First it was Rev. Wright…then Bill Ayers….with all the accompanying non-biased, and Pulitzer-Prize-caliber reporting. Then came the "Hillary Clinton was cheated," narrative suggesting (wrongly) that she had more primary votes than Barak Obama. All this was followed by "Obama's only a celebrity like Paris." Then came the "how can Obama overcome his problem with white voters?" question.

Sarah Palin's entry brought with it the "palling around with terrorists", "Obama is a Marxist", "real Americans in real America", and "Obama is not sufficiently patriotic." All accusations that had to be deeply plumbed for there wingnut wisdom.

Immediately following Obama's election, it became full metal jacket Blago. Obama is from Illinois, (via Kenya) Emmanuel is from Illinois, Blagojevich was governor of Illinois….ipso facto, weeks and weeks were spent "informing" us about an Illinois governor who did what every American elected official does….traded on his influence.

In January came Rush's "hope he fails" comedy routine….and a Serious search to unpack the deep profundity in that statement. The stimulus "discussion" gave opportunity for corporate-whore media to entertain (on a 2-1 basis over Democrats) the thoughts and demagoguing of Republicans and conservatives on the Sunday morning "news" programs. Despite having his electoral ass kicked, and despite the fact that McCain now plays an insignificant role in a 40 GOP'er Senate, John McCain recorded his 14th appearance on the Sunday morning "news" shows recently.

Ordering that Guantanomo would be closed brought with it such an unhinged response from dishonest neo-conservatives and their obedient knee-jerk children that the thought of dangerous criminals being held on "American soil" became the most imminent national threat. Terrorists in American prisons?….How can we ever be safe?

And then it really started to get crazy. March brought with it the TeaParty Blitz….and the long awaited return of Dick Cheney to national corporate-whore media…..this time with mini-me-Dick, daughter Liz, out spreading the "torture love" doctrine of Father Dick. Neither holds public office, Father Dick is hated by most Americans….but there they were, "news" program after "news" program, telling us to be very, very afraid if America stops torturing. You see, the Dicks are Serious.

Don't forget the marvelously patriotic and sensible "birther" movement still championed by over half of Republicans and the recently released CNN xenophobe, Lou Dobbs….and naturally, all of the AM radio talkers and FOX.

The summer of 2009 may just be referred to in the history books as the "Summer of Incoherence"….as BeckerHeads, TeaBaggers, and Townhall Buster-Uppers, some carrying loaded weapons, saturated the "news" with their sour grapes of discontent with a black Democratic president intent on destroying America and replacing it with (take your pick)….socialism, communism Maoism, Stalinism, or Nazism……all conveniently interchangeable at a moment's notice. Desperate cries of, "I want my country back", echoed repeatedly through the TeaBags.

ACORN became, overnight, one of America's most dangerous domestic enemies. Amateur wingnut videographers, working with FOX, stung those primarily-black-employee-run Acorn offices in a daring and patriotic commando raid to save us all…..I guess from signing up more black voters. "Breaking News" ensued.

"Killing grandma", "death panels", (another 1/2 term Governor Palin gem), "death books for veterans", "Obama will take away your Medicare",…filled the late summer and early fall, with yet more incoherent TeaParties and 9-12'er events, led by America's brilliant new Paul Revere, Glenn Beck…and of course, FOX. No one is sure how many Baggers turned out on Beckerhead day. Somewhere between 60,000…..and 2 million. No way to know.

Now we're being flooded with "Obama and the Democrats are sneaking in tax-payer abortions", "Obama is 'dithering' on Afghanistan", and the recent election (which added a new Democrat to the House) is a "sign that Americans are rejecting Obama's leadership," "Obama and the Democrats (after 10 months) are in deep trouble."

This past week has brought with it the "Ft. Hood massacre is the first terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9-11," proving, I'm sure, that without the Dick's torture, we are all doomed. Calls for renewing "investigations" into American Muslims and Muslim groups are rampant.

Obama left today on an Asian-countries tour….and dollars to donuts….I bet we'll get to hear all about how Obama had to get out of D.C. to avoid all the "controversies" he's created. Just more "dithering."

