There is such a thing as condemning incivilitiy and falling on the sword just because the opposing party tells one to. I believe it is just as uncivil of conservatives to live by the dictates of a reprehensible party (the demorats)and standing firm on ones own principles. If the so-called conservative has to get his bearings from demands of the demorats he is no conservative and I will stand by that statement and he will not get my vote. We have enough of these wusses in Congress now and we definitely don't need one in the White House.
OK, but you're missing the point. Lots of conservatives condemned her comments almost immediately -- independent of any demands by the left -- because they genuinely considered her words to be inappropriate. I agree that conservatives shouldn't react simply to placate to the left. What stuns me is how many people assume that a conservative can't possibly consider personal attacks to be inappropriate. I don't need to be told by the left that what she said was inappropriate. I can see that for myself. If I expect my children to be civil, why can't I expect a woman, who is older than me and Ivy-league-educated, to behave in a civil manner? It is one thing to stand up to the demands of the left, if you don't agree with them. It is quite another thing to be obstinate and refuse to condemn something, knowing full well you would jump on it if a liberal had said it, simply because you don't want to be dictated to. If you genuinely applaud the use of personal attacks then, by all means, applaud her. I don't. So I won't. And I like to think that conservatives are nice, civil people.