Here’s a comment I received on one of my earlier posts over the Obama birth certificate nonsense.
The birth issue is only the tip of the iceberg. Obama’s secret agenda will destroy our country as we know it. He must be prosecuted for treason along with the cronies who put him where he is and they number in the thousands. The voting system has to be changed to insure manipulation isn’t possible and those who established the current voting system prosecuted.
Why is Obama traveling to so many countries now? What is he telling those governments behind closed doors? I guarantee you he is selling the United States out!
The truth be told we are in the midst of a new American Revolution instigated by the liberal faction of this country who continue to lie to and steal from the American public. As long as this condition exists the truth will never matter.
Obama must be removed from office NOW one way or the other either by prosecution or other means!
Normally, this is a comment I would choose to ignore as nothing more than radical right-wing extremism. It’s inflammatory, hate-filled and just plain stupid. But in light of the violence by right-wing radicals, it points again to the dangerous rhetoric being spouted each day by factions within the conservative movement.
Krugman writes in today’s NYT…
Back in April, there was a huge fuss over an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security warning that current conditions resemble those in the early 1990s — a time marked by an upsurge of right-wing extremism that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Conservatives were outraged. The chairman of the Republican National Committee denounced the report as an attempt to “segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration” and label them as terrorists.
A couple of points here. First of all, the report was commissioned by the Bush administration last autumn. It just happened to come out in Obama’s term. Secondly, as much as conservatives feigned mock rage at the report, claiming it made all conservatives suspects, the report was clear that it was referring to right-wing extremism.
There is, however, one important thing that the D.H.S. report didn’t say: Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.
Now, for the most part, the likes of Fox News and the R.N.C. haven’t directly incited violence, despite Bill O’Reilly’s declarations that “some” called Dr. Tiller “Tiller the Baby Killer,” that he had “blood on his hands,” and that he was a “guy operating a death mill.” But they have gone out of their way to provide a platform for conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, just as they did the last time a Democrat held the White House.
And at this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.
Krugman points to Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh’s rants as well as conservative paper The Washington Times as prime purveyors of “mainstreaming of right-wing extremism.” No surprise there. What is more disturbing are the number of Republican politicians who not only fail to denounce the hate talk but in many instances agree with it.
And when Jon Voight, the actor, told the audience at a Republican fund-raiser this week that the president is a “false prophet” and that “we and we alone are the right frame of mind to free this nation from this Obama oppression,” Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, thanked him, saying that he “really enjoyed” the remarks.
McConnell is not alone. Republican politicians have been running wild with “Obama is a socialist” chants and at least one who has doubts about the president’s legitimacy. Krugman sums it up well.
What will the consequences be? Nobody knows, of course, although the analysts at Homeland Security fretted that things may turn out even worse than in the 1990s — that thanks, in part, to the election of an African-American president, “the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years.”
And that’s a threat to take seriously. Yes, the worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.
Someone needs to assume the Republican leadership and reset the tone for a rational debate over Obama’s policies. For the time being, all that’s out there are those who feed the fire of hate or remain silent in fear of a Limbaugh tongue lashing if they should dare attempt to reign in the rhetoric.
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Perhaps they (the nutters) need to be reminded of the instigators of the first American revolution, like Thomas Paine, to realise where they really should be coming from.
Too busy to comment except to say OMG! People are out of control. They never had anyone make so much common sense in government… they are afraid so they attack…
such levels and extremes indicate deep fear; the anger is a cover for fear.
What are the right wingnuts afraid of? This country has been a democracy and will continue to be one.
The alarming part of all this is that those right extreme folks perpetrate violence, hate, divisiveness at an alarming rate. With every pore of their body they drip out hate, half or none truths designed to inflame the baser of us. And all this hate seems extremely calculated, who is pulling the strings? Further, these folks are not self aware (or if they are they just don’t care which makes them sociopaths/psychopaths)enough to see their actions are akin to the radical terrorists.
Fundamentalism is Fundamentalism no matter cloak of country or cloak of religion. While I may not understand what the right wingnuts have to be afraid of we all should be very wary of them. Because the next time we walk into a Federal Building those Americans may choose that moment to make it our last.
“While I may not understand what the right wingnuts have to be afraid of we all should be very wary of them.”
How are statements like this any different from those you protest?
I see as much hate, anger, intolerance and bias from the loons on this blog as anywhere else.
And then, every time some crackpot goes over the edge, you want to blame it on Conservatives. All you want to do is discredit and silence anyone who dares speak out. Well, as Piperni so colorfully put it, you can go screw yourselves.
There is legitimate dissent and dissatisfaction with this President and this Administration. You guys want to salivate and fawn over his every movement and action. Many of us do not share your idolatry.
Are any of you any less the hate monger you accuse O’Reilly or Limbaugh of being? No. You are not. You think maybe the African American turned Muslim could have been incited to kill by some of the nonsense you guys keep puking out about Gitmo and Torture? Is not your demand and desire to release information that you have been assured and you know will cause the deaths of Americans just more hate mongering from the left?
You loons want to focus in on the lone nutcase and then lump all into the same crack pot. But there are those of us out here who are just as level headed, just as intelligent and just as informed as you are and it is our right, it is our obligation to voice our concerns.
I will never let a few cowards such as you guys quiet me. I’ve got my thoughts and my opinions. You are the lesser ones for simply ridiculing and dismissing what I have to say as just more, right wing, wing nut comment.
I don’t condone violence. But I will exercise the right to voice my complaint until if and when you guys finally succeed in quelling dissent.
Different level and tone of rhetoric, Libby. You can’t equate anyone on the left with a Glenn Beck. Or a Limbaugh. Or a Bachmann. etc.
Nobody called for Bush to fail. (he did that on his own.) Nobody said he was a secret muslim. Or inelligible for office. Or anything of that nature.
You read that commenter’s words. He is being pandered to.
And, if you compare acts of violence when Clinton was in office, compared to Bush, it shows that the rightwing extremists get out of control. Statistically speaking. There is no denying the numbers. And, it now repeats. Only worse.
There will always be debate. There will always be extremists on both sides. But, it’s over the top when it’s a Democrat in office.
“While I may not understand what the right wingnuts have to be afraid of we all should be very wary of them.”
How are statements like this any different from those you protest?
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Libby, had you quoted the whole paragraph you would see how statements like that are different. Since you do not condone violence I would think you could understand that extremists making a call to arms and inciting violence is a legitimate concern.
Look, no one is saying there isn’t intelligent life out there but the intelligent dissent doesn’t come across much on the air waves. What comes across is dissent laden with hate and calls for failure and words that engender fear, words that beat the extremist drum.
The better choice might be to voice the conservative opinion, without a call to arms, without a call for the president to fail. I’m quite sure that if such opinions are stated without the hate mantra they would be better heard.