Now….it could just be me….but it sure as hell seems like corporate-whore media has joined with conservative and GOP wingnuts in "creating reality" for the last year and a half. An anti-Obama-and-the-Democrats narrative template has been placed overtop of ALL events since the beginning of last year.

Or maybe not. Like I said….it could just be me.

No, crystal balling it ain't as arousing or provocative as, say, Teabagging it…but crystal balling it is a bit more coherent and understandable than TeaBagging it…so there's that.

One year ago on October 13th, in a blog post entitled, The Upcoming Obama Presidency, The Reverend typed out these predictions….

".…..after having paid very close attention to what took place between the years of 1992-2000, I think it's safe for me to predict…..if you liked the savaging-Clinton days, you're gonna' just love the savaging-Obama days starting after January 20, 2009."

A media so corrupt, so perverse, that they couldn't even use the word lie or liar in any article they had written or on any teevee appearance for 8 straight years of an openly fraudulent and lying Bush administration…..will….magically…..snap out of the spell they've been under….and begin microscopically examining every word that Obama speaks. A main media so covered-up in their own mistaken, propagandistic, slime encrusted wrongheadedness for 8 straight years, a media who never really ever considered impeachment as worthy of discussion for the worst president America has ever known….will be balls-to-the-wall aggressive in not only savaging a President Obama but encouraging an obstructionistic-minded Republican minority to gum up the federal works with impeachment talk and accusations."

"With the upcoming Obama presidency….Democrats will have near total control. This, in itself, will anger and frustrate the extreme right so badly that (I can't help but say this) actions of violence will follow. I believe that is what we witnessed last week at McCain-Palin gatherings. The first-fruits realization by the extremist nuts on the right that they've lost the game and lost it badly, is beginning to sink in."

Maybe I should change my name to The Prophet.

But wait….there's more.

Less than 9 months into the Obama presidency and just look at what is being suggested by some of the crazy folks at Newsmax…..

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America's military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the "Obama problem." Don't dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn't the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn't mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it.

…..

Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the national equivalent of a "family intervention," with some form of limited, shared responsibility?

…..

Military intervention is what Obama's exponentially accelerating agenda for "fundamental change" toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America.

After only 9 months of a new Democratic president, radical conservatives are suggesting that America needs a "military intervention" to deal with the "Obama problem."

Newsmax is a primary source for American wingnuts. I am sure that main-whore-media will soon be asking conservative Democrats, and in all seriousness, whether, indeed, the military should intervene to stop President Obama from carrying out his Constitutional duties as president.

It is the job of main-whore-media to investigate and report on the unhinged and insane beliefs of the American wingnuts….as witnessed in the main-whore-media's coverage of Rush Limbaugh's "I want Obama to fail", the TeaBagger incoherent nuttiness, townhall bust-ups complete with semi-automatic weaponry, and most recently, the Beck-ClusterFox 9-12'er event attended by a minimum of one zillion people. (one zillion equaling approximately 60,000.)

No matter how crazy American wingnuts behave, or talk, (like in the cases of Sarah Palin or Joe "You Lie" Wilson), main-whore-media, just like they did during Bill Clinton's days, MUST take it very seriously and dwell on all the "implications" for weeks.

What I'm saying, after having predicted one year ago what we're now experiencing, is that the ugliness will get worse. The craziness, the frenziness, the threats, the intimidation, the witchhunts…..and, eventually, the calls for violence…unfortunately….will only get worse.

America has entered a domestic crisis period.

Former President Jimmy Carter…..

2:34

“I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he is African-American," Carter said.

“Racism … still exists and I think it has bubbled up to the surface because of a belief among many white people, not just in the south but around the country, that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country. It’s an abominable circumstance and grieves me and concerns me very deeply,” Carter told NBC News.

Is the former Democratic president correct?

If he is….does that mean that every TeaBagger and every Townhall Buster-Upper is a racist? Of course not. My blog friend King attended last Saturday's protest and I don't consider him a racist.

That said, do racial animosities play ANY role in what appears to be an organized and concerted effort to delegitimize America's first black president? Undoubtedly.

As I have observed the Tea Party opposition to virtually anything Obama it's been hard to rule out racial animosity as a major contributing factor.

Racial animosities played a role during the presidential primaries…..

