On August 12, I wrote this….
The "rage" is not over government spending….or tax rates…..or deficits….or any of the flimsy excuses laid down by oh-so-serious conservatives and libertarians.
The rage, the passion has been caused by the man, now the president, Barack Obama. He is a black man. He is a Democrat. And that's what the bust-ups of health reform town halls are all about.
It won't matter what the issue, policy or topic is……the rage we've seen from before the election, the rage we see at the Tea Parties, and the rage we see at the town hall bust-ups…..will be repeated over and over BECAUSE…..America elected a black Democratic president.
It really ain't that complicated.
Yesterday, Digby reminded her readers about this from one of President Chuck Grassley's town halls….
President Barack Obama is a fascist.
This and other assertions flew through an emotionally-charged town hall meeting conducted by Sen. Chuck Grassley Monday in Pocahontas.
"The president of the United States, that's who you should be concerned about. Because he's acting like a little Hitler," said Tom Eisenhower, a World War II veteran. "I'd take a gun to Washington if enough of you would go with me."
And then Digby channels The Reverend….
Why is it that these people keep alluding to shooting Obama all the time? (And why doesn't anyone give a damn?) Are they so far gone that they really believe that potential government spending requires them to start shooting? Seriously, nobody's taxes have gone up. Nobody's. The recession was already a year old when Obama took office and Bush spent a huge surplus on tax cuts for rich people which these fools all applauded like trained seals.
So they are not very convincing when they try to say that their violent rhetoric is based upon some abstract fear of deficits and socialism. Nothing that Obama has done so far can possibly justify the wild-eyed, slavering, full blown lunacy we are seeing at these town halls.
The simple truth is that they are all a bunch of self-centered, childish sore losermen who refuse to accept that a Democrat won the presidency. And for at least some of them, the fact that a black Democrat won the presidency has obviously sent them around the bend. They are in the grip of a powerful reckoning in which it turns out that most Americans don't actually agree with their cramped worldview. Hence the crack-up.
That is exactly right.
However, 4th estate representatives just can't see it. Check this out from McClatchy's Steven Thomma in today's Beacon Journal…
"Finger pointing and yelling at town hall meetings this summer are signs of a country that's been building toward a boiling point for several years, stressed by a quickly changing economy, a flood of immigration and threats at home by terrorists.
It's a land at turns frustrated and irate at a government that led its people into an unpopular war, proved itself inept at helping its citizens in a disastrous hurricane, presided over a historic economic collapse, then went on a spending spree that could commit the country to decades of crushing debt."
For Thomma, it's all just one big grab bag of frustration and resentment towards government. Even though no town hall bust-ups with crazies bearing guns was ever witnessed during the last administration, no nationally organized parties of protests over a Republican controlled federal government doubling the national debt in 8 short years were ever held, or even considered,…..to Thomma, recent conservative expressions of bitter hatred and rage over health care and spending under 8 months of Obama is all part and parcel of the same American distaste and frustration with government, which periodically and with no comprehensible pattern, just randomly appears on the national scene.
Clueless is not the correct word to describe Thomma's purposely dishonest piece of rubbish. Look at how he tiptoes around, hoping the reader won't notice what he's doing….
"This anger is more focused on the federal government, a resurgence of the hostility toward the government that started with Vietnam in the 1960s and Watergate in the 1970s, faded in the 1980s, resurfaced in the early 1990s and then faded away again."
See….the hippies who thought the federal government shouldn't recklessly murder 58,000 U.S. soldiers…..for no reason,…..those who wanted to see the second most lawless president in American history held accountable for his lawlessness…..were simply a piece of the whole. The whole being that Americans typically are frustrated and angry at their government. Nothing unusual.
But that frustration and anger…."faded in the 80's, resurfaced in the early 90's and then faded away again", says Thomma…..without providing any context whatsoever. In the 80's America saw Republican presidents, but in the 90's we had President Clinton, then in the 00's when we had another Republican president, public anger "faded again."
That's the story, Mr Thomma. During Democratic presidents, conservative ragers, the same ragers who slumber during Republican presidents, you know, are angrily awakened. That's the story. Not that Americans are, you know, randomly enraged at government in undetectable cycles.
