This piece by Digby says it all: the savages of the radical Right can say anything, can utter any smear, can advocate butchering their political opponents, can spread any lie, and they will still be treated respectfully by the mainstream media. This is the same MSM that will wildly exaggerate any misstep by a Democrat and scream and shout about how "unhinged" the political left is in America.
The depth of the Right's viciousness is almost beyond belief. Digby--and I--take them seriously. Some of his examples:
When Limbaugh said, "I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus - living fossils - so we will never forget what these people stood for," we didn't doubt him anymore.
When Ann Coulter said "we need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too, otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors," to rapturous applause at the 2002 CPAC, we knew she wasn't just kidding.
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It continues today. Dinesh D'Souza just published a book saying that liberals are the cause of terrorism. Ramesh Ponneru calls us "The Party of Death." And when Michele Malkin then creates a career out of calling the left "unhinged" the Washington Post treats her like she's discovered the Holy Grail.
This is why it is so shocking to us when we see people like Howard Kurtz and various others call for the smelling salts when some members of the left have reacted in kind by saying hateful, violent things about Dick Cheney's assassination attempt. (These anonymous commenters, by the way, are not best selling authors making a personal televised appearance at a gathering that includes most of the Republican presidential candidates, members of congress and even the Vice President himself.)
I certainly agree that such appalling comments are not to be accepted. Indeed, I recall how my stomach turned when when I read what Coulter had to say at CPAC last year:
On Democrats: "Someday they will find a way to abort all future Boy Scouts." College professors: "sissified, pussified." Harvard: "the Soviet Union." John Kerry: the other "dominant woman in Democratic politics." Her post-9/11 motto: "Rag head talks tough, rag head faces consequences." For good measure, she threw in a joke about having Muslims burn down the Supreme Court -- with the liberal justices inside.
Then came questions. A young woman asked Coulter to describe the most difficult ethical decision she ever made. "There was one time I had a shot at Bill Clinton," Coulter said.
And yet, vile scum like Limbaugh, Coulter, O'Reilly, Hannity, Kristol, Savage, Beck, Cavuto, Gibson, D'Souza, Malkin, and all of their poisonous offspring continue to be feted by their friends in the so-called "mainstream media". Democrats in general and liberals specifically are ridiculed and attacked relentlessly while Right wingers advocate genocide and war. Al Gore, WHO HAS BEEN 100% RIGHT ON EVERY ISSUE IN PUBLIC LIFE, is called mentally unbalanced by sneering little bastards like Chris Matthews while Bill Kristol, WHO HAS BEEN 100% WRONG ON EVERY ISSUE IN PUBLIC LIFE is promoted and given increasingly broad platforms from which to brand anyone who disagrees with his lunatic neocon agenda a traitor.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Ann Coulter is wildly popular with the hardcore Right that runs the Republican Party. These people hate anyone who disagrees with them, and would sincerely like to see people like me either killed or intimidated into silence. They routinely speak out for mass murder, as when Coulter suggested carpet bombing Iran, and yet continue to get a free pass by our media "watchdogs". We need to call these "watchdogs" on this loud and clear.
There can be NO COMPROMISE with the radical Right. There can be NO DIALOGUE with them. They cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be talked to, they cannot change. These are the delusional 29% of the American people who actually think Bush is doing a good job as president. They cannot be engaged; they can only be utterly and totally opposed, crushed, and defeated. The murderous radical Right commentators are not at the fringe of the Republican party--they are the Republican Party. The sooner those of us in the sane, reality based part of America grasp this, the sooner these people will be politically destroyed for all time.
1 comment:
Sir, I would have to disagree with your statement that there cannot be compromise. When a group is so easy to subvert that their basic morality is turned against who they wish to beleive in and turned into another subverting method for political profit, that group must be compromised with. A compromise does not mean giving into what they beleive, but convincing them that they are receiving what they want, even when the state has no plan for enacting their ideals. The radical wings of all ideals are more prone to violence, and the radical right is an extremely well organized ideology that is being held into check by the moment by their puppet masters. We all have our own Geppetto, be it our inner morality or another person who has great influence over us. A right wing is a natural phenomenon in all political groups, and must be listened to, for if they are ignored then they will use that to gain power for themselves. If you ignore, than they can grow; If you address, than they can weaken. Right now they have an incredible ammount of influence, perhaps enough to destroy the world if a wrong move is taken, but due to that influence they must be subverted. A talk must always exist, for the government of the United States in its current form lends credence to a right wing mentality. Right now, the nation is in such a state that it takes a congressional order to overturn a memo from an ex attourney general. A nation in such a sad state, where the executive has grasped so much power for itself through playing to the needs of the extreme right wing, is a nation that needs to change. But change itself cannot happen without the right wing allowing the initial changes to occur. You cannot simply force change on a group that has the backing, and has had the backing throughout history, of business interests that are out for increased profit. The only thing you can do is subvert that group through open dialogue with their Geppetto. This is a group that has proven itself time and again throughout history to follow the ravings that they wish to beleive were true, for the truth they seek is a self fufilling truth. The only reason this group is dangerous is because business has decided that these are the backers who will allow them more control and profit. The problem does not lie within people themselves, for no matter how crazy an idea an individual may have, he is still free to have that idea so long as he does not act upon it. Instead, the problem relies upon the natural corruption of man, the corruption of the individual morality to allow nonhuman entities to grow in strength, all for an out of control system that relies heavily upon itself to maintain peace. The right wing is a natural occurance in all socities, for the right wing forms when a group has power and does not wish to give up that power for progress. Progress is the enemy of the right wing, for progress will prove their morality and ideals to be faulty. The only rational solution to having a divided nation between those who wish for progress and wish to maintain the old order is to make sure the two sides continue talking to each other, in order for the problems that commonly befall a society with such a divide. What, then, is to be done about the current situation? The progressive must only wait before society proves him right, while the conservative can never be proven right, for he regressive in that he can only be proven correct in the past, and so tries to make the past the current situation. The past will always be gone, and so the progressive will win out. There is no eternal form of government; The United States will fall, China will fall, all will fall eventually, but there can be stability for enough generations so as to maintain a happiness until the time that we become sufficiently advanced. The liberal need only wait to be proven right, and to wait he needs only stall those who oppose him. I say to you that dialogue must never be closed between a group that opposes everything you beleive in, for so long as that talk continues, you can gain enough time for society to mature enough to mock the views currently held by your opponents. All societies eventually mock the ideals of those before them. America is no different than any other nation except for the fact that it embraced a purely capitalistic form of economics. There must be a talk continuing in order to avoid the instability that comes when talk stops. There must be talk continued in order to stall for more time. The talks must continue, the attempts to rationalize with the irrational must go on, for we face the problems all have before. The solution lies in talking instead of ignoring. The solution is time. I know that I have gotten off topic from my original disagreement with you but technology is advancing beyond the rate of values in society and it is only time which will allow society to catch up. Through legal means the right must be subverted but they cannot think they are being ignored through that subversion.
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