1. John Kerry isn’t alone.
2. @HillaryClinton got a lot of flack Tuesday. She said: You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about.
3. HRC: That's why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and or the Senate, that's when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength.
4. Some conservatives saw this as a gotcha. Oh ho ho! they said. Here’s a woman who said we are stronger together during her presidential campaign who’s now saying the Republicans want to destroy Democrats.
5. Here’s a woman who ran on the fact that she was civil and her Republican opponent was not. Harrumph, they said. Harrumph!
6. That’s dumb. First, because that’s a willful misreading of Clinton’s platform. Second, because there is no contradiction between acting civilly and calling out those who don’t. But Clinton is wrong in one way.
7. She said we can return to civility only if the Democrats take the Congress next month (the House and/or the Senate, she said). That’s wrong. The only we can return to civility is for the Democrats to break the Republican choke-hold on the electorate.
8. Will winning control of one branch of the government stop the Trump administration from tearing immigrant families apart; stop the Supreme Court from restricting, to the point of farce, access to the ballot box;
9. Will winning the Congress stop the slow-motion grift of the American people; stop the assault on our sovereignty by Russian saboteurs? No.
10. Is civility something we even desire when the government allows Americans to adopt kids taken from their parents at the border without notifying birth parents. No.
11. No, to all of that. It’s downright irresponsible, if not dangerous, to suggest that civility, decorum, collegiality and so on will be restored with the election of Democrats to the Congress.
12. As Clinton said, the GOP only recognizes and respects strength. That’s what we need after the election. The evil will stop when the Democrats force it to stop.
13. Civility can’t do that.
14. You're so kind to read this thread. Please join me at the Editorial Board! stoehr.substack.com/p/no-going-bac…
