Bush and civility

George W. Bush said in his first inaugural address, January 20, 2001:

America, at its best, matches a commitment to principle with a concern for civility. A civil society demands from each of us good will and respect, fair dealing and forgiveness…. Civility is not a tactic or a sentiment. It is the determined choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos.

Bush said at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, May 29, 2007:

This reform is complex. There’s a lot of emotions around this issue. Convictions run deep. Those determined to find fault with this bill will always be able to look at a narrow slice of it and find something they don’t like. If you want to kill the bill, if you don’t want to do what’s right for America, you can pick one little aspect out of it, you can use it to frighten people.

And of course it’s not just Bush speaking this way, but his entire team. Peggy Noonan put together some of their quotes last week:

The president has taken to suggesting that opponents of his immigration bill are unpatriotic—they “don’t want to do what’s right for America.” His ally Sen. Lindsey Graham has said, “We’re gonna tell the bigots to shut up.” On Fox last weekend he vowed to “push back.” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff suggested opponents would prefer illegal immigrants be killed; Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said those who oppose the bill want “mass deportation.” Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson said those who oppose the bill are “anti-immigrant” and suggested they suffer from “rage” and “national chauvinism.”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 05, 2007 07:08 AM | Send