From an ABC piece May 27, 2008….

In recent weeks, the role of race in the Democratic primaries has been increasingly discussed. And while racist caricatures and jokes about threats against Obama's life have been widely condemned, they seem to reflect an undeniable element of racism that still exists in the country and could play an unknown role in a general election.

……

The latest controversy centered on a depiction of Obama in the cross hairs of a rifle used that appeared on the cover of Georgia's Roswell Beacon newspaper. The controversy focused on the image, though the story, which included interviews with several white supremacists threatened by Obama's candidacy, reflected a deeper reality.

Racial animosities played a role AFTER Obama was elected president….

Arizona Daily Star, November 16, 2008…..

Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting, "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hanging from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars.

Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America.

Ever hear the phrase, "we want our country back", from those at Tea Parties or Townhall Bust-up sessions?

Here's what the director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center said after the November election…..

Potok, who is white, said he believes there is "a large subset of white people in this country who feel that they are losing everything they know, that the country their forefathers built has somehow been stolen from them."

Grant Griffin, a 46-year-old white Georgia native, expressed similar sentiments: "I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades, and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change.

"If you had real change, it would involve all the members of (Obama's) church being deported," he said.

Who can forget the Obama-dressed-up-like-Aunt-Jemima waffle mix and the numerous signs alluding to Obama's race?

Who can forget the hours of wasted time by main stream media anchors and talking heads microscoptically analyzing the black/white vote count in every primary? Why was that done? At the very least it was done because of an awareness that there is still a racial divide in the U.S.

How many times did we hear folks like NBC's Chuck Todd or Nora O'Donnell tell us that the black presidential candidate Obama was having trouble with white voters?

Why is it that still today a majority of southern Republicans believe Obama is not a U.S. citizen? Why the drumbeat, even now after 8 months of the Obama presidency, about Obama's father's native country of Kenya? Is that explained by some coincidental big-bang randomness theory? Or more likely, does that southern belief, one which Jimmy Carter understands and has experienced first hand, reflect a predetermined rejection of a black Democratic president, because he's black?

How can the intense focus on ACORN by Fox enthusiasts during the primary and general election campaign….and again now by the Teabaggers and Townhallers….be explained away as an innocent non-racially tinged focus?

Why the triumphant jubilation over the black second-tier appointee, Van Jones, resigning? Why the recurring use of the word "uppity" by so many opposed to Obama? Why the projectionist claim by Glenn Beck that Obama "hates white people", "white culture?"

Conservative culture warriors are more sophisticated than during the 1960's,….not all but most….and I'm thankful for that. Modern forms of racial animosity are more subtle and oblique. It's Obama's policies, opponents say, not his skin color, which riles them up. Policies that many opponents say will take stuff from them and hand it over to the undeserving, however, are just barely thinly-veiled jabs reminiscent of Uncle Ronnie's southern strategy baiting over fictitious Cadillac driving "welfare queens".

Yes, racial animosities play a significant role in today's unhinged attacks on America's first black president.

Can we overcome these animosities that still exist in America? Will the "we want our country back" crowd ever be content with a black president?

I honestly do not have an answer. I certainly hope so…..but I fear that yet another generation will have to die off before it happens.

Updated below

Humans will lie about almost anything…..check that….Humans will lie about anything. I'm not sure whether the human habit of lying can be attributed to evolution or not. Perhaps we have been programmed over 15,000 years or so to deceive other humans for self-preservation purposes.

Whatever the reason…..dishonesty, lying, deception….have always been human traits.

In the 90's, the last time we had a Democratic president, rich conservatives took it upon themselves to orchestrate a mass media lying and smearing campaign against Bill Clinton. Clinton, according to those widely circulated lies, was a drug runner, a murderer, a real estate scammer and a serial rapist. None of those lies were true but they were continually repeated by the liars and then, by those who believed, or wanted to believe the lies.

One year after Justice Scalia appointed George W. Bush president, the lies and deceptions by Dick Cheney and his band of PNAC warmongering crusaders led to the senseless murders of 4400 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Corporate media, with very few exceptions, helped Cheney spread those lies. The lies were spread from the "liberal" NY Times' Judith Miller directly to the late Tim Russert's Meet the Press on "liberal" NBC……the network that Mary Matalin, Cheney's political advisor, said was the best for getting Cheney's "message" out.

