'The Eliminationists': Yet another round of interviews, and assorted notes
By David Neiwert Saturday Oct 17, 2009 6:00pm[Warning: Naked self-promotion ahead.]
My book The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right continues to attract a lot of interest, partly because it so clearly anticipated the current descent into madness of mainstream conservatives, currently drowning in a lake of right-wing extremism. I didn't predict tea parties, but I did warn that '90s-style militia wingnuttery was about to swamp the Republican Party, and I do explain how this is happening.
So this week I was the featured interview at Amanda Marcotte's podcast at RH Reality Check. We specifically focused on the way right-wing domestic terrorists have had a profound impact on women's reproductive rights. This is a brief interview; it starts at about the 8-minute mark and continues to the 24-minute mark.
And I was also featured as the live guest on Second Life for this week's episode of Virtually Speaking on BlogTalkRadio.
This is an hourlong session and fairly broad-ranging. It was fun for me because I've known Jay Ackroyd for over 10 years -- online (we useta post at the old Slate forum The Fray back in the day), but we only finally met in person this summer at Netroots Nation. We talk about posting at Crooks and Liars, among other things. I also get to talk about my favorite moment of the past year: Having been the guy who made Sarah Palin crazy enough to try to have McCain lie, thereby cementing her rep as a diva among the McCain campaign.
It's now been a full year since I've been at C&L. I think I'll celebrate by running the video that made Palin crazy, which occurred my first week here:
Meanwhile, John Amato and I are ensconced in the writing process this weekend for our upcoming book from PoliPoint Press: Over the Cliff: How Obama's Election Drove the American Right Insane. (Due out next spring.) We'll have more details as we get closer.
In the meantime, I'd like to say thanks to the community of readers and commenters here at C&L for welcoming me so warmly and making me feel right at home from the start. It's been a blast, with lots more to come.
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going to be anything about how it's driving the left insane?
:P
The piece didn't put the AIP into the context of Alaska politics. The AIP has turned into the party of disgruntled republicans, just as the Green Party in Alaska is the hiding place for Democrats that are on the outs with the AK Democratic party.
When people fall out of grace with either party structure or leadership, they go to the "minor league" partes -- Green and AIP.
For example, Walter Hickel, former Secretary of the Interior under Nixon, and a lifelong Republican, jumped into the AIP to run for office and win the Governorship. It's not that he had anything to do with Vogler's secessionist views, it was that the AIP was an established party in AK, meaning he could get on the ballot for a $50 fee, and not have to collect signatures.
This is why you see movement between the two parties. The AIP has no influence to policy. For the most part, they're just Republicans who don't like the people running the Alaska Republican party.
There's more than enough stupidity and incompetence to be found with Palin without exaggerating.
/former Alaska politician
I was wondering how the average right wing fundamentalist American has reacted to the TeaBaggers.
Those Americans are dealing with exactly the same corrupt health care system as everybody else. Possibly facing bankruptcy due to medical bills. Definitely watching their rates go up
So when they see the TeaBaggers opposing reform, how do they react?
More broadly, has the insanity of the Teabaggers alienated any of the rightwing fundies from the fold?
One can only hope.
Just a thought…
Though the insane can be irrational, not all that are irrational are insane.
The Teabaggers are irrational. But mostly they have fear going for them – and hate. Hate is a form of fear, and there is much fear in America today. It doesn’t help that that fear and hate is fomented for political and economic gain. For too long, Americans were told to fear, when they should have been led away from the abyss which is fear and hate. The fearful are easily led, and misled.
Hope? Hate is fleeting. Hope is eternal...
I still think The Eliminationists sounds like a sequel to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y0al2LyGfQ
Or even my fave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wwm2_JJLYY
Glad you are here.
As for the subject at hand, I'll save for Sunday, the day of
restatonement. Saturday night's alright forfightingfootball...David, I love your work, but please don't call the right wing "the right." This gives them the opportunity to call themselves "the right," as in right and wrong. As we have known ever since Newt's "Contract on America," words have meanings. To the politically illiterate, the easily influenced, and some of the apolitical American youth, "right" and "left" mean nothing, but "right" and wrong" have meaning. Please use "American right wing" in your title instead of "American right."
Look at what happened to the Latin word for the left, sinister.
but I'm proud of being called a 'Secular Progressive', it has kind of a pragmatism to it, and it's the antonym of 'Myopic Neanderthal', which pretty much describes the 'right'.
My only complaint about you is you don't post enough! I love your posts. You were a brillint addition to this already wonderful blog.
I absolutely second that emotion. When I see David's name on a post, I always smile because I know it's going to be good and very interesting.
Happy one year, David! I am looking forward to many to come.
These new militias I still think they aren't the same Rush Dimwits, I don't think the majority are Glenn BeckBots, either.
I do agree the right wing propaganda has been popping up in strange places like Alex Jones, it's funding and comercialism an infection caused by econmics and/or capitalism. You got to pay your way. I think most of these people are able to cut threw allot of the crap from both sides, the internet makes it very easy. Almost disgusting sometimes.
New times, new militia objectives I am betting too. I am so freaked my back is broken. The weak go first.
You do a good job, you do reach a tad, maybe combine too many different groups into 1 catogory. It would be nice for you to try to distinguish between the TV morons and the real lifers out here.
I am so curious of my profile you crazy people have on me, most information is coming from me, but I am sure some comes from the TV morons around my area. 2 sides to every story, and strong minds can have weak times too.
The upcoming book sounds interesting, I look foreward to when it comes out.
[Warning: Naked self-promotion ahead.]
Not even pasties allowed?
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1938,150175-2...
Against my better judgement, I just bought your book on Amazon, David. ; 0 )
So now you have to cut off your right boob?
Looking forward to your next book, David! That'll be a "must read" for me.
You, John, BlueGal, Jane Hamsher et. al. are all doing wonderful work for the progressive netroots!! Your labors are much appreciated.
What really amazed me about last year's race was how the MSM really failed to ask the McCain/Palin camp many more questions on this front. Here the opposition was throwing Obama in bed with a 60's radicals with no real ties. And here Palin and her husband are openly active with a qasi-militant, anti-fed group? And the little news coverage it did pick up in no way seemed to dissuade Palin's pro-american republican, bible belt support. Me thinks too many of those supporters are watching Fox News to have any handle on reality anyway.
I do look forward to reading your book and appreciate your work.
All morning, C&L's came up with an error! I cant live without the place! Glad to see "whatever" was fixed!
David I read your book and enjoyed it very much. It was/is one that needed to be written. Thank you...and hell yes, you SHOULD brag it up! (glad to see you here too!)
some on the right keep refering to obama as the manchurian candidate. this is both ignorant and racist. it is evident none of them ever read the book or saw either of the movies.
the manchurian candidate is the person running for the vice president position who has a spouse that has ties to an anti american group, in the case of the film and book, communists, but only using them as and end to their means, the overthrow of the government.
leave it to the right to not know what the actual plot is and just label obama the manchurian candidate because a black guy starred in the remake, even though he was the hero of the piece.
they also ignored that the assasin of the manchurian candidate was an american pow captured in an asian communist country and brainwashed, kind of like one john mccain.
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