudden awareness that one of your fundamental assumptions about the universe is dangerously false)* – then the Democrats are largely exhibiting terror. People simply do not complain like this in their nice, orderly universe. The Democrats’ actions do not have consequences. This cannot be.
Hence, the screaming of every slur that the Democrats can think of in response to a lot of people standing up in meeting halls and loudly proclaiming that they know the difference between rain and somebody urinating on their legs, thanks. It’s almost certainly pure reflex from the cosmic terror: the Democratic congressional leadership must feel like they’re suddenly in the political equivalent of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Moe Lane
PS: IA! IA! IA!
*More or less stolen from Stephen King. Then again, he is an expert in the subject.
Crossposted to RedState.
Ok, I have to admit the Dems plan worries me, but I have question. What is the alternative plan offtered by the GOP and will it reform health care enough to fix the problem?
That we stop the current process and restart it in a properly bipartisan manner. Contra Democratic agitprop, the GOP is perfectly ready to discuss alternatives:
http://blunt.house.gov/Read.aspx?ID=1140
http://johnboehner.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=139549
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/commentary/article/ED-CANT12_20090710-195407/279264/
…but until the Democrats get past “Shut up,” “I won,” and “Hit him again,” we’re not going to waste our time trying to get our voices past the fingers in their ears. And if they think that this is foolish of us, hey! They can go ahead and pass health care rationing without us. They have the votes.
Just like they did with the ‘stimulus.’