More people take Radio Rwanda Robert Gleason at his word.
In an exclusive interview with 12 News, 58 year-old Nancy Takehara of Chicago says she was going door-to-door when she came across a disgruntled homeowner.
“The next thing I know he’s telling us we’re not his people, we’re probably with ACORN, and he started screaming and raving,” Takehara said. “He grabbed me by the back of the neck. I thought he was going to rip my hair out of my head. He was pounding on my head and screaming. The man terrified me.”
The violence will not be anything that the National Guard can suppress. It will be big Republican guys beating middle aged volunteers, vandalism, potshots in the night. Like they did in the 90’s super-patriots will wall themselves off in little clans. If they feel the need to act, they will follow McVeigh and Rudolph’s example and bomb something.
You cannot ‘put down’ festering bitterness like this. It will become a part of life like bad weather and dog crap on the sidewalk. It’s pretty easy to avoid, but we’re past that point now. John McCain decided to lose ugly. The party, always captive to the whims of the top of the ticket in the best of times, eagerly followed suit. Clever people at the top of the party are saying things that can only lead to violence if simpler folks in the ‘base’ take it seriously.
To illustrate my point, you can’t find a simpler bunch of base minds than rightwing blogs. When Republicans lose huge, let’s see what fraction honestly tries to account for the GOP’s failures and come up with a strategy to fix them. If more do that, as Kos did to the dismay of conspiracy theorists on the left, then I will never he happier to be wrong. But I seriously doubt that will happen. Most of the none-too-sharp rightwing bloggers will egg on the evil Democrat/ACORN conspiracy story, and their even dimmer readers will take the next logical step.
***Update***
Billmon makes the same point. The GOP is reaping the wind, they know they’re doing it, but apparently the personal shame of losing an election honestly is too much for party leaders to bear.
bdr
And it will be the happiest, most fulfilling days of their lives.
Singularity
Then we should start rounding up big Republican guys who do this kind of shit and incarcerating them. I’m sure they’ll fit right in with Aryan Brotherhood assholes they meet in prison.
Stuck in the Funhouse
Think Happy Thoughts for a sunny Sunday.
TR
This is all the more reason to put out foot on the gas and aim for a nationwide landslide. If Obama gets in by a squeaker, these people will be blaming the vast ACORN conspiracy. He needs to blow him out of the water convincingly.
Bob In Pacifica
That’s the beauty of fascism. You screw over the working class and then blame it on the people who’re even lower down on the list. And the working class is dumb enough to believe the fascists. Really, take a look at some of the videos at the McCain and Palin rallies. Not much different from a Klan cross-burning.
As Sarah Silverman opined, "If blacks lives in Germany during WWII, the Holocaust would never have happened. Or not to the Jews."
zzyzx
That’s very cool that Obama called her personally after that. Yeah, it IS going to be ugly but I didn’t expect this to come easily.
Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM
"We’re proud of our supporters."
-John McCain
Davis X. Machina
Has there ever been a party more badly named than the modern Republican Party ? They’re all monarchists.
When you’re a monarchist, there’s no such thing as a ‘peaceful transfer of power through the ballot box’.
The Grand Panjandrum
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this very issue for the past few weeks and I too am concerned about where this might be going.
How long do you think it will take for the wingnuts to start bitching about the jack-booted thugs from ICE, DEA, FBI, etc? For some reason we haven’t heard much complaint about the intrusive nature of this government now lead by the Former Cheerleader and his Gang of War Criminals.
How long do you think it will take for the wingnuts to re-discover the Rule of Law? They’ve already re-discovered "smaller government" and "less government spending" as biblical truths. I look forward to their reasoning when they attempt to why warrantless wiretaps are UnAmerican if a Democrat sits in the White House.
But, I do hope you are wrong about the dimmer bulbs in the Right Wing pack. Unfortunately, you may be correct and it would not surprise me.
GSD
McCainism and Palinism.
It’s the new McCarthyism.
-GSD
Noted Commie fag General Colin Powell has endorsed Sen. Obama.
malraux
They will likely still be convinced that it was really just a very very vast ACORN conspiracy.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@The Grand Panjandrum:
January 9, 2009, 1300 est.
Problem is, I’ve been complaining about the jackbooted thugs from DEA and the FBI for at least a decade now. Do I have to stop?
boonagain
I have a question.
Have the Freepers mounted a fund raising drive for Michele Bachmann to counteract her opponent’s fund raising efforts?
tripletee
No could have anticipated that inciting violence would lead to violence.
ksmiami
I’m ready for these motherfuckers. Bring it on…
Comrade Scrutinizer
@tripletee:
Incitement to riot? Oh, come now. How can yelling "One people. one country, one leader" possibly be construed as an incitement to violence?
Comrade Napoleon
Good, in part a big victory will mean that when a person spouts off with silliness like this that co-workers, family and others who may have listened to the person in the past will just tune out whatever they have to say. It will do wonders to help marginalize a group of people who have driven the agenda for 30 years.
Comrade Scrutinizer
And by the way: Lara Logan is smokin’ hot.
Zifnab
The idea is to make it more and more undeniable. Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 which made his election far more hotly contested than his re-election in 2004.
That said, there’s no stopping this. Had Al Gore won in 2000 instead of George Bush, these nutballs would still exist and still run around attacking people. If 9/11 had happened on a Democrat’s watch, we’d see the same sort of anti-liberal violence aimed at muslims and their fifth columnist liberal appeasers, as well as conspiracy theories claiming that Gore and Clinton planned it all. That the 9/11 Truthers were pointing their wads at the Bush Admin was actually a refreshing change from the 90s.
So settle in. Freedom isn’t free and America will be forced to earn the right to vote and have their voices heard over the tyrannical, the bigotted, and the stupid. Hopefully, this iteration will bring us another step closer to cleansing the sad and filthy mindset from our society. It’s not the 60s anymore. Perhaps we’ll luck out and the crazies will all stick to their blogs and stay the hell away from the general public.
jcricket
It will take them minus 0.1 seconds to start complaining. But frankly, I don’t care. If they are truly spouting a civil libertarian (small l) line of reasoning, fine.
