Is Crazy Anti-Obama Rhetoric Intended To Unhinge The Mainstream Right?
The favorite right-wing theme these days is an outgrowth of a meme we heard during the campaign, but sharpened and hardened: Barack Obama, we are now
Over on Michael Savage's radio show, his fill-in -- a Washington Times commentator named Jeffrey Kuhner -- said to his audience, addressing Obama: "You are a traitor to your country."
As this stuff filters downward, it grows even more toxic. For an example, check out Then there's returned veteran Pat Dollard:
Every day, it becomes clear that American capitalism, and by necessity the American Constitution, are under assault from a neo-Marxist revolution launched, as it only could be, by a madman, a hate-filled (thank you, Pastor Manning), narcissistic psychopath who is a liar par excellence (thank you again, Pastor Manning), possessed by whatever demons possessed those in whose footsteps he follows. Hitler, Stalin, Hussein et al. Insert your favorites. I don’t know what fucked this two-bit punk up, or when, and I don’t really care, I’m just going to see to it that he is stopped. I’d like you to join me.
Or even more disturbing, perhaps, are videos like this one:
The radicalization is happening across a broad spectrum. It's amazing how many people now take it as a matter of faith the Obama is a fascist. Gee, thanks, Jonah Goldberg. It was a prominent sentiment at the Tea Parties:
But this kind of rhetoric, as the "liberal fascist" meme suggests, actually is originating at a high distribution level: among mainstream conservative pundits. Goldberg, Beck, et al., are only the beginning of how widespread it is.
I received the below e-mail last week from the Conservative Book Club folks. It's actually a promotion for Human Events magazine, but check out the narrative:
It actually almost perfectly encapsulates the emerging narrative for mainstream conservatives, like a handy set of talking points all put together in one place.
And you can't tell me there's no relationship between this kind of rhetoric and the even crazier talk coming from the radical right. Because unlike the armchair right-wing pundits who indulge this stuff because it's a useful way to bestir the troops but couldn't act to save their asses, some of these other people, the radicals who hear this talk and then pump the irrationality even farther, to its illogical extreme, are perfectly capable of acting upon it.
And to listen to them talk, they are primed for action -- thanks to the irresponsible wingnuttery of the mainstream right.