AaronB asked me today to blog the monopolization of the word “shrill” by conservatives. He says, “Everywhere I turn I hear conservative bloggers/pundits referring to allegedly ‘liberal’ media/pols as shrill when they do things like show concern for the poor in New Orleans.”
So, I thought I’d look into it. Here are some examples I found by typing in “shrill” and “shrill liberal” into Google News:
Shrill accusations of Bush lying: the Rutland, VT Herald - 8/31/05
But it’s a free country. And so these individuals are welcome to continue to shriek in shrill tones at the top of their lungs that “Bush is a liar!”
Hurricane Katrina: Liberal Politics Kill: ChronWatch - 9/9/05
The shriekers of the mainstream media and the liberal left must have stopped by the “unlooted” stores of their hometowns for brand new batteries for the bullhorns because the hate-Bush, “let’s blame him for everything” crowd is more shrill than ever.
Hurricane Katrina: A Post Mortem: ChronWatch - 9/11/05
Unfortunately, as with any disaster, there are the shrill wails demanding answers to how this could happen and who is to blame.
Grilling of Roberts widely seen as prelude to 2nd Bush nominee: San Jose Mercury News - 9/11/05
Conservative groups defend President Bush’s first Supreme Court nominee as a principled jurist who understands the limited role of the courts, and predicted liberal efforts to discredit him will fail.
“The more shrill and hysterical they get, the more they isolate themselves,” said Sean Rushton, executive director of the pro-Roberts Committee For Justice.
Liberals, pick another battle: LA Times - 9/17/05
By waxing hysterical about Bush’s surprisingly non-horrendous court choice, liberal interest groups are only playing into the hands of the GOP right, which is always eager for opportunities to paint liberals as shrill, negative and out of touch with mainstream America.
New Orleans: The Follies of the Great Society: FrontPageMag.com - 9/19/05
The shrill demagoguery from the Angry Left will increase, and the Democratic Party may lurch even further to the left as its leadership clutches more desperately to the power they sense is eroding.
Letters: Vigil mom a shrill shill for liberals: Corvalis Gazette-Times - 9/20/05
Liberals desperately want to make St. Cindy their symbol for the revival of a popular wide spread anti-war movement, but like their causes, they picked the wrong person. Either that, or she’s the true reflection of what the left has become: shrill, strident and narcissistic.
Democratic Party wagged by shrill tail: Miami Herald - 9/20/05
[Sheehan] is symptomatic of something that in 2008 could cause the Democratic Party a sixth loss in eight presidential elections. That something is a shrillness unlike anything heard, in living memory, from a major tendency within a major party.
Sure enough, shrill is being used to describe liberal opposition to Bush, Inc. It’s almost as if the Neocon think-tanks distributed their new list of talking points and vocabulary lists, and shrill was at the top of the list. Bleeding-heart liberal used to be the derogatory term in fashion. It would appear that shrill is the newest neocon fad. It certainly paints the left in a weak, annoying, and combative light. My guess is this is especially important with the 2006 mid-term election campaigns nearly upon us.
The one use of shrill that I found to be apropos was this one:
“Many readers find [Ann Coulter] shrill, bombastic, and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives.” From an article on why the Arizona Daily Star dropped Coulter’s column.
Ann Coulter, now that’s shrill!
1 Comment