Thomma, like most Village writers and conservative commenters, simply cannot tell the truth about the reality staring all of us in the face.
In modern history, when Republicans have been elected president, very little mass displays of rage and vicious, hatefilled anger was ever organized on a national basis against the government. During the 90's and now once again with Obama, the uncontrollable rage has returned.
The message of this madness is simple, as Digby and I have clearly outlined. A Democrat has been elected president, a black man with progressive solutions for America's future. A future that conservatives have never wanted any part of…..ever.
Thus, the manufactured rage.
Extra credit: The "Kraut" puts on his most cynical hat and taunts all those who think health care reform can be accomplished in America. An article which features the bastardly, bitterness of Mr. Krauthammer, the Very Serious Journalist whom the AB Journal dearly loves.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
This damn president you keep defending wants to: Take away our guns, Raise our taxes, Turn this country into Nazi Germany, Take away White peoples right, Murder innocent children in the womb, Stop christianity, Turn us Muslim, and Hand the country over to Black atheists! His actions speak volumes! Look at all the legislation he has been ramming through this Democrat held Congrss, there's:
S.461 -"Increase the income tax to 100%"
H.R.228 -"Grant Barrack Obama U.S. citizenship"
S.968 -"Take guns from cold dead Americans' hands to forge them into surgical intruments used in forced abortion of white babies"
H.R.1269 -"Declare Osama bin Laden Supreme Leader of The United States and Nancy Pelosi Vice Supreme Leader"
May God in heaven, looking down on this evil, protect us the way he has protected the devout of his flock for 6,000 years. I am already preparing a large wooden boat in the middle of the Sonoran desert, depending on which cleansing He chooses. God has already begun providing me with hordes of cheap laborers wandering from the south, through the desert. He always provides. Amen.
Oh, the race card. How refreshing!
It is so hard to take you seriously when you take complex situations and issues and stuff them into one of your usual little childish boxes. As a conservative I was not a fan of Bush and am glad to see him gone but abhor what direction Obama is attempting to take us. I dont give a damn what color his skin is, it is his beliefs I oppose. It is insulting(almost funny) to be termed a racist becuse one opposes Obama's plan for this country.
No one is accusing you, average, or anyone else for that matter, of being a racist.
No offense….but what I've written in the blog has nothing to do with "usual little childish boxes." Conservatives and corporate media have been insisting that the "anger", the "rage", is all about spending, deficits and government control. Folks like Digby, and myself, have been documenting how the Tea Partiers promoted by FOX, are simply an extension of the Palin crazies, also promoted by FOX. Now the very same crazies have launched some staged faux tantrum skits, complete with semi-automatic assault weapons, all still promoted by FOX, which all corporate media can't help but saturate their tubes with.
Nothing but a bunch of stagecrafted wah-wah sessions because America voted in a black Democrat.
Anyway…..
Simply answer this question: Is there any doubt that those who ARE racist and view Obama negatively because of his race, are conservative voters?
The Devout is…well….devout. It goes without saying that The Devout's admonitions are faith-based, so, you know, travel at your own risk…..but having said that…. I did so appreciate the S.968 guns-to-abortion-surgical-tools scam that Obama is trying to slip in to his dreaded Death Panel and Death Book evils.
And we used to think The Dick was evil.
McClatchy's leanings are about as far left as they come. If they suggest these things Rev. maybe you whould give it some thought.
People like you "The Devout " reminds me why I am a democrat and proud to be a liberal.
Rev,
I'm going to disagree with you on this one. I accept that there is a racial component to all this, but I don't think it is the major reason for the rage, more like a side effect. The people who are the angriest seem to be the ones who were once middle class. For most of their lives, they've been getting screwed, regardless of which party is in power. Those who remain employed work longer hours, their spouses work out of necessary, their children are growing up as strangers right before their eyes. They have neither the time or inclination to find out what has gone wrong, and therefore they are ripe for exploitation from the very forces that are screwing them. They know that the American Dream has been stolen from them and their children and they don't know how or why.
Rev,
I only read about three sentences of your post before I decided you were a racist prick.
Sad.
This was what I clearly defined as the "point."
"During Democratic presidents, conservative ragers, the same ragers who slumber during Republican presidents, you know, are angrily awakened. That's the story. Not that Americans are, you know, randomly enraged at government in undetectable cycles."
