This Will Be Our Summer Of Manufactured Discontent
Even though the 2014 midterms are 18 months away, the right wing is working now to work their minions into a froth.
Similarly, Paul Ryan's claim that connection between the IRS and Obamacare is somehow sinister and threatening is yet another dog whistle to the Tea Party masses.
Meanwhile, Rand Paul is trumpeting the fanfare over Benghazi and trying to flog Hillary Clinton with it. Of course, it's not just intended to flog Hillary, but also to serve as a clarion call for the masses to rise up this summer yet again.
On the extreme side of things, we have radio hosts claiming Obama is really the first openly gay president who hasn't come out of the closet yet. Um, okay. But wait! There's more.
According to Virginia's Republican Lieutenant Governor candidate, winger pastor EW Jackson, Democrats are slave masters and Obama is really a Muslim. Did I mention that Mr. Jackson happens to be black?
What we have here are the beginnings of a long, hot summer, with tons of manufactured discontent. Unlike 2009 and 2010, wingers don't have Obamacare to kick around anymore even though they think they do. They've had control of the House since 2010 but haven't done anything with it other than repeal ObamaCare 37 times, block every job bill that had a chance of actually improving the lives of Americans, and thump their chests about Benghazi and other stupid inventions.
All of the noise is, as Katrina Vanden Heuvel called it, deployment of weapons of mass distraction, sacrificing real issues and governance for political point-scoring, brewing a summer with town hall meetings full of angry elderly white people shaking their fists at evil Democrats for scandals Republicans caused.
Over the weekend I watched The Billionaires' Tea Party, which is an updated version of AstroTurf Wars made during the health care town halls. It includes footage from American Majority training sessions where participants are instructed in the fine art of gaming everything from Amazon reviews to social media. It was a good review in anticipation of what they plan for this summer and 2014.
The Occupy movement and all activists should be prepared to take them on this time. They do not get to benefit from the element of surprise. Most people who aren't insane know there's an effort afoot to gin up everything they possibly can to keep this president and Democrats from doing anything worthwhile, but we don't have the Villagers on our side, nor should we ever expect to.
If I were you, I'd put those local town hall dates in my planner and plan to attend, if only to counterbalance the insanity they're about to unleash on us all.