I want to get rid of warrantless wiretaps, permanently. I want the NSA and FBI out of where they don’t belong. I want the DOJ un-politicized. I want NASA, FEMA, FDA, FTC, FCC, etc. un-politicized.
Democrats can cagily use the newfound respect for civil liberties on the right to ram through apolitical/non-partisan reform of all these government agencies.
The righties can be useful tools in our quest to remake American institutions fucked over by Bush, but only if we get out in front.
Same thing as I’ve been saying about election reform. Use their faux anger and outrage to push real reform. Since we have majorities, they’ll attempt to block the real reform, but we can also use that against them. And you can do things that nominally address the faux-concerns they have that still have a positive effect – like better statewide databases for "cleaner" voter rolls (instead of random scrubbing late in the game like they push).
Again – Republicans should be considered useful tools going forward. But nothing more.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Comrade Scrutinizer: And now to Wolf. Jesus! They should have put a warning up on the screen.
The Grand Panjandrum
@jcricket:
Well said.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@The Grand Panjandrum:
My eyes! My eyes!
jcricket
No, this is bad. I want Fox News to turn into the Father Coughlin anti-communist/gay-hating (comedy) hour. I want them out in the open.
I don’t want them committing terrorism or assault (as happened to the volunteer in this blog post) – and I’m not suggesting we intentionally incite them.
But we should never, ever shy away from pushing a progressive agenda because it might incite violence from the right. We just need to be prepared to deal with it, and point out who’s connected to it. Don’t let people like Palin get away with talking out of both sides of their mouth – point out that calling certain places "anti-American" has consequences.
Someone appoint Dave Neiwert and those guys at the SPLC to national positions :-)
Notorious P.A.T.
But Tim, ACORN is perpetrating perhaps the biggest vote fraud in our history and might be destroying the fabric of democracy. What’s a neck-grab compared to that?
Jay Severin Has A Small Pen1s
I’ll finally realize my dream of designating Kentucky as a prison state and moving all the Republicans there. :]
JGabriel
JCricket:
It’ll be much sooner than that.
The bitching will start on Nov. 4 at approximately 8pm, EST. As soon as the first network anchor says, "Well, it’s hard to see how John McCain can put together a path to 270 EV without Virginia," the wingnuts will be screaming that it’s all been rigged for Obama.
And they won’t stop until the Rapture.
.
jcricket
@The Grand Panjandrum: You know when you were kids there were those obnoxious few who would push everyone around and try to make games go a certain way?
The solution wasn’t to "play their game", but for most of the people to walk away and play your own game. Eventually the bully and a few sycophants are left standing and bitching on their own… then the sycophants make your way over to your game (where all the cheering and laughing is happening) leaving the bully on his own.
That’s how Congress needs to start acting. We’ll take the Republican sycophants and political opportunists. Everyone else can suck it.
The Grand Panjandrum
And Fox is still going with ACORN B.S. and the Brown Horde invading us illegally. Oh, and what else might the terrorists be plotting?
Notorious P.A.T.
@jcricket:
They’re halfway there already.
Comrade Nixon Hailfire Palin
What
have youhas Tunch done with John?D. Mason
This is an interesting point… Say what you will about the hardcore conspiracy theorists, they hate the fuck out of government no matter which party is in charge. That’s a level of honesty and consistency most Republicans could only dream of. Think about that.
The Grand Panjandrum
When will Fox and the Wingnuts find the link between Al Qaeda and ACORN? Aren’t they obvious allies?
Calling Agent Flowbee!
Soylent Green
For those of us who want the GOP to be out of power for a generation, the current trends are promising.
Most hard-core Repubs know perfectly well they are going down to a big defeat. But instead of asking where they went wrong, they are doubling down and moving further to the right. Instead of doubting whether this is the best strategy, the true believers are claiming they didn’t go far enough, and dreaming of the day that full-monty wingnuttery will prevail. By pitching the narrative that Obama’s presidency will be illegitimate, they are ensuring that they will play no legitimate role in the nation’s leadership.
Fine with me if they want to sideline themselves this way and not have a chance to reclaim the middle.
I would like to think the only hope for the future GOP is to cut loose the far right and try to build a new coalition that doesn’t depend on their votes. We do need a conservative voice in our political discourse — but not a fascist one.
douglasfactors
At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were drive-by shootings on Election Day.
Mark in CO
We had a Shepherd Fairey "Hope" poster in the front window of our house, on a cul-de-sac, and someone threw a rock at the window. We live in CO, and I can’t help but feel that some of that ire, some of that hate that was thrown our way, well, McCain and Palin are to blame for it. Shame I can’t sue them for the cost of replacing our glass.
MR Bill
I just watched )on ABC’s This Week w/G. Snuffleupageos the Odious Newt Gingrich (the new face of the Republicans, very much like the old face..)claiming that an Obama election will mean that "freedom of speech will be taken from Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity". He advises demonizing H. Reid and N. Pelosi .
If only…
And talk about grasping at straws..
If you want a compendium of the Right’s scenarios on how the Beloved Maverick can pull out of a tailspin, Jack Schaefer of Slate/Washington Post has an idiotic piece entitled "Just in Case McCain Wins-A Survival Guide for Reporters Who Wrote Him Off"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/17/AR2008101702039.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
iluvsummr
It has to be the increasingly desperate and ugly rhetoric coming from the McCain-Palin campaign. Last week, I
commented about a canvassing trip I made to Las Vegas, Nevada from Los Angeles. The ACORN news had broken but McCain hadn’t yet uttered his infamous debate line about ACORN "destroying the fabric of our democracy."
I’m a black woman who knocked on 200 doors in predominantly white neighborhoods (we encountered only 3 African American families and 1 Asian American one) with a white friend. The worst thing that happened was a registered non-partisan man who threatened to call the cops because he said we were "soliciting." This was in a gated community where a nice older man let us in even though we were covered in Obama signs and my friend was wearing a T-Shirt with a big Obama logo. Another Republican in that community let us know he was voting for Obama and delighted to do so. Quite a few Republicans indicated they’d be voting for John McCain, but they were civil (one of them thanked us for canvassing and "doing something").
