Who is inspiring hate???
- Login to post comments
Sun, 11/01/2009 - 12:41am
Rebuttal to the Article written by Eric Boehlert dated September
18,2009 9:10am, by Patrick Michael. I'll reprint Mr.Boehlert's article
first so there is no misinterpretation of my rebuttal.
"A President was killed the last time right-wing hatred ran wild like this"
September 18, 2009 9:10 am ET by Eric Boehlert
That being John F. Kennedy, who was gunned down in Dallas, of course.
I've been thinking a lot of Kennedy and Dallas as I've watched the increasingly violent rhetorical attacks on Obama be unfurled. As Americans yank their kids of class in order to save them from being exposed to the President of the United States who only wanted to urge them to excel in the classroom. And as unvarnished hate and name-calling passed for health care 'debate' this summer.
The radical right, aided by a GOP Noise Machine that positively dwarfs what existed in 1963, has turned demonizing Obama--making him into a vile object of disgust--into a crusade. It's a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.
But I've been thinking about Dallas in 1963 because I've been recalling the history and how that city stood as an outpost for the radical right, which never tried to hide its contempt for the New England Democrat.
Now, in this this month's Vanity Fair, Sam Kashner offers up in rich detail the hatred that ran wild in Dallas in 1963. To me, the similarity between Dallas in 1963 and today's unhinged Obama hate is downright chilling.
Kashner's fascinating cover story actually chronicles the professional struggles of writer William Manchester who was tapped by the Kennedy family, after the president's assassination, to write the definitive book about the shooting. The Vanity Fair articles details the power struggles, and epic lawsuits, that ensued prior to Manchester's publication.
But this unnerving passage from VF caught my eye. In it, Kashner retraces Manchester's step as he researched his book. It's unsettling because if you insert "Obama" for every "Kennedy" reference, it reads like 2009:
Manchester also discovered that Dallas “had become the Mecca for medicine-show evangelists … the Minutemen, the John Birch and Patrick Henry Societies, and the headquarters of [ultra-conservative oil billionaire] H. L. Hunt and his activities.”
“In that third year of the Kennedy presidency,” Manchester wrote, “a kind of fever lay over Dallas country. Mad things happened. Huge billboards screamed, ‘Impeach Earl Warren.’ Jewish stores were smeared with crude swastikas.…Radical Right polemics were distributed in public schools; Kennedy’s name was booed in classrooms; corporate junior executives were required to attend radical seminars.”
A retired major general ran the American flag upside down, deriding it as “the Democrat flag.” A wanted poster with J.F.K.’s face on it was circulated, announcing “this man is Wanted” for—among other things—“turning the sovereignty of the US over to the Communist controlled United Nations” and appointing “anti-Christians … aliens and known Communists” to federal offices.
And a full-page advertisement had appeared the day of the assassination in The Dallas Morning News accusing Kennedy of making a secret deal with the Communist Party; when it was shown to the president, he was appalled. He turned to Jacqueline, who was visibly upset, and said, “Oh, you know, we’re heading into nut country today.”
Manchester discovered that in a wealthy Dallas suburb, when told that President Kennedy had been murdered in their city, the students in a fourth-grade class burst into applause.
Today, conservatives are expressing outrage that Rep. Nancy Pelosi had the nerve to raise concerns about the onrush of violent political rhetoric. The Noise Machine claims it has no idea what Pelosi's talking about. But the truth is, America's most famous bouts of political violence (i.e. JFK, Oklahoma City, etc.) have always been accompanied by waves of radical, right-wing rhetoric. Given that history, the GOP's insistence that the hate now filling the streets couldn't possibly inspire violence seems woefully naive.
Rebuttal:
"The grassy knoll was on the Right, the Far Right"
September 19th
Harvey Oswald wasn’t responsible for the assassination of JFK? Neither was LBJ nor Cuba nor the unions nor the Mob? No, it was caused by “right wing hatred running wild.”