Here is my only reference to color….
" A Democrat has been elected president, a black man with progressive solutions for America's future. A future that conservatives have never wanted any part of…..ever."
If that's being a "racist prick"…..then conservative readers have a bigger problem with comprehension than I had imagined. Something I've always suspected.
frank adds some needed perspective to the plight of FOX viewers and those easily swayed by the GOP's "southern strategy." These folks vote against their own interests because someone else having an abortion is more important to them than equitable wages and health care for their own families. These folks vote for candidates who will make decisions that hollow-out the quality of their own lives, because those candidates say they want god brought back into public schools.
While what frank says here is, at least, partially true….
"They have neither the time or inclination to find out what has gone wrong, and therefore they are ripe for exploitation from the very forces that are screwing them. They know that the American Dream has been stolen from them and their children and they don't know how or why."
It is also true that these folks who never have the time to find out what the facts are…..sure have enough time to attend screecher sessions. Now that these ill-informed voters have a Tea Party Town Hall stage, they are no longer innocent victims of political deception, they are part of the deception.
Yes, powerful, monied interests pull the chain of these voters and often trick them into voting against their own interests.
But what we're witnessing is more than just that. After 8 years of lawlessness and bullying of progressives, the Republicans got their asses handed to them last November. Democrats are now in charge. The protests are about that. It's sore loserdom, ignorance, a militia-mentality, blended with a potent splash of xenophobia.
It's the "No We Can't" to Obama's "Yes, We Can."
Do you actually think you can fool me, Rev ? Here are the words you wrote at the beginning of your post:
"The "rage" is not over government spending….or tax rates…..or deficits….or any of the flimsy excuses laid down by oh-so-serious conservatives and libertarians.
The rage, the passion has been caused by the man, now the president, Barack Obama. He is a black man. He is a Democrat. And that's what the bust-ups of health reform town halls are all about."
You're a racist prick. This is NOT about skin color. It's ALL about what you refer to as "flimsy excuses." (like the flimsy fact that America is going bankrupt).
But maybe I shouldn't have used the words I used. Allow me to amend them.
You're a racist prick, a dismissive jackass, and an effing idiot.
A bit shrill, I would say. Whatever…
You can think and say what you will…..however, it's clear from the Palin campaign, the Limbaugh "hope he fails" bloviations, the Tea Party sore losers, and now the townhall deviants…….that what we're witnessing is much more than fiscal scolds holding a handwringing party over deficits.
What we're seeing is what we saw the last time a Democrat was elected president. If demonizing conservatives can raise enough hell, as they learned during Clinton, a Democratic president can be successfully marginalized, made ineffectual….defeated.
That's what is at work in the health care "debate". To name call those who point out the obvious lends even more support to my premise.
I just thought I'd give you a dose of the kind of language you direct at conservatives every single day on your blog. Yes, it is shrill, isn't it ? Take note. It's disgusting.
You suffer from the delusion that it is only conservatives who demonize people. I have no idea how you can keep up such an absurd facade (especially when you mention Palin in the same post, who was demonized by liberals more than any politician in memory). Your entire blog is dedicated to demonizing conservatives, so please give me a break. Your hypocrisy is boundless.
Conservatives are allowed to promote their views and concerns, just as liberals are. Deal with it, and try to address the issues instead of just calling people racists.
And if you aren't troubled by $12 trillion in debt, the largest deficit projections in history, massive increases in government spending, bailouts for the rich, special interests running D.C., a looming government health care takeover, massive tax hikes on the horizon, the tsunami of unfunded entitlement liabilities, the attempts at censorship, etc, etc……I don't know what to tell you. You just aren't paying attention. You're fiddling while Rome burns. You can peddle your message of conservative hate instead, if you wish, it's a free country, but don't expect me to take you the least bit seriously.
Money, money, money….it's always money with you. What about justice? What about human compassion and dignity? What about that? What about fidelity to and honesty about, the rule of law?
Conservatives demonize themselves by doing and saying and believing the stuff they do. Conservatives demonize themselves when they elect a guy like Michael Steele, choose a vp candidate like Sarah Palin, and stubbornly support torture, illegal wars of choice, and anti-scientific theories.