The Meme Continues: Schumer Invokes the U Word

A few weeks back I had a recommended diary at Kos suggesting that Democrats start using what I called That word, the U word, UNAMERICAN to describe the Conservative assault on our values, our institutions, our poor, our middle class, and every citizen’s civil liberties.

Well, it took a while but my Senator from New York has finally accepted the siren call of the U in his Democratic Response to Bush yesterday:

(Text of Senator Schumer’s remarks after the fold)

As the president leaves on a four-day trip to Europe to encourage the spread of democracy abroad, our democracy here at home is under attack. There is a whiff of extremism in the air the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades. There exists a small group of people who have no tolerance for those whose views are different from theirs and they seek to intimidate everyone else.

. . . They lash out at the time-honored independence of our judicial branch and they seek to undermine the tried and true tradition of the Senate in which the minority party has rights. And unfortunately this small group has tremendous influence over the Republican party and seems to be dictating its politics and policy.

. . . Some of the remarks made by these extreme groups and their allies are dangerous and un-American.

They’ve compared independent judges to the Ku Klux Klan.

They’ve said that the threat posed by judges is more serious than the threat posed by bearded terrorists who fly into buildings.

They’ve invoked Stalin’s evil slogan, “no man, no problem” in talking about judges they disagree with.

If these were just abhorrent statements alone, there would be less to worry about, but the people who have said them are influential people in and out of the government.

They seek to muzzle independent judges who they do not agree with. They seek to change 200 year old rules in the Senate in the middle of the game, because they are not always getting their way.

Now if we can just get other Democrats to use it and keep using it.  The U word resonates with people at a very visceral level.  The more we label these fanatics with it the more we’ll start to reap the rewards.  I sincerely believe most Americans do not cotton to the beliefs and programs these ideologues are pushing but they need a handy name to describe what they dislike about them.  The U word is that name.

Keep it up Senator Schumer.  And encourage your colleagues to keep the pressure on these Un-American Activists on the Right.

Author: Steven D

Father of 2 children. Faithful Husband. Loves my country, but not the GOP.