This theory is advanced in “A President was killed the last time right-wing hatred ran wild like this,” an article written by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters.
Boehlert draws heavily on his experiences in the 1960s which, we assume, may have included ingesting numerous mind-altering substances.
“I’ve been thinking a lot of Kennedy and Dallas as I’ve watched the increasingly violent rhetorical attacks on Obama be unfurled,” Boehlert says, “as Americans yank their kids out of class in order to save them from being exposed to the President of the United States who only wanted to urge them to excel in the classroom. And as unvarnished hate and name-calling passed for health care ‘debate’ this summer.”
“The radical right, aided by a GOP Noise Machine that positively dwarfs what existed in 1963, has turned demonizing Obama–making him into a vile object of disgust–into a crusade,” he continues. “It’s a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.”
Unfortunately for Boehlert, all the individuals and groups suspected in the Kennedy assassination were of the leftist variety. Oswald was an communist wannabe. LBJ was liberal. Cuba was and is communist. And union’s? Pretty much leftists.
So pardon us if we’re confused as hell by Boehlerts’ theory.
But, then, we’re guessing that he’s confused, too.
Written by: Patrick Michael
Now along comes Jack Cafferty, King of teaser headlines and unfortunately of only telling 1/2 of a story. He wrote an article today (which kind of makes me wonder if he is going through old Media Matters articles looking for story ideas) I have reproduced the article for you here:
"Are Obama critics creating a hateful, dangerous environment?"
Tom Friedman writes a scary and sobering column in today’s New York Times called “Where did ‘we’ go?” In it — he compares the political climate today in the U.S. to Israel in 1995… right before the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Friedman describes the “ugly mood” in Israel at the time… where right-wingers were trying to de-legitimize Rabin. They questioned his authority and shouted death threats at rallies.
Friedman says the parallels to America today turn his stomach:
“I have no problem with any of the substantive criticism of President Obama from the right or left. But something very dangerous is happening.”
Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into de-legitimizing his presidency.
He’s right. You don’t have to look any further than protesters comparing President Obama to a Nazi or a Facebook poll asking if he should be killed.
Friedman says even if you’re not worried about violence against Mr. Obama — you should be worried about what’s happening to American politics.
He talks about the “cocktail of political and technological trends” that make it possible for “idiots of all political stripes” to take advantage of the system… things like excess of money in politics, the 24/7 cable news cycle, the blogosphere and a permanent presidential campaign.
Meanwhile — Republicans are pushing back against claims that conservative rhetoric is creating a dangerous environment for the president.
Party Chairman Michael Steele says of people like Friedman, “Where do these nut jobs come from?” Which to me sort of proves Friedman’s whole point.
Here’s my question to you: Are critics of Pres. Obama crossing the line in creating a hateful and dangerous environment?"
Here's my question to you Jack, who is talking about death threats? The left or the right? Other than the idiotic facebook poll where the idiots in charge have apparently been identified and will soon be apprehended, I have not read a lot of right wing rhetoric about assassinations. But both CNN and Media Matters both feel the need to throw it out there. It is almost as if they are hoping to encourage some idiot to vent his anger so they can write "Told you so!!" stories. Even the more moderate left found Boehlert's story ridiculous.
I personally do not hate Barrack Obama, I am (like a good many others) infuriated by what I perceive as his socialist agenda and by the graft and corruption that seems to have followed him from Chicago into the White House.
Right wrong or otherwise, Obama was elected, and the best (and only) way that I know of fixing that problem is to utilize the franchise. Now, it makes sense that in order to get a majority of voters to overcome their collective guilt and vote against this guy in 2012 and his party in 2010, we need to point out his shortcomings early and often. And it is not hard to do. This guy is made up of and surrounded with short comings.
But assassination Jack? What an ugly thought. I hope that most Americans who profess belief in the constitution realize that it does not support assassination. It supports a political process, which is what you are seeing. You just don't like how the political process is going right now with the shrinking popularity polls, so you start painting it as hate-filled rhetoric which will hopefully silence the Obama critics. It sure did not bother the left to erupt against Obama when they thought he was abandoning health care. Boy, those were some hate filled rants.