The Radio Rwanda reference is more apt than you realize. I hope enough people wake up and figure out that they are being cynically manipulated.
John Thullen
There is nothing more satisfying than giving paranoids what they want.
We have a vast "homeland" security infrastructure in place. President Barack Obama should begin using it the day after inauguration.
Yelling "Kill him" at a Palin campaign rally is inciting terrorism and murder.
That guy disappears first. I want a black helicopter landing on his front lawn and carrying him off toward Guantanamo.
McCain, Palin and the many other Republican "candidates" and the Redstate board who have incited terrorism in public rallies and forums go next, preferably escorted with black hoods over their coiffures to unmarked vans.[
I want the Republican Party destroyed. I want the earth they trod on salted and barren.
When they show their pathetic guns, use the Homeland Security laws THEY championed to confiscate the weapons.
Liberals may carry, because Republicans want us dead.
Limbaugh, Hannity, etc, etc. Gone. Arrest them midsentence while they are taping.
They are not Americans. We are.
They’d kill us if they could.
Alternatively, of course, when an asshole coward at a Palin rally yells out "kill him" or a guy assaults a reporter from the back at a rally, a liberal could nip it in the bud by kicking them in the side of the knee and then as they whine on the ground, break as many ribs and cheekbones as you can.
That would prevent intervention by the government.
Republican filth have been trying to teach us to defend ourselves all these years.
Let’s do it.
dslak
Tim’s posts sure do bring out the worst in some people.
Rick Taylor
It’s not just Gleason, it’s McCain. As John posted earlier:
I’m still surprised he crossed this line, make outrageous charges against a public organization, complete with the weasel word "maybe." No matter cynical I get, it’s never enough. If I seriously thought a candidate was involved with a group intending to steal the election for him, committing the greatest fraud of democracy in this country ever, I’d be upset too.
Gus
Local Twin Cities news says that they’re pulling money from the very tight race in District 3 to give to Bachmann.
Comrade Nixon Hailfire Palin
Palin on SNL:
"Would have gone?!" The irony makes my brain hurt.
jcricket
I 1000% agree – and there is nothing we could do, short of giving them what they want (and even then), to get them to stop.
So no more Republican appeasement, please. It doesn’t work, it depresses turnout amongst the already Democrat-aligned, and makes us seem weak to independents and moderates.
I’m fine with 60-70% of the population going Democrat and the rest being part of the Joerg Haider memorial GOP party.
Far Left American Hater Incertus
@Comrade Nixon Hailfire Palin: I just watched that on Hulu, and I couldn’t quite tell if Palin was in on the joke half the time.
jcricket
Not surprised at all. It’s caging all over again. The great thing is that the last time they tried to push this whole meme it culminated in illegally firing a whole bunch of DOJ attorneys.
There’s no fraud to find, in fact the only fraud is on the Republican side. Same thing happened in WA state last time. All the Republican claims were thrown out of court for lack of evidence, and they ended up with egg on their face.
Yes, some GOP supporters still feel the fraud was real, but fuck them. I’m not running scared of idiots.
nicethugbert
So, since Bushco can’t goad us into giving him an excuse to put tanks in the streets they’ll goad their own supporters. But, what happens when they’re all in jail or dead?
nicethugbert
@John Thullen:
Yeah, let’s kill the constitution ourselves so Bushco doesn’t get all the credit. Bipartisanship FTW!
Haven’t you seen theses fools trying to dump their mess on "Bush-Palosi-Reed"? You don’t remember the Black Helicopters from the Clinton era?
Stay clean!
Tim F.
Yes they do, and that is part of my point. I have argued before that every group and nation has the potential for extreme craziness. The only question is to what degree leaders feed or restrain it. The Germans are not special, for example, because they are evil. They are special because their domestic situation (severe depression, insurgent communism) made them vulnerable to extremism and because their leaders manipulated it with so much skill. Despite what manichean Republicans want people to think evil is not an external threat that can be subdued. It is a potential that exists inside each of us.
It doesn’t bother me when Democrats who have the same characteristics that I despise on the right stand up and identify themselves. It is helpful to know who they are. If they cross the line then I ban them and discussion on the site gets better for it.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@John Thullen:
Huh. That sounds like an Anne Coulter screed with "liberal" and "conservative" reversed.
No, thanks.
JD
Republicans are always talking to "the base". You know, there is a phrase in Arabic that means "the base" : Al Qaeda.
Rick Taylor
I’m not surprised they’d suppress the vote; that’s become standard operating procedure. I’m surprised their candidate would actively support it, publicly sliming a group devoted to voter registration. I don’t think Bush went that far; I think he knew to leave that to others and to take the high road publicly.
dslak
@Tim F.:
I agree with the notion that radicalism isn’t isolated to any one faction, but something else special about the German situation was the tendency of people to trust the bureaucracy and suspect those who broke the law, no matter how draconian it might have been.
This kind of attitue doesn’t show up much in the US, fortunately, except when it comes to things like the War on Drugs/Terror.
Gus
What makes you so sure he’s going to lose?
dslak
@Gus:
Indeed. This is good news for John McCain! Heh.
demimondian
@dslak:
Three words: Wen Ho Lee. Some more words: Judith Miller.
If you believe that authoritarianism isn’t alive and well in the United States, I have a Bridge to Nowhere to sell you
Tim F.
‘Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?’
Remember that the Germans were facing existential danger both from the economy, and from the genuine risk of communist revolution. Everything to them was just as terrifying as the war on terror is to us. Far more so, and for good reason. It was reasonable to think that communist revolutions could sweep half the governments in Europe.
