a higher standard

This morning I woke up to read an article that contradicts one of my points I made yesterday, describing a Town Hall meeting in Florida that seems to have gotten a little out of control.

My first thought is that the media is likely to have blown it out of proportion. This article looks to be written by the AP, and dwells a bit too much on a cameraman who says this is "the most violent anyone has been towards me," implying that Conservatives are a lot meaner than say, Gay Marriage activists in front of the L.A. temple. (Granted, the Fla photographer probably didn't make it to CA in November.)

But here's the truth, whether it's fair or not: Conservatives, or anyone who claims to be religious must hold themselves to a higher standard. We can't point fingers and say that Liberal protesters have set the precedent for unruly crowds. One of the biggest compliments came from Robert Gibbs, when he called a group of protesters the "Brooks Brothers Brigade" or Barbara Boxer said they were "too well-dressed" to be legit.

James Taranto makes a similar point in his "Best of the Web" post today, noting that Pelosi's statement about protesters wearing swastika's is "validated" (loosely speaking) because there were signs which featured a swastika in place of a cigarette in a no-smoking sign. (Similar to the many crossed-out $ signs that I saw at the Tax day Tea Party with the message "stop spending.") The bigger error, in my opinion, is for Pelosi et al to say people had swastika's when in fact, they obviously had a "no fascism" message. On the other hand, calling Obama's fascist when he's really socialist can be likened to pro-life protesters who gather around LDS church headquarters to protest our stance on abortion.

I am impressed with the numbers who have turned up to meetings to express their views, and I hope that their message gets across. But we shouldn't allow the message to be overshadowed by spreading misinformation of our own, or using the same combative tactics we're used to seeing in protests.

UPDATE: This WSJ article supports what I suspect: that the media's description of various Town Hall meetings are a bit overblown.