In light of Draft Dodging/Drug Addicted/Fat Assed/Pigboy Rush Limbaugh’s smear against any U.S. soldier who dares to question the wisdom of Dear Leader, and also in light of the outrageous, phony Move.on “scandal”, I’ve been thinking of something I saw earlier this year. It’s this piece by Digby that says it all: the savages of the radical Right can say anything, can utter any smear, can advocate butchering their political opponents, can spread any lie, and they will still be treated respectfully by the mainstream media. This is the same MSM that will wildly exaggerate any misstep by a Democrat and scream and shout about how “unhinged” the political left is in America.
The depth of the Right’s viciousness is almost beyond belief. Digby–and I–take them seriously. Some of her examples:
When Limbaugh said, “I tell people don’t kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus – living fossils – so we will never forget what these people stood for,” we didn’t doubt him anymore.
When Ann Coulter said “we need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too, otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors,” to rapturous applause at the 2002 CPAC, we knew she wasn’t just kidding.
**********
It continues today. Dinesh D’Souza just published a book saying that liberals are the cause of terrorism. Ramesh Ponneru calls us “The Party of Death.” And when Michele Malkin then creates a career out of calling the left “unhinged” the Washington Post treats her like she’s discovered the Holy Grail.
This is why it is so shocking to us when we see people like Howard Kurtz and various others call for the smelling salts when some members of the left have reacted in kind by saying hateful, violent things about Dick Cheney’s assassination attempt. (These anonymous commenters, by the way, are not best selling authors making a personal televised appearance at a gathering that includes most of the Republican presidential candidates, members of congress and even the Vice President himself.)
I certainly agree that such appalling comments are not to be accepted. Indeed, I recall how my stomach turned when when I read what Coulter had to say at CPAC last year:
On Democrats: “Someday they will find a way to abort all future Boy Scouts.” College professors: “sissified, pussified.” Harvard: “the Soviet Union.” John Kerry: the other “dominant woman in Democratic politics.” Her post-9/11 motto: “Rag head talks tough, rag head faces consequences.” For good measure, she threw in a joke about having Muslims burn down the Supreme Court — with the liberal justices inside.
Then came questions. A young woman asked Coulter to describe the most difficult ethical decision she ever made. “There was one time I had a shot at Bill Clinton,” Coulter said.
And yet, vile scum like Limbaugh, Coulter, O’Reilly, Hannity, Kristol, Savage, Beck, Cavuto, Gibson, D’Souza, Malkin, and all of their poisonous offspring continue to be feted by their friends in the so-called “mainstream media”. Democrats in general and liberals specifically are ridiculed and attacked relentlessly while Right wingers advocate genocide and war. Al Gore, WHO HAS BEEN 100% RIGHT ON EVERY ISSUE IN PUBLIC LIFE, is called mentally unbalanced by sneering little bastards like Chris Matthews while Bill Kristol, WHO HAS BEEN 100% WRONG ON EVERY ISSUE IN PUBLIC LIFE is promoted and given increasingly broad platforms from which to brand anyone who disagrees with his lunatic neocon agenda a traitor.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Ann Coulter is wildly popular with the hardcore Right that runs the Republican Party. These people hate anyone who disagrees with them, and would sincerely like to see people like the readers of BartCop either killed or intimidated into silence. They routinely speak out for mass murder, as when Coulter suggested carpet bombing Iran, and yet continue to get a free pass by our media “watchdogs”. (And let’s not forget Ted Nugent’s vile death threats against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The Dixie Chicks express embarrassment at George Bush and are publicly crucified. Nugent says Hillary and Obama should “ride out of town on my machine gun” and not one g-d damned thing happens.) We need to call these “watchdogs” on this sickening double standard loud and clear.
Shamefully, the Democratic Party’s congressional “leadership” lets this unrelenting slander against the those who oppose Bush, otherwise known as THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, happen, either out of cowardice and ineptitude (like Harry Reid) or because they’re totally tied into the Washington Good Ol’ Boy system (like Dianne Feinstein). We need to call them out, too, even more loudly and more clearly. If these people don’t have the guts or inclination to fight back, let’s find Congressional leadership that will.
There can be NO COMPROMISE with the radical Right. There can be NO DIALOGUE with them. They cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be talked to, they cannot change. These are the delusional 29% of the American people who actually think Bush is doing a good job as president. They cannot be engaged; they can only be utterly and totally opposed, crushed, and defeated. The murderous radical Right commentators are not at the fringe of the Republican party–they are the Republican Party. The sooner those of us in the sane, reality based part of America grasp this, the sooner these people will be politically destroyed for all time.
Dear Joseph, I patiently read your whole piece. As a conservative, I must say you certainly have things right. The republican party is now in the process of buying huge numbers of brown shirts for us to wear as we break in doors at your houses at 3:00 A.M.