Using your logic it should scare the hell out of us that Americans mostly accept that the muslim suspects whom we tortured were actual terrorists. Americans, especially Republicans, take for granted that someone tasered at a protest must have done something wrong. The potential for us to follow a similar path, if our situation ever becomes as dire as interwar Germany, could not be more obvious. It exists everywhere.
Fortunately our situation is not nearly so desperate and our politicians who would lead us in that direction are not nearly as skilled.
ksmiami
@John Thullen:
I will happily join you in the fight. I have had it to here with the BS division and incitement to violence. I say kick the living shit out of them if they start acting up cause I will be damned if I am going to let these fat fucking fascists take over the USA.
Conversely, we could offer them free cheez whiz and fried twinkies first…
demimondian
@Soylent Green:
No. Most of the hard-core *leadership* is moving to the right. Most Republicans are going to be absolutely, and in most cases tragically, gobsmacked on the morning of 11/5/2008.
Think of Reagan in 1980. That’s what the poor folks are going to experience.
John Cole
WTF are you all talking about? It has already started. Google “Obama thugocracy.”
Go read the hysterical whinges of the NRO.
IT. HAS. ALREADY. STARTED.
Look at the bullshit claims that Joe the Plumber has been viciously treated and the Obama campaign “savaged” him. Their word, not mine.
dslak
I don’t think I implied that this shouldn’t bother us.
I’m not claiming that there are no authoritarian tendencies in the US. I’m simply pointing out that there were non-negligible facts about German culture that made made a fascist transformation easier to accomplish, once the right people had the reins.
And the problem isn’t that our politicians are less skilled – Hitler and his ilk were routinely mocked for being ignorant and making statements that had little basis in reality.
Anyway, I think it’s time to call Godwin on this conversation, eh?
Dave
Thugocracy is the rights version of the whining and bitching that the Dems did when the Bugman was building that AWESOME GOP "Permanent Majority".
BO (Before Obama), it was easier for the Dems to complain about K Street than it was for them to roll up their sleeves and work. Now that we are in the AO era, the GOP is afraid or too lazy to do the work need to combat the amazing machine that Obama has built for the Dems. It’s easier to run your mouth and bitch when you are the losing side than it is to be introspective and honest with yourself. The GOP (or what’s left of it) is tell themselves "This break up is so sad. But it’s not me, it’s all you."
It took Obama’s exorcisism of the Clinton’s from the leadership of the Democratic party. Who on the GOP side is strong enough to do the same to Limbaugh, Rove and Ailes?
The Moar You Know
@John Thullen: No disrespect, but seriously, fuck you. I’m not becoming a fucking brownshirt in order to teach the brownshirts a lesson, thank you.
Atanarjuat
While the Ayers wing of the Democrat Party (meaning, the entire corrupt organization) point frantically at jackalopes to distract from the grave economic and social serious issues facing America, the real thugs are free to act:
Obama Supporter Assaults Female McCain Volunteer in New York
Stay classy, lefties.
Country First.
Comrade grumpy realist
Hope that a good junkyard dog lawyer decides to offer his services pro bono to that woman. The torts of assault and battery, anyone?
Soylent Green
No, dipshit, they are. And your proposals are as dementedly fascist as anything I have ever heard from the right. Get a fucking grip on reality.
Comrade Peter J
Barney Smith is back.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@dslak:
Calling Godwin is the refuge of cowards. [/snark]
It’s one thing to call Republicans "Nazis" and "Stormtroopers". That’s usually an indication that someone isn’t using critical thinking.
On the other hand, to compare the tools that Goebbels and Hitler used to rouse an unsettled, fearful populace with the same kind of rabble-rousing that the McCain/Palin crowd use isn’t necessarily out of bounds. I don’t think that there is one-to-one correspondence on every point. I do think it makes a better comparison with the "Radio Rwanda" meme that is being pushed on GOS.
ThymeZoneThePlumber
Any guy who can say that after God delivers an economic meltdown to his opposition just when he had a chance to win the presidency, is a real
tough guygoddammed fool.Oh, and "representing" Arizona? Yeah. Find me three voters here in Arizona who can name three things Johnny Beer Money has done for this state, and I will eat my hat.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@ThymeZoneThePlumber:
Dunno—he may turn out to be the luckiest motherfucker in the world, not to be President for the next few years.
ThymeZoneThePlumber
@Atanarjuat:
Okay, your spoof audition is over. We’ll call you.
Next!
Can we get some talent in here, please?
ThymeZoneThePlumber
Please remember your heritage. You are PEOPLE.
Josh Huaco
@Atanarjuat:
Jackalopes? Are you kidding me? That…is some…weak…smack.
/jimrome
//embarrassment that comes from admission of having been a regular listener of jim rome in my misspent youth
dslak
It is becoming apparent that Atanarjuat is either Paul L. or his protegé.
Soylent Green
I’ve been reading myiq1/2u’s many comments over at Riverdaughter’s place.
Q: What’s the difference between a catfish and myiq?
A: One is a fish, and the other is a lawyer.
dslak
@Soylent Green:
Which one is the lawyer?
Peter Principle
The idea that it would be a good thing if the GOP moves even further to the wingnut right kind of worries me. Elections almost always are referendums on the party in power. Voters tend to vote for the opposition party when times are really bad — almost no matter what kind of platform or candidate that party is putting forward. That’s why the country is poised to elect a black man named Barack Hussein Obama as president, something I didn’t think was remotely possible a year ago.
But the same thing could hold in reverse. If times get even worse, if an Obama administration flops, then the next GOP nominee could win easily, even if she’s Sarah Palin — or worse.
In other words, a major political party controlled by extremists is an awfully big, awfully dangerous loose cannon to have rolling around the deck of the ship of state.
The conservative "movement" may be a lost cause, but let’s hope the Republican Party, at least, can recover its sanity.
LiberalTarian
God bless Republicans. Now, before you think I am being facetious, hear me out. It’s Sunday, and while a lot of folk aren’t all that religious, I think if we want to sway people from violence we have to do it with kindness. I am unabashedly agnostic, because I feel like religion often makes situations rigidly hateful instead of workable, but I do believe in having your heart in the right place.
