Quote of the Day

“Who the f*** are you to lecture me, you little brat?!”

As James Taranto writes, this leftist shouting at 14 year old Tea Partier Tricia Willoughby in Wisconsin defines the new civility:

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This weekend’s Tea Party rally in Madison, Wis., drew familiar figures like Sarah Palin and Andrew Breitbart, but perhaps the most interesting speaker was a 14-year-old girl named Tricia Willoughby. Tricia wowed, among others, Rachael Larimore, who writes for Slate.com’s ladies blog, XX Factor.

“What’s impressive is her strong voice, her confidence, and, let’s face it, her youth,” Larimore writes. “The Tea Party is often seen as being made up entirely of cranky middle-aged people who don’t like paying taxes. But here is a smart, engaging young woman speaking with the poise of someone older.”

Showing considerably less poise is the bitter, pudgy middle-aged man featured in a YouTube video of the left-wing counterprotest. “Go home, you little brat!” he shouts at the 14-year-old, struggling to make himself heard over his comrades’ boos and noisemakers. “Who the f— are you to lecture me, you little brat?!”

Apparently the Pudgester is taking a cue from former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, whose New York Times blog post the morning of the rally was titled “Civility Is the Last Refuge of Scoundrels.” Yesterday he followed up with a column titled “Let’s Not Be Civil.” Wait, weren’t Krugman and the newspaper that employs him issuing demands for civility just a few months ago? Nah, we have always been at war with Eastasia.

Something else caught our attention about Tricia Willoughby. Larimore points out that “a quick Google search”–which turns up a post by blogger Stacy McCain–“reveals that her parents are pro-life activists in Madison and that Tricia is in a debate club. Cynics will point out that–gasp!–she is homeschooled, as if that ought to discredit her.”

Larimore concludes: “There is much debate over what long-lasting impact the Tea Party will have, if any. If there are many more like Tricia Willoughby, I wouldn’t underestimate it.”

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Read the whole thing.

(Via Ann Althouse.)

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