It's getting boring watching the MSM try to fit the teabaggers in a particular category that makes them feel comfortable. I saw a shift towards the more realistic on The Chris Matthews Show this weekend. A major topic was the right wing fringe inhabiting the tea party movement and the panel wondered how dangerous could these people really be?
Well, they can be very dangerous. Dr. Tiller was just murdered, but since the nut didn't identify himself with the tea party movement, he's not being drawn into the conversation. But he should, because right wing violent speech helped produce him.
At least Joe Klein calls out FOX News for their culpability in stirring the pot of hatred which can be looked at as basically seditious.
Klein: We've had movements like this throughout history....the difference now is a television network, I'm going to call it FOX. The presence of FOX, which allows its commentators like Sean Hannity, like Glenn Beck to rouse the tea party. Sean Hannity was in an event this week where the tea party was raising money to have people sit in the same stands with him. And the biggest difference in the past when there were right wing movements started we had ...the responsible Republican party would slap it down and there is no responsible leadership in the Republican party now.
Norah is sort of confused because she sees soccer moms at tea party rallies who are just worried about the deficit, but then she remarks there are these militia groups, these hate groups who believe Obama is coming after their guns.
Klein: I did a little bit of research...I looked up the definition of sedition, which is conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of the state and a lot of these statements-- especially coming from people like Glenn Beck and to a certain extent, Sarah Palin--are right up close to being sedition.
John Heilemann agrees with Klein and calls out Limbaugh for using the word "regime" to describe the Obama White House.
David Neiwert and I have been writing about this topic for a long time and I'm glad the MSM is finally recognizing the truth even if it's taken a really long time for them. When we finally release our new book, you'll see the evidence in a nice, neat package that will blow your mind. The Tea Party movement is bringing the hidden far right fringe out in the open with the help of FOX News and these people are dangerous.
Remember, conservatives can never say or do anything wrong. And there is never an end to how far right one can go. Klein makes the observation that violence might change that perspective, but the jury is still out.
Kathleen Parker writes in the WaPo about the tea partiers from a right wing perspective:
But words matter, as we never tire of saying. And these are especially sensitive times, given our first African American president and unavoidable fears about the worst-case scenario. If Jodie Foster could bestir the imagination of Hinckley, a Sarah Palin in the Internet age could move regiments.
Such fears are not unfounded. I hear daily from dissatisfied Americans who feel their duty is not only to protest but to fight if necessary. Here is one recent example, in response to a column I had written about America's true centrist nature:
"Sorry, honey, but we don't need the squishy middle right now. We need the hyper patriots, the combat vets ready to defend the constitution with arms if necessary."
The distance between such thinking and recent examples of overt hostility seems too little. In this space, the unthinkable becomes plausible. [..]
The only palatable answer is what conservatives say they love best: self-control and personal responsibility. When someone spews obscenities, shout them down. When politicians and pundits use inflammatory language, condemn them.
When you choose to remain silent, consider yourself complicit in whatever transpires.