By:Patrick Michael
"A President was killed the last time right-wing hatred ran wild like this"
September 18, 2009 9:10 am ET by Eric Boehlert
That being John F. Kennedy, who was gunned down in Dallas, of course.
I've been thinking a lot of Kennedy and Dallas as I've watched the increasingly violent rhetorical attacks on Obama be unfurled. As Americans yank their kids of class in order to save them from being exposed to the President of the United States who only wanted to urge them to excel in the classroom. And as unvarnished hate and name-calling passed for health care 'debate' this summer.
The radical right, aided by a GOP Noise Machine that positively dwarfs what existed in 1963, has turned demonizing Obama--making him into a vile object of disgust--into a crusade. It's a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.
But I've been thinking about Dallas in 1963 because I've been recalling the history and how that city stood as an outpost for the radical right, which never tried to hide its contempt for the New England Democrat.
Now, in this this month's Vanity Fair, Sam Kashner offers up in rich detail the hatred that ran wild in Dallas in 1963. To me, the similarity between Dallas in 1963 and today's unhinged Obama hate is downright chilling.
Kashner's fascinating cover story actually chronicles the professional struggles of writer William Manchester who was tapped by the Kennedy family, after the president's assassination, to write the definitive book about the shooting. The Vanity Fair articles details the power struggles, and epic lawsuits, that ensued prior to Manchester's publication.
But this unnerving passage from VF caught my eye. In it, Kashner retraces Manchester's step as he researched his book. It's unsettling because if you insert "Obama" for every "Kennedy" reference, it reads like 2009:
Manchester also discovered that Dallas “had become the Mecca for medicine-show evangelists … the Minutemen, the John Birch and Patrick Henry Societies, and the headquarters of [ultra-conservative oil billionaire] H. L. Hunt and his activities.”
“In that third year of the Kennedy presidency,” Manchester wrote, “a kind of fever lay over Dallas country. Mad things happened. Huge billboards screamed, ‘Impeach Earl Warren.’ Jewish stores were smeared with crude swastikas.…Radical Right polemics were distributed in public schools; Kennedy’s name was booed in classrooms; corporate junior executives were required to attend radical seminars.”
A retired major general ran the American flag upside down, deriding it as “the Democrat flag.” A wanted poster with J.F.K.’s face on it was circulated, announcing “this man is Wanted” for—among other things—“turning the sovereignty of the US over to the Communist controlled United Nations” and appointing “anti-Christians … aliens and known Communists” to federal offices.
And a full-page advertisement had appeared the day of the assassination in The Dallas Morning News accusing Kennedy of making a secret deal with the Communist Party; when it was shown to the president, he was appalled. He turned to Jacqueline, who was visibly upset, and said, “Oh, you know, we’re heading into nut country today.”
Manchester discovered that in a wealthy Dallas suburb, when told that President Kennedy had been murdered in their city, the students in a fourth-grade class burst into applause.
Today, conservatives are expressing outrage that Rep. Nancy Pelosi had the nerve to raise concerns about the onrush of violent political rhetoric. The Noise Machine claims it has no idea what Pelosi's talking about. But the truth is, America's most famous bouts of political violence (i.e. JFK, Oklahoma City, etc.) have always been accompanied by waves of radical, right-wing rhetoric. Given that history, the GOP's insistence that the hate now filling the streets couldn't possibly inspire violence seems woefully naive.
Rebuttal:
"The grassy knoll was on the Right, the Far Right"
September 19th
Harvey Oswald wasn’t responsible for the assassination of JFK? Neither was LBJ nor Cuba nor the unions nor the Mob? No, it was caused by “right wing hatred running wild.”
This theory is advanced in “A President was killed the last time right-wing hatred ran wild like this,” an article written by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters.
Boehlert draws heavily on his experiences in the 1960s which, we assume, may have included ingesting numerous mind-altering substances.