Cheney's lies and deceptions worked. Iraq posed no threat to the U.S., wasn't involved with 9-11, and had no ties to Islamic extremists. Iraq had been decimated from a decade of U.S flyover bombings and painful sanctions. Yet, the corporate media's wholesale spreading of Cheney's lies coupled with America's still fresh emotions of vengeance from 9-11, led this country into what is still considered a disaster today inside Iraq.

Believing in lies often leads to dire consequences. Such is Iraq.

Now with Cheney gone, except for appearances on corporate-whore teevee, incoherent sore-loser Tea Partiers, like the arrival of the Holy Ghost in the book of Acts, have had the deceptive-working power of Dick Cheney wash over them like flames of fire. Tea Partiers, or 9-12'ers if you prefer, though not as polished a group as their Dark Master, have been as successful as The Dick was in deceiving the overall public.

I wonder how many needless deaths will happen this time.

The Twelvers lie about virtually everything. They lie about an already partially socialized America becoming "socialist." They lie about Obama's desire to kill the elderly. They lie about Democratic health care legislation covering undocumenteds. They lie about Obamacare mandating tax dollars to be used for abortion. They lie about Obama's citizenship. They deceptively compare Obama with Hitler, Castro, Mao, and Stalin. They falsely assert that they "want their country back", when their country hasn't gone anywhere.

They even lie about how many Twelvers showed up in D.C. last Saturday.

Tea Partiers, now imbued with the Evil Lying Spirit of Richard Cheney, carry on their Dark Father's tradition of lying in order to get what they want. Cheney wanted to attack and occupy Iraq. Twelvers want health care reform killed and the presidency of Barack Obama, like Clinton in the 90's, marginalized.

In both cases, corporate-whore main media was johnny-on-the-spot in helping to spread the lies. In 2002, in excess of 100,000 anti-Iraq war protestors gathered in D.C. The Washington Post, you know, that "liberal" rag, covered that rather large protest this way….

The Washington Post put the story not on the front page, but in the Metro section with, as the paper's ombudsman later lamented, "a couple of ho-hum photographs that captured the protest's fringe elements."

The Post, representing the lies and deceptions of Dick Cheney over Iraq in 2002, couldn't possibly take 100,000+ protesters seriously…..their paper repeatedly had argued for attacking a country which did not threaten America.

However, if the protest is smaller and based on incoherent deceptions and lies, like the TeaBaggers in D.C. this past weekend…..then the "liberal" Washington Post strategically places those lies and deceptions on their front page….with pictures….

Tens of thousands of conservative protesters, many complaining that the nation is racing toward socialism, massed outside the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, angrily denouncing President Obama's health-care plan and other initiatives as threats to the Constitution.

100,000+ protesting the lies of Dick Cheney which resulted in 4400 U.S. soldier caskets and no definable benefit to America…..Metro section coverage. 60,000 protesters lying about any and everything Obama…..front page news.

I no longer believe that America is in a "battle for it's soul." I think that battle is over and the forces of light and truth have lost. The liars and deceivers have won out. Cheney lied and he got what he wanted….a U.S. quagmire in Iraq with thousands of dead Americans. The Twelvers lie and deceive and the whore media, just like with Iraq, assist them in getting what they want…..a watered down, feckless, piece of drug and insurance industry-friendly legislation which will only make our problem with high costs and availability even worse.

Update: Here is the picture used by my blog friend King in his post yesterday….

The picture is from the 1997 Promise Keepers rally…..not from last Saturday's TeaBagger gathering.

Humans will lie and deceive about anything.

One classy sign from Glenn Beck's 9-12 event in D.C Saturday

Updated below

National Tea Party expectations….

We’re going to Washington to give them a piece of our minds(we have more to spare!). We are joining hundreds of thousands (maybe as many as 1,000,000) fellow patriots in DC. get in on the act now.

Number of attendees according to Michelle Malkin's extremist-right website……

Celebrating the 9/12 rallies; Turnout estimated at 2 million;

Number of actual D.C. Tea Party protesters this past Saturday from someone, unlike Michelle Malkin, who was actually present….

