How can identical words be “offense” only when uttered by a Republican politician? Ron DeSantis, the Trump-supported candidate for governor of Florida, said of his Democratic opponent, “He’s an articulate spokesman for far-left views, and he’s a charismatic candidate.” The sensible among us would recognize such descriptors as inherently complementary.
Not so with the free speech-repressing politically correct crowd. From DeSantis the left automatically heard “racist dog whistles” because the Democratic nominee is Andrew Gillum, the progressive mayor of Tallahassee, who happens to be black. By contrast, the left remains silent as crickets that Joe Biden used the same language to describe then-presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2007:
“I mean you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s storybook, man.”
Obviously, the faux outrage is only reserved for representatives of the anti-bigotry party of Lincoln. Unfortunately, this tempest in a teapot was further inflamed by Mr. DeSantis’ unsavvy reference to “monkey this up” by embracing Mr. Gillum’s socialist agenda. For political polarization, Democrats assume the worst, most twisted interpretation of GOP gaffes: a quality completely ignored in their own candidates. With the left’s linguistic double standard, the truth is an easy sacrifice for an ill-gotten political advantage.
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