You are absolutely correct, we, the horrid right, cannot be engaged. You will be utterly and totally opposed, crushed, and defeated.
You vile scum liberals will be put in prison camps and cruel medical experiments will be preformed to discover why you would even think of opposing us, we the Master Party.
Prepare yourself for total political slaughter. We will defeat all, spare no one.
I feel warm inside and my eyes roll skyward as I remember the vile propoganda successfully impaling your kind. Ha, those are the days! I feast on these memories as manna.
In 2008 you will indeed be politically destroyed. I look forward to it as I give the battle cry and charge down the hill decimating those in my way. We are unstoppable, God is on our side. Hug your children and say goodbye to your political operatives, because you will be no more.
The Dixie Chicks will beg for mercy, Al Gore will admit to global cooling, Hillary will come out in favor of health care saving accounts, environmentalists will enthusiastically cry for oil drilliing on the west slope. John Kerry will learn how to drive a swift boat, and His Holyness, The Great and Wonderful Rush Limbaugh will become senator of New York.
You have no chance against the republican onslaught. Join us. Come to the dark side. Feel the power, Joseph! It could all be yours!
GraaaaHaaaaaHaaaaHaaaa…….
Comment by grimgold — September 29, 2007 @ 12:15 pm
Grimgold:
Our advertisers thank you for reading the Bartblog.
Comment by brew — September 29, 2007 @ 1:22 pm
Grimgold, you are truly a semi-literate pinhead. The thesis of my post is clear: the Radical Right has made death threats, calls for the mass murder of Iranians, and smears against the patriotism of anyone who disagrees with them with impunity. There is a double standard in America because the corporate right now controls so much of the information. (And yes, the Dixie Chicks/Nugent thing is a perfect example.) You haven’t bothered to address a single actual contention I’ve made or try to refute any of the evidence I’ve presented. That’s because you can’t. The facts speak for themselves.
No, I do not intend to engage the Coulter/Limbaugh/Pat Robertson/Hannity right. I intend to help crush them, and I think a movement is arising in America to do just that.I don’t have to talk to or engage with ANYONE who calls me a traitor because I’m a Democrat. Anyone who thinks that can go to hell.
Finally, I think a lot of your Dominionist/Theocratic/Neo-Confederate/Creationist allies would be quite comfortable living in a right wing dictatorship. There is the strong stench of authoritarianism in the modern conservative movement. (Santorum used to publicly call for the regulation of the most intimate sexual acts; Dominionists like Robertson want all-non Christians purged from government.) I know more about all this than you might suspect, having spent many years as a conservative Republican myself. And then, like Kevin Phillips and John Dean, the scales fell from my eyes and I saw you people for what you are. I was ashamed to have been among you.
Conservativism is based on fear, hatred, and the most brutal racial and ethnic prejudice imaginable. It isn’t based on patriotism, but rather crude tribalism. There is a raging, screaming intolerance at the core of American conservatism that is totally repulsive to me. Wake up, Grim, and admit it–the right in America is as dangerous in their own way as the Islamic radicals. Both hate freedom. Both have to be defeated.
Comment by Joseph52 — September 29, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
Joseph, thanks for your reply. You are one of the few people who writes his own stuff and must be given a nod for that.
Your foaming at the mouth is somewhat justified in that Washington D.C. is indeed highly polarized with people wingnutting to the right and left walls with very little sensibility to be found in between.
However, in the real world I think you’ll find all kinds of normality and sensibility. The American public isn’t stupid, simply uninformed. You have taken on the job of spreading information, which shows a caring that I appreciate. I would urge you, however, to use less smear and hatred in your flaming opinions and more suggestivity as to what to do about it (and putting all republicans in concentration camps doesn’t count).
In the long run the party with the best ideas wins. Part of my reason for wanting to rant on this web site is to move good ideas forward. I ask you to do the same when you aren’t beating the crap out of me and other people on the right.
By behaving as you do, you are in danger of bringing about the very world that you dislike so much. Extremes always constellate their opposite over time.
Name calling, such as pinhead, though perhaps very satisfying to you, isn’t helpful. I’m very good at name calling and could easily respond with all sorts of childishness, but don’t see how that promotes America as a better place to live, which as far as I’m concerned, is the reason why I’m spending my time here rather than fishing or some other valuable activity.
If you would care to be patient (which may be something new to you) and point out how conservatism is raging, screaming, intolerant, tribalistic, hate-filled, doministic, repulsive and dangerous, I’ll read your every word (I may regret saying that, but will stick to it until further notice).
In reading my responses, kindly don’t throw things at your computer – it is innocent.
If I don’t hear from you because you’ve given up on me in impatient disguist, have a good life.
