And They Call Conservatives Intolerant?

It’s been one week since Tony Snow passed away at the age of 53, leaving behind his wife and three children. He died of colon cancer, the same disease that took his mother from him when he was 17. Here is a sampling of the comments left by liberals on the Los Angeles Times “Top of the Ticket” blog:

I wonder how he likes hell (tedson)

I only wish his suffering were more prolonged (Efrain Rojas)

The question begs to be asked, is it possible to die when you don’t have a soul (Chad)

I hope he suffered at the end. (Melanie Samson)

Goodbye Snowjob – I will not miss you at all (RB)

the world is now a slightly better place (gundumma)

GOOD RIDDANCE CANCER WAS TOO GOOD FOR HIM HOPE IT WAS PAINFUL. NOW FOR THE REST OF THIS SCUMMY ADMINISTRATION. COME ON CANCER, DO YOUR GOOD WORK……………… (perry)

And a commentator named Alan posted this remark on that blog:

All you right wingers would be saying much worse things if the same had happened to Ted Kennedy or Obama - you are nothing but trash and liars just like Snow job was. good riddance to bad rubbish

Considering Alan’s pronouncement, it only makes sense to check out what conservatives actually did say when Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May. So I checked out freerepublic.com, and these were the only comments left on it that might be considered anything other than kind:

Bummer. I hope he repents (airborne)

I wonder how long he will be kept on life support to keep his Senate seat in dem hands. (greyfoxx39)

Maybe Teddy will now have second thoughts about all the wrongheaded positions he’s taken throughout his life, chiefly, his rabid pro-abortion stand. There’s something fundamentally wrong with someone who cheers on the murder of unborn children. (reagan_fanatic)

Hmmm…according to the MSM, conservatives are bitter and intolerant while liberals are open-minded and want the best for everyone. But my experiences have always shown the opposite to be true (with a few exceptions, of course) and these comments match my experiences. The possibly negative quotes from conservatives are far fewer than the actually negative ones from liberals, many of which I left out to save space. Just as important, the quotes from conservatives are benign by comparison. The liberal remarks are not merely “negative,” they are venomous and hateful, and compared to them it’s not even clear whether each of the three conservative remarks is really negative, or just poorly worded.

I want to be very clear: The liberal comments I quoted do not reflect the majority from the LA Times blog. Many of the comments were sympathetic and humane, yet the cruel ones accounted for almost two of every five and it’s worth noting that the blog states: “Comments are moderated, and will not appear until they've been approved.” (emphasis mine) So, the multitude of cruel remarks was deemed appropriate by whoever moderates that blog, which is located on the web site of one of the nation’s largest and most liberal newspapers.

Though I suspect that comments on freerepublic.com are also moderated or subject to approval, I could not find any place that says so. If in fact they are moderated, some conservatives may have tried to post inappropriate remarks; but if that happened, they were weeded out by other conservatives in the interest of taste and decency. Which is consistent with something else I’ve long thought to be obvious: that conservatives as a group hold themselves to standards, while liberals as a group do not.

This instance is one more example of why, if I was a liberal, I’d be embarrassed to admit it.