My dad used to say grace every night at the dinner table, and it went like this:
Good Lord,
We thank you for our food and our many blessings.
Watch over us through the night
And guide us in our judgement.
In Jesus name we ask,
Amen.
He would often add something relevant to the day before we said amen, something like, "Please be with Aunt Katy on her trip."
If he were alive today, he would might say, "Please help Republicans lose this election with grace and dignity. Help them see that voting against their policies is not treasonous or malevolent, but that others feel differently about policy than they do. Please help them have the judgment to act with forethought and reason; please help them have the maturity to act without malice. During these difficult times Lord, please guide them in their judgment."
It is difficult to lose, especially when you have dedicated your heart and soul to an ideology. But, isn’t that why we are called to forgo idol worship? Aren’t they aware they have been following false prophets and worshiping ideology? That is why the Rove element of the GOP pursued the religious right … because their believe dogmatically, not with reasonably.
Today I am praying for Republicans, that they do not follow in the footsteps of Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph on the path of violence, and that they look at their party’s loss as a message that they have wandered far from the concerns of everyday people. Jesus commanded us to love one another, to treat each other as we would be treated. I am praying today that no more violence accompanies our change of political direction in this country. They are misguided, and need our understanding and careful admonishment, they cannot be allowed to injure people or make unreasonable demands, but now is the time for good judgment on our side, too.
Tony J
For a good giggle, go check out Pat Buchanan’s cri de coeur over at American Conservative.
Shorter Pat – "Americans have only been panicked into supporting this far-left radical/ideology-free charlatan Obama by Bush’s mistakes, McCain’s ineptitude, and the economic crash, but it’ll be okay. Why? Because no-one really likes him – even though they’ll vote for him – and they really hate this Democratic Congress – even though they’ll vote to make it more Democratic – and if he so much as glances towards the left at any point in the next four years it’ll be seen as declaring war on the country and he’ll face a backlash."
Even shorter Pat – "We’re about to be invaded. Everyone take a deep breath and prepare to scream like a girl."
LiberalTarian
This kind of thing has to be stopped:
1600 block of 38th Street Northwest, 8:45 p.m.Monday. A Rochester man who was canvassing door-to-door for Working America got more than he bargained for when a 50-year-old man threated him. Police say the homeowner took the canvasser’s Palm Pilot, refused to give it back and said he’d release his German shepherd if the man didn’t leave. The canvasser left but returned a few minutes later to get the address to call police. Police said the homeowner came out with his dog on a leash and demanded that the other man lie on the ground and put his hands up; he obeyed. A man working with the victim fled and called 911. Police said that when they arrived, the homeowner was on top of the victim, restraining him. The homeowner was taken into custody and could be charged with theft, assault, disorderly conduct and making terroristic threats. The victim was not injured. Working America is a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO with branches throughout the country.
SGEW
@LiberalTarian: That was beautiful.
(edit: to be clear, this is in reference to LiberalTarian’s previous post! Most definitely not the Working America incident!)
John Thullen
I can handle plenty of "fuck you" rhetoric aimed my way from folks on my side of the fence.
I guarantee those on the Right can’t handle their own rhetoric aimed back at them.
They are fat, white, inarticulate, ignorant, bitter cowards who haven’t even the courage to hop a ropeline and cross the street to confront liberals.
The Republican Party is lucky they reside in the United States and that the Democratic Party, made up of good people who call me on and reject my rhetorical overkill, is going to be in power and protecting Repubs through the Constitution.
It’s good to know that liberals and moderates in the Democratic Party and some of the few good people left in the Republican Party would have stopped their campaign speech midsentence and had the "kill him" felon arrested and escorted from the event.
Besides, that guy is not a Nazi or even a fascist. He was a coward, surrounded and protected by a mob, whose sphincters would have given way at the mere idea that someone standing beside him would tell him to "shut up or we fight now, asshole."
So thanks, guys, for renewing my faith that we’ll see better days ahead.
However, Tim is correct that the Limbaugh/Hannity/Coulter/Palin axis is going to do their best to foment hate and violence in this country and against Obama’s elected government.
So save a few of your "fuck yous" for them too.
At some point, a la Rwanda, it’ll tip over into something a little more serious than rhetorical entertainment.
liberal
@Tim F.:
Agreed. Not to mention the losses they suffered in WWI.
chopper
that’s why i love it when goopers refer to their party as ‘god’s party’.
liberal
@Tim F.:
[emphasis added]
Unfortunate, but true.
There is, unfortunately, a point in this kind of battle where regrettable methods have to be used. Right now, we’re a long ways from that point, and any decision to use "extraordinary methods" must be based on a utilitarian calculus that shows the game is worth even an actual civil war.
Furthermore, if you look at the political leanings of the commissioned officer core—IIRC, 90% of colonels are Republican—I wouldn’t bet against the armed forces getting involved on the other side.
liberal
@Soylent Green:
IMHO the key is peeling off the "I want lower taxes and fewer regulations" crowd off from the theocracy crowd.
W/o the support of large chunks of the wealthy and the business community, the Republican Party as we know it wouldn’t have the financial wherewithal to function.
Problem is that my impression is that if you look at the history of the world, the wealthy will by and large sell their souls to the devil to get that next tax cut.
SGEW
This is an unforgivably hysterical statement. It both wrongly elevates a fear of domestic terrorism to an existential threat and denigrates the incomprehensible tragedy that occurred in Rwanda.
I am not scared of Al-Qaeda, an actual terrorist group that killed thousands of people in front of my eyes. I am not scared of Tim McVeigh-like nutjobs. They are legitimate threats to be dealt with by law enforcement, not existential horrors that may destroy our very way of life.
Beware hyperbole.
Soylent Green
Cut and paste to the nearest righty blog. That’s where this came from (and many more like it). Denial is not a river etc.
Janus Daniels
"losing an election honestly" is for wimps, pansies, gays, and little girls: win dirty; lose filthy.
Lesley
I presume this mad man is facing aggravated assault charges.
