‘Vicious rhetoric’ only from the left

RE: Editorial June 18, “It Can Be Done”

How disappointing of the Journal, in the wake of a crazed attack on a group of Republican lawmakers — apparently specifically because they were Republican — to choose as your first object of blame the fostering of “vicious rhetoric” by the Republicans during the Obama administration. Do I hear an “It’s your own darn fault” in there somewhere?

In six months, the behavior of the Democrats and their liberal-leaning media enablers has made the Republican/conservative response during the entire eight years of the previous administration look like, well, NOTHING.

Most of the Republicans I know stoically endured eight years of an administration they believed was doing real harm to their country. I heard very little “vicious rhetoric.” Some did write letters to the Journal expressing their opinions, but I can’t think of any of those letters that I would put in the “vicious rhetoric” category. I remember no name-calling, racial or personal slurs or overblown accusations. For the most part, they were simply expressing their concerns in a public forum.

They were disappointed, worried and sad about the exponential growth of the government and the continued erosion of American freedoms but, as far as I saw, there was no orchestrated so-called Resistance. In contrast, in the months since November’s election, we have received a daily ration from the media of what I would call actual “vicious rhetoric” from the loonier edges of the left. If you believe media reports, Republicans hate everyone from soup to nuts, want to break up families, want no one to have medical care etc., etc., etc. ad nauseum.

It is extremely ironic to me that in the process of telling your readers to tone down the rhetoric, you succumb to the very sin for which you are castigating others. JUDY SCHUSTER Albuquerque