Expert: Hyperbolic Political Rhetoric Not Unusual
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Following the shooting rampage in Arizona, a leading expert on political rhetoric does not think the current congress is more uncivil than politicians of past eras. But, she says, the internet and opinion-driven radio and TV amplify the sense of confrontation.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the director of the Annenberg Public Policy center at the University of Pennsylvania, thinks politicians should watch their "hyperbole." "They should be asking themselves whether some of their metaphors have been used too casually, particularly metaphors that suggest violence."
Jamieson recalls Sarah Palin's campaign rallying cry, "don't retreat, reload," and the combative language Barack Obama used during the 2008 presidential campaign, "if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."
Jamieson says, "It's also true that congress does tend to come back to its norm, after having seen these bounce ups in incivility after turnovers and highly contentious debates."
She adds, if congress didn't return to more normal forms of discourse, it wouldn't get anything done.
Steve Tawa, KYW Newsradio
