Civility...from the hate filled Democrats

Now they think civility's a must

By VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

The years 2004-07 -- between the failed campaign of John Kerry, the Democrats' control of Congress and the beginning of the successful Iraq surge -- should be known as "The Insane Years." In that era, Gitmo was a gulag, renditions were the stuff of Hollywood movies and President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were deemed veritable war criminals.

I recall all that only because Oprah Winfrey just called for more civility to be shown President Obama. "Even if you're not in support of his policies, there needs to be a certain level of respect," she said. Bill Maher also recently expressed outrage over the uncivil tone Bill O'Reilly supposedly showed Obama in his Super Bowl Day interview.

Such concern for deference and conciliation is fine and good, but do we recall the crazy years of not so long ago?

Then, Michael Moore called for US defeat in Iraq and dubbed the Islamists who were killing our soldiers "Minutemen." In April 2004, he wrote on his Web site: "The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen . . . The majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe -- just maybe -- God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end."

In the old days, calling for the deaths of one's countrymen was considered treasonous. Yet, such ranting wasn't surprising, given Moore's ideology and crassness. What was inexplicable was the Democratic Party's reaction to his mythodrama, "Fahrenheit 9/11," and Moore's royal treatment at the 2004 Democratic convention, when his sentiments were well-known.

Oprah and Maher were quiet when Nicholson Baker published his 2004 novel "Checkpoint," imagining the death of George Bush -- also the theme of a docudrama by Gabriel Range that earned him a first prize at the Toronto Film Festival.

In fact, Maher, in early 2007, said of an apparent assassination attempt against Cheney: "But I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn't be dying needlessly tomorrow . . . I'm just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That's a fact."

A weird era that was, when British liberals wrote letters to Ohio residents, beseeching them to vote against Bush in the key battleground state. A widely circulated 2004 Guardian op-ed by Charles Brooker opined, "John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley, Jr. -- where are you now that we need you?"

Did Oprah deplore that climate of violence? John Glenn, Al Gore and Sen. Robert Byrd all evoked brownshirts and Nazis to demonize the president. Remember how Cindy Sheehan and her often virulently anti-Semitic rantings were used by the Democratic Party?

Hollywood in those years made a succession of money-losing, poorly scripted propaganda films on Iraq: "In the Valley of Elah," "Rendition," "Lions for Lambs" and "Redacted." Do we recall how the legions who clamored to go into Iraq suddenly were blaming others for spoiling their three-week victory and not finding WMD -- as if the Congress had not voted for 23 reasons to authorize the war?

Remember 2007, when The New York Times gave a discount to MoveOn.org for the "General Betray Us" ad? Hillary Clinton suggested Gen. David Petraeus' congressional testimony required a measure of disbelief. Obama assured us the surge had failed, and Joe Biden lectured Petraeus on trisecting Iraq.

I remember those eerie times well. There was Jonathan Chait's New Republic essay about why "I hate President George W. Bush." Garrison Keillor called Republicans "brownshirts in pinstripes." Then-NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said of Bush & Co., "Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and the Confederate swastika flying side by side."

So bring on the new civility. Let's by all means respect the president and his office, and focus on his policies, not the person, agreeing when we can, disagreeing when we must. But, please, let's also not forget that, not long ago, things weren't as they are now.