A number of friends and readers have called me to task in recent weeks claiming that I have been unfair to Republicans or that I have been giving the "crazies" way too much attention and actually helping their cause by getting so upset. Others have said that my strong level of disgust with the migration of the Right to hate, lies, and slander that I have become every bit as much a hater as those I have criticized.
But I got an email from my friend Ricky today that turned on a light bulb and brought the difference between criticism into clear focus.
It was a link to an article in Harper's by Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz entitled "The $10 Trillion Hangover". It explains -- using real facts, charts and figures -- just how badly the Bush administration's policies -- or lack thereof -- damaged our society, our economy, and exploded our national debt. I urge you to click on the link and read it.
It documents how during eight years of Bush, every aspect of government spending exploded, our national debt doubled from $5 trillion to $10 trillion, and how 95 percent of all income growth went to the richest 10 percent of Americans due to fiscal and tax policies designed to produce that result. Despite the huge government deficits and stimulus, at the end of Bush's eight years virtually every aspect of our economy had collapsed.
It was a critical piece but unlike most of what we read today, it dealt with established facts and used footnotes to back it's conclusions. There was nothing hateful about it. Bush wasn't called names or demonized. He was criticized for things he actually did.
It stands in sharp contrast to what is flowing more and more freely from the Right wing and the Republicans every day. I know I have written about this before, but it's getting worse and squeezing what's left of truth and logic out and replacing it with hatred, anger, and lies.
In a recent piece, "business columnist" (actually no more since he was just fired by the New York Times for being a shill for a credit reporting agency that exploits poor people) Ben Stein gave his most recent toxic assessment of our president, Barack Obama.
During one short piece, he referred to Obama as "cunning, anti-American, anti-white, ultra-left with a total zero academic record, completely lacking in scholarship, not a fan of this country, way too cozy with terrorists in the Middle East, someone who gave Iran a complete go-ahead to have nuclear weapons -- complete betrayer of our country, and a man dedicated to taking away all our freedoms."
The piece was long on frightening and demonizing adjectives and completely devoid of facts, links to source materials, and examples.
The same was true of popular Right wing Fox News personality Glenn Beck who recently called Obama "a racist -- a man who hates white people." while again failing to cite a single example or fact to back this slur.
The same was true of self-proclaimed super-Republican Rush Limbaugh who joined the chorus of those on the Right who have compared Obama to Adolf Hitler but, again, have provided all heat and no light.
The same is true of Congresswoman Virginia Foxx and others in Congress who have announced on the floor of the House that they are opposed to Obama's health care reform because they are "pro-life and refuse to support a plan that would put our senior citizens to death." Ms. Foxx then sat down without giving anyone a clue regarding what facts she had to support that claim. That's because there are none.
The same is true of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (recently critical the media for "makin' things up") who said she fears the "Obama death panels" that would have the power to kill her parents and son Trig (who has Down Syndrome) if the president's health care plan passes.
The same is true of the "grass roots protesters" who are really well-funded and organized Right Wing shock troops that announced weeks ago that they had a game plan to disrupt town hall meetings in Congressional districts to make sure nothing could be discussed and no questions could be asked or answered.
The same is true regarding the leaders of the "birther" movement who claim that Obama was born in Kenya and is therefore not qualified to be president. Buoyed by support from Republican members of Congress and CNN "newsman" Lou Dobbs, radio hatemonger Mark Levin, these liars now have a majority of Republicans nationwide doubting Obama's citizenship and a large majority of all Southern Whites saying they're either certain or doubtful that Obama was not born in this country.
If these racists, bigots, liars, and nut jobs were truly part of some lunatic fringe as some of my friends have suggested, I would probably comply with their requests that I just back off the whole subject of hatespeech and media irresponsibility and move on. But the problem is getting worse, not better, and it's becoming clear that these people are no longer on the fringe.
They are whack jobs or hard-wired haters, but their influence and numbers are growing among what's left of the Republican party, the news media, and the former Confederacy. More important, there is an increased reluctance among "good" Republicans to publicly distance themselves from these people -- to tell them that they bring discredit to and are killing the party with their hatred, bigotry, and lies.
Meanwhile, the GOP is cultivating the future by electing a Louisiana woman chairman of the Young Republicans after she supported a man who called Obama "a commie and a coon" on her webpage. After the incident, she won 60 percent of the vote on the first ballot and is now setting the tone and running the show for future Republican leaders.
It's the people who want to have a fact-based discussion regarding what's best for our country that are now on the fringe. And those who don't realize it are the true lunatics.
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You are more right than you know.
What we are seeing now is the New Confederacy.
It's not limited to the old slave states.
It's an attitude brewed by Fox News that says ``The legitimate government of the United States has no right to govern us, even if it is elected.''
These are not people of the ``loyal opposition.''
These folks are far more dangerous.
Something bad is about to happen and we know who is behind it.
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So when you make justified complaints that I agree are unforgivable, make them about the government as a whole, not fictional factions created to compartmentalize us. It gets more frightening when you realize that it really is the same people who entered an unjust war in Iraq and gave all that money to the bankers who are now trying to regulate our health care.
Why don't you go on the road and interview your average white guy who is in need of health CARE so you can report the TRUTH to us right here?
The "increased reluctance among "good" Republicans to publicly distance themselves from these people" is because the "good Republicans" secretly want the haters to do the dirty work in their goal of destroying the Obama presidency.
I believe the Republicans have crossed the line with encouraging groups of people to disrupt our senators and congresspersons at these town halls meetings.
But the internet, blogs, and 24-7 news coverage have created a whole new ball game and the haters have learned to work it.
A few years ago, there were too few people like you telling the truth and exposing the lies. It allowed Fox News to totally control the information flow and, well, we see what happened from that. As long as people like you stay in the fight, we'll keep pushing them back... even now, we are finally forcing them back into a smaller and smaller corner. Each day, they weaken, their numbers shrink (no matter how loud they shriek), and their rants become more bizarre, more violent, and more radical.
Keep takin' it to 'em Larry!
it is criicism when a progressive utter the words
it is hate when a conservative utter the words
Or do you maintain that the left/progressives treated President Bush and his administration or treat those with traditional points of view with kid gloves and civility?
Sean Parnell
President
Center for Competitive Politics
http://www.campaignfreedom.org
These people are everywhere with their hate. How can it be that a lot of them even dare call themselves "Christians"? They scare the hell out of me. I am so afraid there will be many tragedies because of all this organized hate. And the worst part of it is that the Medical Industrial Industry eggs these people on because they are worried about their effin profit margins! Don't they see they irreversible damage that the are doing? How society at large is at a very dangerous risk?
I don't know how they can hold their heads up or even sleep at night after what they have unleashed. When the real shootings start, who will take responsibility or who will blame whom?
Hate Speech....when Pugs do it.
I realize that not everyone who lives below the Mason-Dixon line is a bigoted hater, but enough are that once again, it seems the southern portion of our country is the problem.
When any sort of actual progress stands to be made in the United States, the one thing we can count on, before it even happens, is that The South will be against it. Improving race relations? Against it. Affordable health care for their fellow citizens? Against it. Marriage equality? Against it.
Are there solutions to this? It's the 21st century, yet here we still are...
As a person with more conservative business values, but more liberal social ones, I am on my own.