I went down to the protest on the mall today just to have a look. The crowd was actually pretty impressive. I didn't have a good vantage point of the whole crowd, but I would say there were easily tens of thousands, maybe upwards of 50 thousand. But I was amused to hear more than one person really inflate those numbers. I overheard a guy on his cell phone saying there were two million people there, and another woman say a million and a half.

Number of protesters according to the D.C. fire department…..

The DC Fire Department has issued an unofficial estimate of 60,000 to 70,000 people in attendance, which is smallish by big DC protest/event standards but definitely respectable.

What type of crowd was it?

Those are the 9-12 Tea Partiers gathered in the DC Armory. Take notice of the diversity of the crowd…..or lack thereof.

Here is the guy who organized the D.C. Tea Party (along with Glenn Beck). Dick Armey, the head of FreedomWorks,…….talking to the Tea Partiers..

A bit of the pageantry…..

An interview…..

What was the feel, the sense…..of the protesters?….

However, it was an angry group with a real sense of absolute entitlement. Something not focused on by many. This sense of entitlement that they deserve to be the dominant deciders and that it's being taken away.

A group of primarily white protesters with no central message of protest. A group of protesters, after months and months of promotion from Fox and Glenn Beck, totaling around 60,000. A group with no coherent complaint except that Democrats are in control of Washington. A mainly white group of poor political losers. Some with extremely-wingnutty ideas.

The 9-12 event promoted heavily by Beck and Fox, organized by Dick Armey and attended by a group of 60,000 incoherent protesters turned out to be….alas….only a pity party.

American conservatives must face reality. American voters have rejected Republican candidates the last two elections. Americans are living right now with the disastrous mess left over from 8 years of a GOP president, 6 of those years with a Republican Congress. The era of Ronald Reagan brand conservatism is over. Proven to be a terrible failure. Conservative policies have been tried….and they have failed miserably.

Instead of facing reality, accepting failure and voter rejection, conservatives have been circling the Wingnut Wagons to defend failure.

It has been pitiful to watch.

In my senior year of high school our football team beat a neighboring team by 52-6. Walking in to the locker room after the game, the visiting losers, upset about being trounced so badly, tried to start a fight with our team members.

The visiting want-to-fight players represent the American Tea Party conservatives today. Having their ass kicked in the election "games" has only made them madder, more defiant. Tea Partiers, no matter that their candidates and policies have been thoroughly rejected, still think they, and they alone, are entitled to have their viewpoints recognized and implemented. They alone, represent "real America." And so they continually pick fights.

America is changing. Tea Partiers don't want it to change….and so they held a pity party, sore-loser session in D.C. voicing their disapproval. America elected a black Democrat, installed a Latino woman to the Supreme Court and is currently working through a national health reform bill.

Tea Partiers have lost the political policy battle…and they want to fight about it.

Update: Must see teevee on the 9-12'ers….

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.

Today, I read in the Community section of the Beacon what Geauga County Republican state senator Tim Grendell, speaking at yesterday's Cuyahoga Falls, Republican Party Tea Bagging protest event, said to a crowd of 7000 Tea Baggers….

"I was not born in a socialist country, and I will not die in a socialist country."

Unless Mr. Grendell is, like, over 65 years old, he was born into a country that had already incorporated many socialist programs into it's normal life before he was born. Barring a Tea Bagger Revolution (which could be quite an ugly sight when you think about it), Mr. Grendell will most likely pass on with those socialist programs, and several more, still firmly in place.

So, the question, I guess, I would have for Mr. Grendell is similar to the one Barney Frank asked recently, "What country were you born in?" The question I have for Geauga County voters is, "why would you elect such an ignorant person for your state representative?"

Recently, while driving in an adjacent township, I saw a couple of new handmade political signs. The signs were in someone's front yard but within the right of way of a state highway, which usually extends 60 feet from the center of the highway. The signs read "Wake up America. Socialism is at the door."

To which my immediate response was, "it's a state highway, socialism has always been 'at the door.'"

These two examples demonstrate the intellectual bankruptcy that the Tea Baggers and the Townhall Buster-Uppers bring to any "debate." I don't know if the Baggers and Busters are knowingly ignorant or obliviously ignorant….and frankly, I don't care. What I care about is the ignorance, itself.

