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Confessions of a 'Content Cop': Reader Comments, Civility and Censorship
By Nathan Grady - Politics DailyI'm one of those people some Politics Daily readers seem to hate. I'm a "content cop," one of about 10 comment moderators responsible for maintaining practical civility on this site. I am part of what we jokingly call the Politics Daily police department -- "the PD PD." PD articles -- including this one -- give readers a chance to post a comment. That's part of our attempt to "cultivate a civilized and thoughtful forum" among different viewpoints -- what columnist Jeffrey Weiss dubbed a "civilogue." But not all reader comments make it past the guards. Many readers get angry about that, claim ...
Richard Dreyfuss at CPAC: America is the 'Greatest Political Miracle in History'
By Matt Lewis - Politics DailyI had a chance to talk with Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss Thursday during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington about politics and civility. Dreyfuss told me he was at CPAC to learn -- not because he is a conservative. "I'm not a member [of the conservative movement], but I have some conservative in me," he said. Last month, Politics Daily Editor in Chief Melinda Henneberger reported on Dreyfuss' talk to the National Press Club on a similar topic. "If your politics haven't changed in 25 years, you should go into therapy," he said, "because life ...
Richard Dreyfuss, Crusader for Civility and Labeler of 'Villains'
By Melinda Henneberger - Politics DailyWhen I first heard that my 'Goodbye Girl'-era crush Richard Dreyfuss was coming to town to push civility and literacy in civics – hey, just like we are! – I couldn't have been more excited if Colin Firth had challenged me to a game of Scrabble. But then Slate's Dave Weigel had to go and drag out some ancient interview Dreyfuss gave Joy Behar (OK, this was three months ago) explaining that to "play Dick Cheney,'' in the movie "W.," all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always ...
Religious Right Meets Religious Left: Two Evangelical Christians Urge Civility
By David Gibson - Politics DailyTwo icons of the Christian right and Christian left, Chuck Colson and Jim Wallis, have penned a joint statement that calls on the nation to "re-examine the tone and character of our public debate" in the wake of the Tucson shootings and says that believers "should lead by example." Colson, a political conservative who became active in prison ministry after doing jail time for crimes related to his work in the Nixon White House, and Wallis, who has emerged as a leader of the so-called Religious left, write that "no act of incivility can be blamed for the profoundly evil shooting" of Rep. ...
The State of Our Union's Political Civility: Many Are Hungry for More
By Jeffrey Weiss - Politics DailyDoes "the American people" want President Obama to make a case for political civility in his State of the Union address? Of course not. Despite the too-common political rhetoric, "American people" is a plural, not a singular, noun. There's no point of even slight controversy about which all 300 million of us stand as one. And even if I restate the question with the proper plural-noun grammar – "Do the American people...?" – I am not going to pretend that there's an unarguable answer for a majority. But there is some evidence that a lot of us would not mind another nod from ...
Are We Being Nicer Yet? [VIDEO]
By Dave George - AOL NewsFollowing the tragedy in Arizona, President Barack Obama -- and countless others -- called on Americans to end the vitriol and be a little nicer to each other. Since then, Maine Gov. Paul LePage told the NAACP to "kiss my butt" and Ricky Gervais insulted every living member of show business at the Golden Globes. To be fair, though, he's not American. But how is the "new niceness" taking root among average Americans? I took to the streets of Washington, D.C., to find out. The results were ... well, check them out for yourself. ...
From 9/11 to Tucson: No Wonder Our Politics Are So Paranoid
By Walter Shapiro - Politics DailyNearly a half century ago – writing in the shadow of the John Birch Society and Joe McCarthy – liberal historian Richard Hofstadter identified what he called, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics." Perhaps too glibly, Hofstadter tried to link the anti-Catholic and anti-Masonic agitation of the 19th century with the right-wing conspiracy theories that arose out of the Cold War. (Robert Welch, the founder of the Birch Society, actually believed that Dwight Eisenhower – Ike! – was "a dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.") Endorsing the ...
Tucson Shooting: A Call for 'National Political Civility Month'
By Jeffrey Weiss - Politics DailyMaybe the biggest frustration for most people after an inexplicable event like the Arizona massacre is finding something to do other than condemn and mourn. I have an idea. I've always considered Black History Month to be unfortunate, in a way. Given how inextricably the history of blacks is entwined with the history of America and the world, what's the point of a separate month? As if we needed, say, an "Agricultural History Month." Is it possible to understand American history without understanding the history of American farming? And yet, I get it. There's a reason to focus attention on ...
Opinion: Can Oprah Help Restore Civility?
By Bernie Goldberg - AOL NewsI have long thought that whatever else the wondrous worldwide Web is, it is a lunatic asylum, where mean-spirited cretins roam its dark halls and smash against padded walls spewing hate all over the place pretty much for just one reason: They disagree with you. I speak from first-hand experience. If you honestly believe there's a liberal bias in the so-called mainstream media, as I do, the reaction by the anonymous critics on the Web is not that I'm simply wrong, it's that I'm a freaking fill-in-the-blank -- and they're not so polite as to use the word "freaking." Jon Stewart is a smart guy ...
A Civilogue Guide to Militant Civility
By Jeffrey Weiss - Politics DailyThe time has come for a militant civility -- which is not the same as a civilian militia. A few days ago, I posted a bit of a rant, calling on those of us who believe that passionate debate need not be insulting or disrespectful to take back the arena. I even created a word to describe us: Civilogues. ...
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