I’m surprised Republicans aren’t beating up other Republicans for supporting Obama. There seem to be plenty of those, too.
John Thullen
With credit to George Carlin:
I hate the phrase "ya gotta watch out for the quiet ones".
Yup, "ya gotta keep an eye on the quiet one, alright."
Say, you’re sitting in a bar and there’s a quiet guy sitting at a table in the corner, reading a book, minding his own business.
In through the door comes a great big loud guy, who stomps up to the bar, slams a machete down (thwack on the bartop), and roars: "First guy looks at me wrong, I’m gonna hack him to pieces!"
Who ya gonna watch?
I believe Radio Rwanda and Radio Adolf and Radio-every-other-bunch-of-big-loud-guys were all called Radio Hyperbole in the beginning.
I’m sure Sean Hannity will be as surprised as anyone when pitchfork-carrying dumbasses perpetrate violence.
But he’s one of the loud guys.
I’m the quiet guy. You’re taking your eyes off the ball by watching me.
nabalzbbfr
Fortunately, it is beginning to look like we will be spared the disaster of an Obama presidency. Over the past couple of weeks, it looks like some people were getting irrationally spooked by the Wall Street crisis into wrongly blaming the Bush Administration and tentatively supporting the Obama-Biden ticket. After reflecting on this for a week or so, it seems that they are slowly coming back to their senses, as the polls are clearly beginning to show.
Joshua Norton
Not only that, calling Godwin automatically invalidates Godwin. It’s supposed to happen of its own volition, not be forced by someone who wants to change the subject. (see "Quirk’s Exception")
People should really know a little more than a few basic bulletpoints when they try to get smart with so many people watching.
protected static
shorter nabalzbbfr: I like pie!
They don’t let you out in the rain because of the drowning risk, right?
Joshua Norton
They don’t have logic, they have anti-logic.
Just because it’s the Republican’s fault doesn’t mean that it’s the Republican’t fault.
Lather, repeat.
JGabriel
dslak:
I sometimes wonder if Mike Godwin ever looks back on the last 7 years and thinks, "I really should add some exceptions to that law…"
.
Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM
It has to be tough being a troll these days if only because there isn’t any success to which they can point. Eight years of a Republican administration and twelve years of having the majority in Congress have left us with two wars not won, a smoking crater in the economy and a doubled national debt. So the trolls can’t argue the facts.
The Republicans, giddy with power and inflated with hubris abandoned their own beliefs and principles. So the trolls can’t argue the policies.
All they have left is thinly veiled racism, far-fetched conspiracy theories, and rattling the bones of Socialism.
Take heart, trolls. Once McCain suffers the defeat that he earned for himself every step of the way you can fill your sails with the hot wind of deciding who, other than McCain and his party, is to blame. You already have Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac and dark people in general. Go on, blame the Illuminati, the Tri-lateral commision, the Elders of Zion, Unitarians and the band Hanson. This will be fun.
Soylent Green
Good to know, Thullen. When some right-wing lunatic goes postal, we can count on you to even the score. The quiet guy with the mohawk in the back of the convenience store with a big handgun up his sleeve.
Comrade Scrutinizer
This comment
@John Thullen:
falls into the "indication that someone isn’t using critical thinking" category.
jcricket
Did it ever really stop?
They’ve been claiming liberals screwed up everything since the Democrats decided to go all "civil rights" back in the 60s. Then we lost the Vietnam war for them, and so on.
The right has been on a permanent "offense" (in both senses) for nigh on 30 years. Exactly what do you think Reagan’s quote bemoaning government was intended to do?
The only difference 20 years ago is that the "elite" Republicans thought the wingnuts were controllable. Anyone remember what happens in a movie when the people in charge think their virus/super-killer-serum is under control?
We are just reaching the apotheosis of the wingnut.
dslak
@Joshua Norton: : Just because somebody made a joke that you didn’t get or find amusing doesn’t make that person an idiot. For your next trick, will you try engaging Paul L. or myiq?
amorphous
I’m surprised Hannity hasn’t started calling it "Al-Qorn" myself.
dslak
That gets me wondering about Al-Quorn.1Disclaimer: The preceding comment was intended as humor. The commenter takes no responsibility for those who are unable to recognize the joke or appreciate it. [back]
Doug H. (Comrade Fausto no more)
I found out why RatfuckerIQ is back to trolling here again.
dslak
@Doug H. (Comrade Fausto no more):
You mean it’s not just because he’s a whiny fuck?
Perry Como
I lurv Free Republic:
dslak
Breaking news from the AP:
Spread it far, spread it wide.
dslak
Oh, there’s more to it:
I guess the Republicans were trying to establish a narrative before the facts came out. If the Obama campaign is as smart as they’ve appeared to be recently, the McCain folks are about to have even more egg on their faces.
John Thullen
soylent green:
Like I said, I’m the quiet guy.
But let’s leave my hair out of this. I do appreciate the "Taxi Driver" reference, however.
Comrade Scrutinizer:
I suppose history could repeat itself as farce this time around, with docile critical thinkers and the elites being loaded into boxcars by Palin-Bachmann Stepford wives and their snapping toy poodles for the long ride to tacky white trash makeover camps.
Mobs are so much easier to work into a lather on the Right.
As youth is wasted on the young, demagoguery is wasted on the the Left. ;)
SamFromUtah
@Perry Como: …according to Powell and the other blacks that tell us choosing Obama because of his skin color is not racist.
That is some prime Freeper dumbfuckery, Perry. Powell’s explanation, which is something other than "I’m voting for Obama ‘cuz we’s both darkies", is clearly a lie to the Freeper mind, because they can’t imagine black people acting in any other way. Which, according to them, is not at all racist.
Wotta buncha fucknecks.
Stuck in the Funhouse
I must say, this is some Primo Snark, We usually don’t get this grade unless someone calls Cole a socialist, or some other unfortunate sort. Lately, I think, he’s been in a bit of a slump, or maybe funk, and we have to do with what we lowly minions can muster.