Consider….

The "Wake up America, Socialism is at the door" signs could be seen by thousands of people daily passing by on the Ohio state highway whose berm the signs were placed on. That highway was only made possible by socialized Ohio tax dollars. State taxes were gathered from Ohio citizens and pooled to create that state highway. State taxes continue to maintain that highway. Irony, I don't think, gets anymore unintended than that.

In short, without state socialism, that protest sign wouldn't have received much exposure. Socialism made it possible for this "wake up America" warner…..to…..ummm…..warn us about socialism.

The township the "Wake up America" signs were in has just completed two brand spanking new elementary school buildings. Those school buildings were made possible by socialized real estate taxes plus socialized county and state taxes. Public education has been a socialized enterprise from the get go….I mean, that's why it's called "public" education.

In the case of Mr. Republican State Senator, Tim Grendell…..the guy who says he wasn't "born in a socialist country" and insists that he won't die in one either……he's simply lying, he knows better.

I have some information for the Tea Bagging Grendell. The United States has enjoyed many successful socialized programs and projects and we've had those successful and popular programs for many, many years. Do you think Mr. Tea Bagger From Geauga County isn't familiar with the Post Office, Social Security, Medicare, national defense, national and state parks, interstate and state highways, public education, local fire and emergency protection, PBS, NPR, public transportation, FEMA, NASA……? Of course, Mr Bagger is aware of all those socialized programs.

Why, then, would Mr. Grendell say ignorant stuff like "I wasn't born in a socialized country and I'm not going to die in one?"

There's only one answer to his obvious lying to those Fellow Baggers gathered for their Tea Party in Cuyahoga Falls yesterday……..political gain. Obviously ignorant Republican voters want to believe the lies GOP politicos continually spout. Conservatives detest the Democratic Party's policies, the policies needed in a modern world……diversity, the rights of minorities, gays, women, the freedom of legal abortion, stem cell research, health care reform, etc., etc. Because of this entrenched ideological hatred of all things Democratic, Republican voters don't care whether what their leaders are telling them is true or not, or makes any sense whatsoever…..they just know that if Democrats are for it, they're against it with extreme prejudice.

The practice of Republicans openly and blatantly lying has risen to epidemic proportions over the last 20 years or so. What it has produced over those years is a constituency immune to truth.

Please watch the first few minutes of this clip from last night's Rachel Maddow program……

There are those who would seek to convince me that the hatred, rage, violence. swastikas, death threats, hangings-in-effigy and brandishing of firearms recently in and around townhall meetings is simply a backlash to the Obama administration's attempt to extend health care services to most Americans.

Think about that for a moment.

All of this furor, the furor that whore-media is more than happy to plaster over all it's offerings, we're being told, has been created by a still-unfinished-proposal to help Americans obtain health care.

As I said yesterday, I do not accept that framing……it is, without doubt, dishonest.

Even though the wingnut chorus oftentimes sings in the key of incoherence, making it difficult to follow……the one "verse" most often repeated to justify all the whacked-out-winger craziness is government spending and the national debt.

Heres' why that excuse is not just flimsy, but isn't even worth the breath necessary to voice it:

It is a fact that under the leadership of George W. Bush the United States of America added more debt, borrowed more money, than all the other previous presidential administrations COMBINED.

When Bush took office, the national debt was $5.73 trillion. When he left, it was $10.7 trillion. That's a difference of $4.97 trillion,…Link

$5 trillion cash advanced during the Bush years……yet not one hate-filled demonstration or hysterical-rage protest with screamers and sign wavers warning of the end of the republic. Not one.

A doubling of the debt in 8 years while simultaneously handing out huge tax CUTS to America's wealthiest…..but, by god, not one protest, not one sign from conservatives calling Bush fiscally irresponsible.

Furthermore, all of Bush's borrowing didn't produce any positive results for Americans. Just the opposite. Employment, wage levels, buying power, pension values, all deteriorated. Deteriorated to the point where now we're in the worse recession of my 60 year lifetime.

Yet no conservative protests about any of it during the last 8 years. None.