Grimgold
Comment by grimgold — September 29, 2007 @ 3:50 pm
Grim, how can I NOT hate someone like Coulter? America means everything to me and when I’m attacked by this idiot as being “unAmerican”? how else can I feel? I hate her guts to the point I wouldn’t piss down her throat if her heart was on fire. And yet, there she is, regularly, on the mainstream media, throwing garbage in my face and in the face of all other Democrats. Why? Why does she get this exposure again and again and again?
American conservatives are either aiding and abetting the destruction of America or just letting it happen while occasionally letting out a little peep of discontent with the destruction of civil liberties. How badly do the Republicans have to handle things before the conservatives wake up? Yes, a lot of individual conservatives are decent people, but in their public life they too often tend to be appalling. When I hear them defending torture, defending rendition (which is morally just as bad), denigrating all minorities, and saying that non-Christians (like me) are suspect, how else can I react?
Grim, look around you. America is dying. Republican economic policies account for 70% of our monstrous national debt (Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II). It’s devastating our credit liquidity and pushing us toward disaster. Republican energy policies have made us slaves to the Saudis and Hugo Chavezes of the world. Republican environmental neglect will wreak havoc on the coasts, where 70% of our people live. Republican foreign policy is stretching our courageous military to the breaking point. How can I not hate them for that? Moreover, in the last 15 years, a demented right-wing noise machine has been driving our national discourse. In all honesty, how can you say that what was done to the Clintons in the 90s was just? Why are using lies and manipulated intelligence to start a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people less reprehensible and worthy of impeachment than lying about oral sex? And yet, pressure from talk radio, the Wall Street Journal, Fox “News” and a hundred other right wing media outlets has tried to convice us that it is. The liberal media is myth; the Radical Right is in the driver’s seat, and they’re killing our country. (And when we attack Iran and a genuine war erupts between the West and Islam, what terrible consequences will stem from that?)
I apologize for calling you pinhead, but you were using silly straw man arguments and I guess that irritated me. But trust me on this: after years of being a Reagan supporting, National Review and Commentary reading right winger, it all just became too much more me.
Finally, I urge you to read (if you have not yet done so) Kevin Phillips’s American Theocracy. It is a deeply disturbing book that makes an important point: America is in decline becuase of the corruption and ideological fanaticism of the right. I urge you to give it a read.
Peace.
Comment by Joseph52 — September 29, 2007 @ 4:34 pm
Correction: end of 4th to last line should be “for me” not “more me”.
Comment by Joseph52 — September 29, 2007 @ 4:39 pm
Hah! You even go over your stuff to make sure it’s well written before you send it to me! I am honored.
Concerning Colter, I’ve read some of her books and find her to be funny rather than overly caustic. The reason she appears on T.V. regularly (and you already know this) is because her nasty comments cause people to watch. Unlike you and me, the Main Scream Media is in it more for the money than getting out the truth. Coulter has most likely discovered this and purposely acts like a spitting cobra for that reason. Moreen Dowd is just as bad.
I miss Molly Ivans. I may not have agreed with her about a number of things, but her good heart came through quite clearly. I don’t think she had a mean bone in her body.
Hating Colter isn’t good for you personally. Done over a long period of time it will just make you a hateful person. I don’t want that. Please think about this.
Concerning destruction of America, the conservatives are now awake. It began when GW decided his unqualified little friend Harriet Meyers should be a Supreme Court Justice, and exploded onto the political scene when he was panting, pen poised, to sign amnesty legislation. Elected representatives say they haven’t heard such discontent since taking office (which is great!)
I’m horrified that GW and company is letting the dollar slide more than 25% in terms of the euro (for example). I’m very worried about the 9 trillion dollar debt (in this I disagree with His Greatness The Maha Rushi who’s not worried).
I’m disgusted that GW has signed every damn spending bill to come across his desk. I voted for him twice and regret having done so.
Take heart! Iran will not be attacked by us or Israel unless they attack Israel, or insist on developing nuclear weapons. This is unlikely. GW, for all his faults, knows how to apply pressure on Iran to cut it out. For example, he will appeal to China.
North Korea is apparently going to stop being stupid, as a result of GW’s insistence on getting neighbors involved, and the same strategy will likely work on Iran.
Attempting to impeach our very lame duck president is a waste of time, in my opinion. There are more important things to push for.
Please tell me you’ve read my posts concerning infaltion, and the FairTax. These two issues will go a long way toward making the country fiscally responsible.
Be of good cheer. More and more people are getting politically involved as a result of the net and talk radio.
Please use your great writing skills to push issues that you think will improve America.
Grimmy
Comment by grimgold — September 29, 2007 @ 5:22 pm
Joseph, sorry for misspellings – I have to ask Bart how to spell check. Grimmy
Comment by grimgold — September 29, 2007 @ 5:27 pm