Lesley
The Mormon state’s newspaper endorses Obama
The editorial board of The Salt Lake Tribune believes that Barack Obama can deliver it.
kommrade jakevich
I haven’t read all the posts so forgive me if I’m echoing someone else:
This election is a Win-Win for … violent fuck ups.
If Obama wins they get "defend" themselves from Lieberul Afrocentric Atheist Homos via unprovoked assault and destruction of property ‘cos that guy with the Obama sticker on his car wuz lookin’ at us and we wuz askeered.
If McPOW wins, they get to pledge their allegiance to The Mighty Moose-Stepping Queen of Alaska via unprovoked assault and destruction of property ‘cos the Prezdint said them whut voted for Obama iz all terrists and anti-American.
Wheee!
SamFromUtah
@Lesley: The Mormon state’s newspaper endorses Obama
As I said over at that other site, yay.
I’m curious to see what the Mormon church’s newspaper has to say, or at least how they say it, because the chances of an Obama endorsement from them are pretty much zero. They know their readers.
Soylent Green
The Mormon state’s newspaper endorses Obama
It’s the secular SLC newspaper. Utah will turn blue when there are hockey moms in hell.
iluvsummr
@Perry Como:
Merde!
I guess I’ll have to vote for John McCain to prove the Freepers wrong. Even though I’ve never been a Republican or believed in any part of their platform.
Soudainement heureux que j’ai la citoyenneté duelle…
Atanarjuat
Unrepentent Dennis – SGMM said:
More wishful thinking from the party of treason and terrorism. Lamentably for you, the polls are starting to reflect the reality of the McCain surge, but keep fantasizing and laughing, Dennis. Your pal, Bill Ayers, is laughing, too.
The last laugh may not be yours, however.
Country First.
tonto
Wow, you guys are just as bad as the wingnuts. Perception(yours) is reality. Not really, but thats the way it reads here.
kommrade jakevich
In Maryland’s last gubernatorial election that poster would have had to vote for O’Malley, a Democrat since Steele, the Republican candidate, is African-American.
It’s interesting that at least one fReichtard seems upset by Powell’s decision. I expected them all to write him off as a phony soldier and go back to the slow-motion replay of Palin’s wink. (fap fap fap…)
PaulB
Dear heart, you really should look at the latest polls before spouting off like this. It just makes you look silly. Free clue: the McCain "surge" is already over.
You handle the fantasizing and we’ll handle the laughing, dear. That’s the way it’s worked for the past few months, anyway.
Delia
Well, it’s not that I think Utah will turn blue anytime soon, although I do know some people there who are voting all dem all the time. But IMO there’s at least one alleged hockey mom who’s headed to hell in a big way, via Radio Rwanda, to continue to metaphor.
And meanwhile, at the other side of the continent, did anyone see that early voters in West Virginia are already complaining that the voting machines are flipping their votes?
John?
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
So I headed over to FR today to see how they are handling their electoral meltdown, and what do I see, but under a post about coping mechanisms, several freepers suggest the way to cope with the projected loss is to go shoot off some rounds and get in target practice which they insinuate will be helpful in being "better prepared".
Better prepared for WHAT(?), I might ask.
The haters have truly jumped the shark.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII:
The coming Rahowa, silly person. You may want to dust off a copy of McVeigh’s bible, The Turner Diaries, to refresh yourself on the upcoming Brown Person Apocraplypse.
jrg
Why, declaring war on the U.S. Government, of course.
With the right-winger’s tremendous success in recent polls, and on the internet, it’s time for a real war. We’ll know the onslaught has started when we start receiving reports of hijacked Cheeto’s trucks.
Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII:
That would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. The freepers clapped their flippers with delight when Bushco asserted its right to tap every form of communication and to strip American citizens of their legal rights at will. Faced with the prospect of a center-left black president they’re hugging their guns.
Do they think that Obama is going to be sworn in and then give all of the rednecks twenty-four hours to leave the country?
"As your president, my first act in office will be to deputize the Nation of Islam as Federal Marshals. Grab your asses, honkies!"
Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM
@jrg:
Life During Freeptime
Heard of a van that is loaded with Cheetos
packed up and ready to go
Heard of a basement, under my mom’s house
a place where nobody knows
The sound of whining, off in the distance
I’m getting used to it now
Lived with my auntie, lived with my uncle
I’ve lived all over this town
With apologies to Talking Heads
kommrade jakevich
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII: Gun practice, right. Only if mom has a shooting range in her basement.
If Obama wins the freepers will spend the next four – eight years hunched over their keyboards, assuring each other that any minute now Afrocentric radicals are going to swoop down in black power helicopters and whisk them off to containment facilities. Every encounter (real or imagined) with a liberal (real or imagined) will be subject to intense analysis for signs that Obama is about to initiate Operation Get Whitey. "OMG! A guy driving a Prius parked next to me and he nodded at me when he got out of his car! We’re doooooomed!"
Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM
Just wait until Obama signs the Mandatory Dreadlocks Act into law.
jcricket
Is there an exception made for bald guys? Or do I have to go all Adam Duritz? Or maybe like Joe Biden I can get hair plugs and then turn them into dreadlocks?
Also, I think it will be the mandatory dreadlocks thing will be attached as an amendment to the mandatory gay marriage + abort your baby if it’s a conservative act – which will be the 60+ seat Dem majority Senate’s first priority.
Perry Como
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President. The old rancher said, "Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle." Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was. The old rancher said, "When you’re driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that’s a post turtle. You know she didn’t get up there by herself, she doesn’t belong up there, she doesn’t know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with."
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
That’s the best analogy I’ve heard heard yet! Thanks. ;)
Added later: and let us not forget, it’s going to scare the hell out of her when she falls. :)
Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM
@jcricket:
Bald guys who suffer from male pattern baldness will be allowed a fringe of dreadlocks. Hair plugs for those who want them will be subsidized by the confiscation and sale of all four wheel drive pickups equipped with a rifle rack.
