The "Democrats did it too" defense
Published August 4, 2015
by Rob Schofield, NC Policy Watch, August 3, 2015.
Maybe it’s just the hyper-connected, social media age in which we live, but modern politicians, pundits and advocates really love their “gotcha” moments. Often, it seems, there’s no better way to deflate a highflying opponent than to catch him or her in a moment of hypocrisy (or, at least, self-contradiction). If you doubt this, take a dip into the world of Twitter and Facebook where scarcely a day goes by in which a major public figure isn’t getting skewered by a recording of him or her appearing to say or do something that contradicts a present day position or value.
You know the drill:
“Senator Smith says he’s for lowering taxes (or family values or helping public schools), but watch this video of him calling for higher taxes on the middle class (or making a lewd joke or calling teachers lazy).”
Such vignettes have actually been a staple of political campaign ads for decades, but modern communications technology and the advent of smartphone videos have made them ubiquitous – even when it’s not campaign season. Just try to imagine Jon Stewart’s Daily Show without them.
Needless to say, the rapid spread of online “gotcha” moments is a mixed blessing for the policy debate.
On the one hand, of course, caught-in-the-act video and audio can be enormously powerful. In addition to empowering countless citizen journalists, “gotchas” have exposed many a corrupt, dishonest or blatantly hypocritical public figure. It‘s one thing to attack Mitt Romney as a servant of fat cat plutocrats; it’s quite another to hear and see him confide his disdain for 47% of Americans to a roomful of them. Similarly, it’s one thing to label a supposed progressive lawmaker a limousine liberal, but it’s something else to see him partying at a lobbyist-funded shindig in D.C.
On the other hand, however, it’s quite clear that “gotchas” have many shortcomings. Even when not altered to, say, rearrange a speech or use words wildly out of context (something that’s always a serious risk and concern), they often present a picture that is far from complete or even blatantly inaccurate. Witness the recent “controversy” about Planned Parenthood manufactured by anti-abortion activists and the excesses of campaign “trackers” of varying political persuasions.
“The Democrats did it too!”
A variation of the “gotcha” video/audio phenomenon that’s been much in use in North Carolina in recent years is a tactic that we might call the “Democrats did it too” defense.
You’ve undoubtedly heard and seen this tactic in use over the last few years. It goes like this: When the Republicans in power face criticism for a policy decision or position, they quickly leap to find and hold up instances in the past in which Democrats have done something similar.
A classic example is the debate over gerrymandered legislative maps. When confronted with the stunning impact of GOP maps in turning a 50/50 state into one with massive Republican legislative majorities, the cry goes out: “The Democrats did it too!” Here’s the Pope-Civitas Institute breaking in that much-repeated theme way back in 2011:
“The first North Carolina legislative and congressional redistricting maps drawn by Republicans since Reconstruction have passed the General Assembly, and they have been greeted with caterwauling from Democrats claiming they give an unfair advantage to their opponents.The media has largely allowed Democrats to articulate these complaints without mentioning their party’s long, sordid affair with political gerrymandering – a love that did not end until they realized their party could no longer control the process.”
And so it has gone on issue after issue.
A bloated state budget bill packed with hundreds of pages of “special provisions” (i.e. new laws) never before considered in the regular legislative process?
“Well, the Democrats did it too.”
A frequently short-circuited legislative process in which debate is summarily cut off before numerous legislators or, God forbid, the public at-large, have had a chance to be heard?
“The Democrats did it too.”
A seemingly endless budget stalemate?
“The Democrats did it too.”
Big cuts to K-12 and higher education funding?
All together: “The Democrats did it too!”
Just last week, a John Locke Foundation staffer attempted to defend the latest planned cuts to teacher assistants in current budget proposals (as well, presumably, as others made by Republicans in recent years) by citing a decade-old dispute between Democrats over the issue. The name of his blog post? Yes, you guessed it:
“Democrats wanted to cut TAs too.”
A thoroughly lame excuse
Though it’s typically framed by its users as a real rhetorical “gotcha,” it’s self-evident that the “Democrats did it too” excuse is a lame one. First and foremost, it admits – often explicitly – to the failings of the policy or behavior. As it has been with countless playground bullies, fraternity hazers, political bosses and military juntas throughout history, the message devolves to a blatant and straightforward one: “You may not like what we’re doing and it may even be bad policy, but we had to put up with it before and we’re in power here now, so get used to it.”
