I’m sure the world was fortunate that Nixon (who had not yet reconsidered his Commie-hunting worldview) was not POTUS during the Cuban Missile Crisis . . . but it was LBJ who was savvy (sleazy, but savvy) enough a pol to actually get things done domestically.
Will the right stop trying to stop trying to compare their crazies to the left's mild overreactions?
Nor have I. Whereas the craziness of the Right is so farspread, so blatant that it’s nearly impossible to miss. And far more accepted by the right wing in general than the craziness on the left.
I do know that there was a movie depicting the assassination of George W. Bush, though from what I heard it wasn’t so much “George W. Bush should be assassinated” as it was “What would happen if George W. Bush were to be assassinated?” And though the former would be deplorable, I have no problem with the latter. (And likewise, I wouldn’t care if someone were to make a movie depicting the possible consequences of Obama being assassinated as long as they didn’t actually come out and say or imply that he should be assassinated.)
Kinda like how if someone writes an alternate history story about if Germany had won World War II, that doesn’t mean that said person is a Nazi sympathizer.
I suspect that History will (sometime, long past my death) realize that Teddy, loathsome as he sometimes was, was the Kennedy who did the most good.
Man, what’s up with painting Malcolm with the whackjob brush? Cut that shit out. He was the good crazy.
Daily Kos is NOT equivalent to Free Republic. Perhaps Redstate. But Daily Kos is not the cesspool that the Freepers are. Outright violent and/or vile posts are usually immediately hide-rated and aren’t tolerated. Posting Truther bullshit is official cause for banning (and has been since immediately after 9/11 happened).
Democratic Underground MAY be closer to a left-wing equivalent of the Freep, but even then I’m a little leery of accepting that conclusion at face value.
I saw Death of a President, and it was absolutely respectful of George W Bush. It does question some policy issues, about profiling, Homeland Security, etc., but it’s hardly some looney left-wing attack movie.
I think this proves the point of the OP. In a desperate scamble for tu quoque, **furt **whips out, “The Left made a movie about killing George W Bush!” … which is of course a wild misrepresentation/pile of bullshit.
That’s the key difference. The right wing crazy has become the GOP’s message. They embrace their crazy. The democrats run like hell from theirs - remember the vote against MoveOn.org for the General Betray-Us ad?
What I can not understand is why Republicans think doing this will help their cause. Their rural Appalachian base isn’t going anywhere - so why don’t they risk ticking them off a bit by doing things that might win back the Denver and Philadelphia suburbs.
This.
By which I mean, you don’t own the crazy unless they’re reciting your talking points.
Because it works. Purple bandaids and accusations of hating freedom got Bush elected in 2004, and crying about Nazis and death panels seems to effectively be putting the kibosh on health reform. I don’t see a lot of Bush Administration torturers answering for their crimes in the future either.
Apologies - honestly. I would like to hope that I would have supported him had I been of age (rather than a wee little one) during his time.
So, when were you ZOTted?
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Duct tape can be used for birth control. Why the American Right is so against birth control, I’ll never understand.
There’s definitely a perception difference. Crazy doesn’t have a political bent; crazy is crazy. Some crazy leans towards identifying with the right, some on the left. Crazy is as crazy does.
But…
But then there’s Fox. Rush and crew. The self-replicating and reinforcing publishing network. That’s three major, mainstream, distribution paths; television, radio and print. They give a stamp of legitimacy to the crazy and mainstream it.
^^This mostly.
All sides have crazies, the conservative crazies are just louder and have more access to getting their message out.
Plus, conservative crazies seem to be more monolithic. While one might be a birther and another a deather they are unified underneath it all.
Liberal crazies, while probably as numerous, are not monolithic. A PETA crazy is not the same as PUMA crazy. They have little common ground so cannot speak with as unified a voice.
Broad strokes I know. Just how I see it.
For fuck’s sake I wish people would shut it with the “Bushitler” talk. I just searched the entire SDMB and there were (until this point) 16 threads containing the word, and in EVERY SINGLE CASE it was used ironically or exaggeratedly or as an example of stereotypical Bush hatred. There were ZERO actual cases of a liberal, even Der Trihs, actually calling Bush “Bushitler”. None. (If I missed one, please feel free to point it out… it’s possible there was one later in a thread after I’d found the first occurrence, or that a case I thought was being ironic in fact was not.)
There are plenty of legitimate criticisms of the conduct of some members of the at-least-vaguely-approaching-the-mainstream left during the Bush years, why do you need to make shit up?
I have to admit it’s kinda clever, though. Bush + shit + Hitler.
Umm…I remember a little movie called Farehenheit 911, and little guy named Michael Moore.And a woman named Cindy Sheehan…The dems didn’t exactly run like hell to avoid 'em.
Now, okay, they weren’t totally bat-sheet crazy… but they were not conducive to intelligent politcal discourse, either. And the left wing loved 'em.
(not that I approve of right-wing crazies,either. )
Having read all the responses, I think it’s 2 things that are probably the most upsetting:
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Making left wing people sound crazy by bad summaries. The response to the movie about GWB’s death is a perfect example of that. We need to fight this wherever it happens.
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The fact that the mainstream takes right wing crazies more seriously. When someone put a hitler mustache on a picture of Bush, Democrats denounced it. When someone did it with Obama, Republicans said “if you can do it, what’s wrong if we do.”
Worst yet, when Rush limbaugh says something crazy, any Republican who speaks out against him is attacked. The crazies are running the show for the Republicans. It scares the crap out of me that we are going down this road.
Oh well, I got my point out, and feel backed up by the comments here. Back to the real world.
Science in support of the OP:
So, while there are crazies on both sides liberals exhibit more ability to adjust and change their mind. Conservatives tend to be more dogmatic and stay the course no matter how many times you wave a birth certificate under their nose.