The bill, along with the mandatory gay marriage + abort your baby acts will all be rolled up in the omnibus Taking All of Their Shit from White People Act.
The act’s passage will be guaranteed by its specifying that Alaska be sold back to Russia for $20 trillion and making Iraq our fifty-first state.
Josh Huaco
@Unrepentent Dennis – SGMM:
Actually we need to keep Alaska because that’s where the Honkie Internment Camps will be.
Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM
@Josh Huaco:
Shucks, I was thinking Death Valley. I’m sure that if Real Americans want water badly enough they’ll dig for it – or pray for it. Either way.
Krista
OMFG — I really, really hope that this story does not get buried. This is absolutely insane, and the story needs to break wide open, not just in WV, but nationally.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Ummmm, oh oh!
Looks like Larry Johnson may have just screwed up royally!
kuvasz
Sadly, my personal experience supports John Thullen’s rhetoric in challenging the Right Wing mouth breathers simply because they consider civility and decency in their opponents as personal weaknesses and character flaws to be exploited whenever possible.
They respect only power and the will to use it, and as a class they are a cowardly gang of bullies who consistantly prey upon the weak or defenseless.
I lost a friend in 1979 at the death to the klan rally in Greensboro, North Carolina where he was shot down on a public street like a dog by klansmen, and ever since that day I’ve promised that when one of them comes for me to kill or injure me that person will be waiting in hell for me when I die.
Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM
What a travesty. Here’s hoping that LJ’s fantasies intersect with the very real world of civil court.
Wini
I wasn’t really sure where to put this, but it looks like ol’ crazy eyes Bachmann may have raised something like $640,000 for her Dem opponent…
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=527316
cain
@JGabriel:
I for one can’t wait for the rapture. If it is going to be one big mass suicide then the problem just fixes itself. We can then thank God for his forward vision.
cain
kommrade jakevich
@Unrepentent Dennis – SGMM: Now I’ve got this horrible mental image of a dreadlock comb over.
Thanks.
Really.
cain
@iluvsummr:
Most of my friends who are "wingnuts" are the nicest people I have ever met. Who can be relied upon to help me in a crises or whatever. Despite holding conservative beliefs they have always treated me as human being and never saw the color of my skin. It’s why I don’t go for the whole us vs them. It’s a lot more subtle than that. They can be convinced given some patience.
cain
Unrepentent Dennis - SGMM
It’s more likely that they’ll whine themselves to death – those that don’t accidentally shoot each other.
kommrade jakevich
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII: I’ve heard that if you go to Larry Johnson’s lair all the suck will make your monitor flex.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
The link wasn’t to Larry Johnson’s lair. ;)
My computer is a NQ wirgin.
ThymeZoneThePlumber
I wish I knew what this meant. I feel completely stupid, and with the night I am having, more than my usual stupid is just not working for me right now.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Here’s a translation tip: Wolksvagen
;)
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Umm, TZ, TX? (your link) ???????
Puzzling!
ThymeZone
The Obama link is from months ago, during the primary. It was a "come to Texas and GOTV" link.
As for NQ wirgin, I don’t know what a NQ is. NyQuil?
No Qeueing? Nasty Quiches? Numero quatro?
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
No Quarter?
Larry Johnson?
Ring a bell?
::handing you a W-8::
ThymeZone
Ok, NQ and Larry Johnson, got it. Crazy fucker over there.
Truly insane.
iluvsummr
El Tinklenberg has now raised $273,857 through ActBlue and over $600K total in the 48 hours since Michele Bachmann made her odious comments. Wonder how long it’ll take the Republicans to figure out that they’re the most effective fundraisers for the Democrats (and tone down their rhetoric accordingly)?
Still moved to tears by the image of Elsheba Khan at her son’s grave (had to look it up after hearing Colin Powell talk about him).
jcricket
I believe the actual name of the act will be the "Honky Omnibus Payment Edict" – or "HOPE" for short.
I for one await the rule of our stealth muslim socialist overlords. At least I hear they have good hummus.
jcricket
Oh, and healthcare. The socialists have healthcare. The frenchies even have 35 hr work weeks, guaranteed vacation, secure pensions.
Sign me up :-)
Chuck Butcher
This election is going to thin the Republican Congressional herd. Now as a Democrat I find more D seats and less R seats to be a good thing – mostly. That caveate is presented for a good reason, which is taking a look at the R survivors of this election. Granted 2/3 of the Senate isn’t up this time, but all of the House is and one has to look at who is going to lose and win thanks to the R plunge. The districts/states that will turn D this time will be the ones that in Primaries had put forward fairly moderate Republicans. The hard core nasty Rs will return, the thinning, for the most part, won’t happen with the ones who are actually dangerous to our future, the most reasonable ones will go down. Michelle Bachman may be one of the loons to go, but that doesn’t discount my thesis.
The tone in Congress is going to be much more confrontational than we’re used to, seriously. If you think Clinton brought out the worst in the R you will have a new benchmark for the next 2 years. Keep in mind that in 2010 another 1/3 of the Senate is up and again all of the House. That campaign will begin within weeks of the new Session.
Delia
Latest Muslim Socialist newspaper to endorse Obama — wait for it —
The Idaho Statesman
(via Sully)
kommrade jakevich
And incoherent and patently stupid and blatantly nasty and that’ll be just great. If whackjobs like Issa, Hunter, Goode and Bachman (assuming she’s still around) want to stand up and wring their paws over why Obama won’t make Christianity the official religion of America while normal people are trying to fix the economy, let them.
The other thing that may leave the low-watt bulbs in difficulties is that they’ll have to think up their own talking points. The White House won’t be doing it for them any more.
Heh.
WMass
"Big Republican guys"
Lets keep in mind that they are big because they are fucking fat. Take a look at a "fat map" of the country sometime, the fittest states are mostly blue, CA, CO, MA. The fattest states are red.
ppcli
iluvsummr:
"Soudainement heureux que j’ai la citoyenneté duelle…"
.
Moi aussi.
iluvsummr
@ppcli: Hopefully it won’t come to that.