“I’ve been thinking a lot of Kennedy and Dallas as I’ve watched the increasingly violent rhetorical attacks on Obama be unfurled,” Boehlert says, “as Americans yank their kids out of class in order to save them from being exposed to the President of the United States who only wanted to urge them to excel in the classroom. And as unvarnished hate and name-calling passed for health care ‘debate’ this summer.”
“The radical right, aided by a GOP Noise Machine that positively dwarfs what existed in 1963, has turned demonizing Obama–making him into a vile object of disgust–into a crusade,” he continues. “It’s a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.”
Unfortunately for Boehlert, all the individuals and groups suspected in the Kennedy assassination were of the leftist variety. Oswald was an communist wannabe. LBJ was liberal. Cuba was and is communist. And union’s? Pretty much leftists.
So pardon us if we’re confused as hell by Boehlerts’ theory.
But, then, we’re guessing that he’s confused, too.
Written by: Patrick Michael
Now along comes Jack Cafferty, King of teaser headlines and unfortunately of only telling 1/2 of a story. He wrote an article today (which kind of makes me wonder if he is going through old Media Matters articles looking for story ideas) I have reproduced the article for you here:
"Are Obama critics creating a hateful, dangerous environment?"
Tom Friedman writes a scary and sobering column in today’s New York Times called “Where did ‘we’ go?” In it — he compares the political climate today in the U.S. to Israel in 1995… right before the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Friedman describes the “ugly mood” in Israel at the time… where right-wingers were trying to de-legitimize Rabin. They questioned his authority and shouted death threats at rallies.
Friedman says the parallels to America today turn his stomach:
“I have no problem with any of the substantive criticism of President Obama from the right or left. But something very dangerous is happening.”
Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over into de-legitimizing his presidency.
He’s right. You don’t have to look any further than protesters comparing President Obama to a Nazi or a Facebook poll asking if he should be killed.
Friedman says even if you’re not worried about violence against Mr. Obama — you should be worried about what’s happening to American politics.
He talks about the “cocktail of political and technological trends” that make it possible for “idiots of all political stripes” to take advantage of the system… things like excess of money in politics, the 24/7 cable news cycle, the blogosphere and a permanent presidential campaign.
Meanwhile — Republicans are pushing back against claims that conservative rhetoric is creating a dangerous environment for the president.
Party Chairman Michael Steele says of people like Friedman, “Where do these nut jobs come from?” Which to me sort of proves Friedman’s whole point.
Here’s my question to you: Are critics of Pres. Obama crossing the line in creating a hateful and dangerous environment?"
Here's my question to you Jack, who is talking about death threats? The left or the right? Other than the idiotic facebook poll where the idiots in charge have apparently been identified and will soon be apprehended, I have not read a lot of right wing rhetoric about assassinations. But both CNN and Media Matters both feel the need to throw it out there. It is almost as if they are hoping to encourage some idiot to vent his anger so they can write "Told you so!!" stories. Even the more moderate left found Boehlert's story ridiculous.
I personally do not hate Barrack Obama, I am (like a good many others) infuriated by what I perceive as his socialist agenda and by the graft and corruption that seems to have followed him from Chicago into the White House.
Right wrong or otherwise, Obama was elected, and the best (and only) way that I know of fixing that problem is to utilize the franchise. Now, it makes sense that in order to get a majority of voters to overcome their collective guilt and vote against this guy in 2012 and his party in 2010, we need to point out his shortcomings early and often. And it is not hard to do. This guy is made up of and surrounded with short comings.
But assassination Jack? What an ugly thought. I hope that most Americans who profess belief in the constitution realize that it does not support assassination. It supports a political process, which is what you are seeing. You just don't like how the political process is going right now with the shrinking popularity polls, so you start painting it as hate-filled rhetoric which will hopefully silence the Obama critics. It sure did not bother the left to erupt against Obama when they thought he was abandoning health care. Boy, those were some hate filled rants.
By:Patrick Michael