Even if one sets aside the crude “eye for an eye” nature of the whole thing, however, there are other obvious reasons the excuse is especially ineffective in the current context.
First of all, try as they might to cast their actions as ‘business as usual,” there’s no denying that Republicans campaigned for the power they now wield promising to end many such abuses. This clearly applies to issues like gerrymandering, budget special provisions and limiting debate – all of which were issues in which the GOP promised reform and new levels of transparency and openness.
Add to this the fact that the Republicans have not just continued many flawed Democratic policies and behaviors but doubled down on and even perfected them – see for example the matter of gerrymandering where Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger once regularly sponsored nonpartisan redistricting reform bills before overseeing the birth of some of the nation’s most elaborately rigged legislative districts – and the whole matter becomes that much more outrageous.
In short, Republicans and their defenders may believe and act like they’ve unearthed some real “gotchas” when they highlight similarities between their own policies and behaviors in the present and those of their Democratic predecessors in the past, but the truth is that such excuse-making only makes the GOP look that much worse.
The challenge going forward
Unfortunately, for all of its obvious flaws and blatant hypocrisy, there’s reason to believe that the “Democrats did it too” tactic remains effective at times. For instance, with the continued demise of the mainstream news media, the number of reporters who can properly distinguish the current unending legislative session (in which lawmakers are not even discussing the budget differences that divide them) from past extended sessions (in which Democrats met regularly in an effort to bridge the gaps between them) is dwindling quickly.
In other words, no, in this case the Democrats didn’t do it too, but it’s not clear how many people realize this fact.
Let’s hope citizen journalists and just plain average citizens pay attention and help fill the gap. If they don’t, we may all find ourselves falling victim to one very big “gotcha.”
August 4, 2015 at 8:54 am
Frank Burns says:
Whatever. We need to focus on growing our economy which creates jobs and generates taxes. The approach from the left is always to increase spending and to raise taxes. This is a regressive approach and as such we need to avoid it. We don't want to be anything like the left.
August 4, 2015 at 8:58 am
Norm Kelly says:
Typical lib. Yeah, we did it. Yeah, we thumbed our noses at the voters, on a regular basis. Yeah, we lied to the voters, on a regular basis, and we still do it.
But it's those rascally Republicans that you need to be mad at.
Yeah, if you give us control again, we'll continue to lie to you, we'll continue to thumb our noses at you, we'll continue to play the race card, we'll continue to use gerry whenever it's in our best interest, we'll continue to buy votes & pay off certain people/groups. All of this is true and will be true again, if you give us power back.
But those rascally Republicans are really slimey people and ought to be voted out of office.
Please ignore that we are telling you in advance that we'll continue to do what we've always done, ignore that we lie right to your face, so long as you hold those rascally Republicans responsible for what THEY are doing.
Oh, and please ignore the fact that some of the things WE did are now being blamed on those rascally Republicans by both us AND our allies in the media. Please don't read any Noise & Disturber article that shows any history of the coal ash problem in the state because it will clearly show the entire fiasco was created by Demoncrat policies! And we don't want you to be educated on the facts because then you'll hate US and NOT those rascally Republicans. Please continue to read our talking points memo duly re-printed in your local ally media; cuz if you go to a more reliable source, you just might find out the truth and that would be devastating to our party.
Just remember, when you are crazy enough to give us control again, we promise to out-do those rascally Republicans on EVERY issue that you now hear us whining about! That's a promise you can take to the bank. (but of course, since we are libs, we'll find a way to tax you on that bank deposit also!)
August 4, 2015 at 11:17 am
Richard L Bunce says:
You are claiming the Democrat's did it too falsely... it is not a claim of it's OK for the Republicans to do it... it's a claim against folks like you who sat on their hands and saying nothing when their Democrat's were doing it but not that it is Republican's the outrage is everywhere. Specifically on gerrymandering... you do not want to get rid of gerrymandering, you want to return to the gerrymandering that favored the Democratic Party candidates, particularly racial gerrymandering where you want to spread just enough of your parties reliable voters around into districts so you your guys win.
If you were actually against gerrymandering you would be for something like this...
http://rangevoting.org/GerryExec.html
August 4, 2015 at 7:00 pm
bruce stanley says:
