I am calling out the far right wing nutjobs once and for all. I am not calling out the Shodan’s of the world, but he needs to be wary of these crazies hijacking the discourse of his wing. They show up at these town halls with placards and postcards comparing Obama to Hitler, calling the Democrats fascists, disrupting public meetings, questioning the birthplace of our President by lying through their teeth, and trying to short-circuit Democracy.
Hitler? Fascist? Do they even know what they are talking about? An ultra-nationalistic philosophy, opposed to homosexuality and women’s rights. Opposed to democracy, relying on a Dictator. It’s insanity and stupidity.
An d I feel they are anti-American, knowingly lying when questioning the validity of the President, disrupting true discourse, the backbone of Democracy, through their intimidation and yelling (I am not calling for it to be illegal, I am just saying their actions are anti-democratic and despicable
They knowingly lie and do not argue facts.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with someone being honestly opposed to Health Insurance Reform from the administration-wing who are not these people, who do value discourse and the truth and not hyperbole and fear. It is unfortunate that even these folks get shouted down and shut out.
These folks are the fringe but they are defining the right, like it or not. And it is no wonder the Republican Party is becoming a fringe, regional, aging, white party that cannot help but shout itself into irrelevance.
If it were Democrat supporters doing this sort of nonsense to a Republican administration, these nutjobs would be the first to call out “traitors” and “anti-American”. They don’t understand that politics works both ways; that both sides need to play by the same rules.
Yeah, that’s great. I know there are whackos on the left, but you know what, they aren’t ruining the Democrats, the way the nutjobs do the right. They don’t have a TV networks of nutjobs to spout their nonsense. The numbers don’t lie, the Republicans are old, white, and southern and they are increasingly becoming irrelevant.
That’s all you’ve got in response to the OP? This is perfect example of what Max the Vool complained about in this thread. Gangster Octopus is talking about large groups of Republicans wholesale lying, disrupting meetings, calling the President’s citizenship into question, calling many of his policies and everyone who supports them socialists. And your response is… a picture of a t-shirt from Michelle Malkin’s website. Good one! No wonder your party is losing ground, if this is the best you can do in a debate.
There are plenty of aspects of the OP for those on the right to disagree with and rebut in the OP, but one t-shirt ain’t cutting it.
I remember, during the Bush years, being told that it was unpatriotic to badmouth the President or openly oppose him during times of crisis. My own brother, in fact, said it to me. I wonder why that line of argument went right out the window as soon as the shoe was on the other foot.
Check out the Yahoo! Answers Politics section for some REAL right-wing lunacy regarding Obama. They make the craziest SDMB right-winger look like Colin Powell.
The repubs have clearly stated that our medical system puts us at a competitive disadvantage. At least during campaigns. The are also aware we pay double for poor coverage. But when someone actually tries to fix it, they rally to prevent it.
It is political. If Obama gets a good health care bill through on his watch, it would be a huge blow to the republican party. They are hanging on by their fingernails to keep from joining the Whigs as a bygone party.
Visited my mom this summer for the first time in like 4 years. She wouldn’t shut up about “that nigger in the white house” and blah and blah and this war is all his fault and this economy is all his fault and her retirement investments have tanked and it’s all his fault." She loved W, wished he could have gotten a 3rd term.
Old, White and Southern she is. Kiss the hand that beats you because, hey, it’s attention, right?
The blatant racism on display in the US over the past year or so is pretty amazing. Drunken Negro cookies? Curious George/Obama '08 shirts? I don’t live in the states so I don’t see it first hand, but I had sort of assumed that the racists had been driven more-or-less underground in the past 40 years or so. I see I was disappointingly mistaken.
The Tooth: I’m hoping the racist phenomenon is more like a boil that’s finally coming to a head. It’s been there for a long time, but now it’s getting more visible, hopefully on its way to resolution.
I wasn’t in the US 40 years ago, but I’ve spoken with African Americans who were, and the racism is definitely a lot more underground now than it was back then. But the road to perfection is long and seldom smooth.
It certainly doesn’t seem to be a popular uprising, I guess there’s that. But so many people think it’s acceptable. I might not like Belgians (hypothetically) but I’m smart enough not to bring it up as justification for not voting for one then act all confused when called on it.
Damn right. Look at cash for clunkers. For chicken feed it is driving people back to showrooms, getting Ford to have an actual increase in sales, preserving jobs, and helping the environment more than predicted. The only downside was that it was more popular than imagined, and so ran out of money. And they are having a fit, trying to invent reasons why it is bad for America.
As Jon Stewart said the other night, tell these people they won the lottery and they’ll whine about having to buy a wallet.
I appreciate the warning, and I appreciate not being lumped in with the nuts, but…
The Usual Suspects are always going to assume and assert that all Republicans are as bad as the worst ones. There is plenty of reasoned and principled debate going on about the various Obama initiatives, but the assholes on the Left don’t engage that. Because debating that requires actual thought.
Easier just to focus on the low-lying fruit and pretend that it is the whole orchard. It’s like arguing Christianity with people based on a Chick tract.
Not everyone, but fortunately those that do are most of the same people who didn’t want to talk about MoveOn and all that.