Astonishingly, less than a year into a new, black, Democratic presidency, on the heels of an unfinished proposal to offer more and better health services to all Americans…..a plan that will be revenue neutral and not add to the national debt, at all…..and oh-so-fiscally-concerned conservatives are throwing a massive, hysterical sh*t fit.

It's all just so dishonest.

Now let me say something in regard to the Maddow clip and where I think we're headed…..

I think what we're witnessing is an extension of the Bush-Cheney years. What was consistent over the past eight years was the lawlessness and unaccountability of the Bushies. Conservatives will balk….but history wll bear that truth out. No other administration in American history has run up so much debt or been so lawless in their approach to governing.

And now that the Republicans are a tiny minority, the lawless tactics have filtered down to the same wingers who remained silent during the reckless debt accumulation years of George and Dick. That's why we're seeing the unruly mobs at Democratic representatives' townhalls…..not Republican townhalls. That's why we're seeing the guns, the swastikas, the nooses, the death threats. The wingers, following in the footsteps of their lawless and unaccountable heroes, are going to take the law into their own hands.

Tuesday in New Hampshire, outside of an Obama town hall meeting, a man stood with a loaded gun strapped on to his leg. Later, Chris Matthews interviewed him on MSNBC. The man said that his strapping on of that gun had nothing to do with health care reform…..he was just exercising his freedoms.

What he was really doing was setting the stage for Americans to become comfortable, accepting of, gun brandishing, thuggery, and violence as a response to the newly elected black Democratic president and his policy proposals. It's the same dynamic seen with the lawless wingers who are currently lifting up Dr. George Tiller's assassin, Scott Roeder, as a patriot, a role model.

I don't give a good goddamn what the New Hampshire laws are…..this man had no right….none….to carry a loaded gun anywhere in the proximity of the President of the United States. During the Bush years, middle aged women were arrested at gatherings for having a bumpersticker on their cars…..yet we're being prepped now to accept the idea of loaded guns at presidential townhalls?

It's insane.

The lawless mob-minded wingers will continue this month to bust-up Democratic townhall meetings. They will brandish more guns, hold up even more hateful signs and they will shout down or threaten any who challenge them. All of that will lead up to the corporate organized and sponsored 9/12 Tea Party gathering in Washington D.C……which is sure to be a spectacle of mass hysteria and hate.

Most likely, with all this "unrest", lawmakers will fold on health care reform, as many are doing right now…..and that will prove that lawlessness, thuggery, death threats, the brandishing of guns, and hate speech WORKS.

And, not uncoincidentally, that's exactly what the Bush and Cheney regime proved.

The profound wisdom of Duncan Black, aka, Atrios….

"Nobody could've predicted that electing a black man president would drive this country completely f*cking insane."

The milder, less abrasive thoughtfulness of today's AB Journal editorialist….

"The furor at town-hall meetings has been revealing. It has exposed a disturbing depth of ignorance regarding the national structure of health care."

Are the swastikas, the shouting, the rudeness, the guns, the bitter signs, and all the rest of the nonsense surrounding health care reform "town halls"….. evidence of ignorance….or are they evidence of bigotry?

There are those who would argue that the staged and orchestrated brutishness we're all witnessing in and around the health care reform "town hall" meetings is a result of legitimate anger, rage even. I heard Wall Street Journal writer, Stephen Moore, say as much on Tweety's show last night. Moore said that liberals were not appreciating the depth and breadth of the rage out there in the grassroots over the "direction" in which Obama and the Democrats were taking the country.

The town hall bust-ups are simply a retread of the rage-filled Tea Party "protests"….

From The Reverend's April 15th, 2009 blog post….

'…now Cavuto (of Fox) is telling me the Sacramento protestors are protesting a state tax increase. "The rage is palpable and the rage is everywhere." Now it's rage.'

On April 8, 2009, I included a link to photos of several Tea Parties. I think it's helpful for today's discussions about town hall bust-ups to review those pictures.

This, from a 2/27/09 Cleveland Tea Party, is also indicative of what the "rage", the "passion" is all about….

But the alleged rage started back during the presidential campaign. That "rage", or bigotry, (you decide), was in full flower especially at Sarah Palin rallies last fall. Take a look….from Strongsville, Ohio….

See the theme here? 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.

A while ago, I blogged about what appeared to me to be the Republican strategy to counter a popular Democratic president and a firm Democratic majority in Congress…..just say a lot of crazy sh*t.

From my February 24, 2009 blog post….

The current Republican members of Congress have decided to find relevancy by saying wild-eyed, batsh*t crazy stuff. The wilder and crazier the stuff they say, the more relevant they believe they become.

That's their plan.

When all your policies have failed, when your governing capabilities have stunk up the country like a rotted corpse…..how do you get the media's attention? How can you ever be noticed again?

Talk crazy talk.

And that was before the "birther" nonsense hit critical wingnut-mass.

But if crazy talk is spoken in a forest, will anyone hear it? It takes a village of Village Knee Padders to make sure that any Republican or conservative crazy talk is heard.

We now know that the town hall shout downs have been organized strategically by health industry lobbyists. The main profiteers of the health care status quo have co-opted the incoherent Tea-Party movement to do the crazy talk work for them. That way, you see, dishonest corporate media Villagers can point to those crazy-talking shouters….give them plenty of repetitive video looping exposure, you know, acting and talking crazy…..and then say stuff like this….

The town hall shout downs, Rush says…." is not ginned up, it's genuine, it's real."

Of course, that's a lie. So, other Villagers go ahead and swear to it…

MSNBC's Chris Matthews: What do you make of this firestorm that's going on across the country. We've got pictures from Texas and Long Island and Philly. Every time a congressman calls a town meeting now, the people show up and it's like — I don't know — it's like Iran! It's like the streets of Tehran!

Chris Matthews: Let me just speak real fast to the passion we're seeing at some of these town hall rallies. It seems to me that for the first time we're seeing maybe even in four years, we're finally seeing some real fire and some real passion. You didn't see it last year during the McCain campaign. I think folks now are finally fired up.

Nothing from Chrissy on who is behind the orchestrated anti-health reform crazy talk. He simply swears to the lie that these shout-down sessions are legitimate grassroots outrage.

Politico's Jonathan Martin: The, those polarizing issues, the issue about euthanasia, however credible it might be, the abortion issue, are causing Democrats problems right now because the average American hears those things and they sort of flinch, whether or not they're true or not and that's what slowing this bill down are these kinds of flash point issues out there that Republicans are exploiting.

Politico.com's freak, Jonathan Martin, doesn't care if any of the crazy talk is "credible." It's not his job to tell audiences what is true or false…..hell, he's a journalist….it's not his job. Apparently, his job is to repeat Republican crazy sh*t talk and then swear that the crazy sh*t talk is working….for anti-health care forces.

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell: AB, does it matter if these protests are organized or spontaneous? I mean, isn't it true that it's just the video that ends up on the local news that does the damage here?

The Hill's eye-candy AB Stoddard: It doesn't matter at all, and the fact is that the only goal for the Republicans right now is to scare people off this,

Why, heavens no, "it doesn't matter at all" whether the media's coverage is all based on the lie that the shout-down sessions are spontaneous or ginned up by industry lobbyists, the preening AB Hill says. And by god, she ain't gonna tell you the truth one way or the other about it…."doesn't matter."

But the crazy sh*t-talk prize goes to this guy for not only swearing to the Village lie about town hall spontaneity….but adding a new lie of his own….

Michael Smerconish: People are hot. I sense it in the phone calls that I get every day. I think they're very nervous about what's going to come out of this debate about national health care, and Chris if I've heard once in the last couple of days, I've heard it 50 times: "if they can't get cash for clunkers straight, what in the world are they going to do with my national health insurance?"

Smerconish "senses it". Town hall shout-downs are being choreographed by health industry forces, yet Smerconish swears to the lie that they're not, because he "senses it"

One final WTF moment on the Smerconish quote. The cash for clunkers program, the work of Ohio's Betty Sutton, has been wildly successful. That's the freaking reason why the money appropriated for the program ran out so quickly. It worked. Yet, Villager Mikey, in a truly ignorant attempt at comparison, asserts that the Democratic cash for clunkers program wasn't kept "straight" and, surely, we don't want to have health care reform done by the same guys who came up with a wildly successful program like that!