Posted on 03/28/2010 10:43:40 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Just this week a militia group and the tea party movement intersected. Mike Vanderboegh, former leader of the Alabama Constitutional Militia, recently called for hundreds of thousands of gun owners to “point their muzzles at the hearts of tyrants” when discussing ways to oppose recent congressional legislation. He also encouraged breaking of Democratic Party leaders windows to get their attention. He said “To all modern Sons of Liberty: THIS is your time. Break their windows. Break them NOW.” After this, there was a rash of such incidents.
And, today 7 militia members were arrested in FBI raids in the midwest for plotting violence against Muslim organizations. This particular group calls themselves the Hutaree whose members describe themselves as Christian soldiers preparing for the arrival and battle with the anti-Christ.
What is happening? Why the hateful rhetoric, and the threats of violence?
Mark Potok, director of publications and information for the Southern Poverty Law Center is quoted as saying ”“I think it’s very clear that you see ideas coming out of all kinds of sectors of the radical right, from the immigrant radical right, from the so-called Patriot groups, the militias and so on — and you see it spreading right across the landscape at some of these Tea Party events,” he says. “I think it’s worth saying that much of this is aided and abetted by ostensibly mainstream politicians and media members. ... I think a lot of these ideas start on the radical right, but they are also being flogged endlessly by Republican officials,” he says. “Even those who are sort of considered [to be] responsible Republicans have completely abstained from any kind of criticism of this talk. So even way back when, when Sarah Palin was talking about Obama setting up death panels and so on — what we heard was a deafening silence from the mainstream of the Republican Party.”
Whose Country Is It? by Charles M. Blow hits the nail on the head as to the root cause of the rage we are seeing displayed by some over the passage of the health care bill. “President Obama and what he represents has jolted extremists into the present and forced them to confront the future. And it scares them. Even the optics must be irritating. A woman (Nancy Pelosi) pushed the health care bill through the House. The bill’s most visible and vocal proponents included a gay man (Barney Frank) and a Jew (Anthony Weiner). And the black man in the White House signed the bill into law. It’s enough to make a good old boy go crazy.”
The Rage Is Not About Health Care, Frank Rich ”... To find a prototype for the overheated reaction to the health care bill, you have to look a year before Medicare, to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Both laws passed by similar majorities in Congress; the Civil Rights Act received even more votes in the Senate (73) than Medicare (70). But it was only the civil rights bill that made some Americans run off the rails. That’s because it was the one that signaled an inexorable and immutable change in the very identity of America, not just its governance. ... If Obama’s first legislative priority had been immigration or financial reform or climate change, we would have seen the same trajectory. The conjunction of a black president and a female speaker of the House — topped off by a wise Latina on the Supreme Court and a powerful gay Congressional committee chairman — would sow fears of disenfranchisement among a dwindling and threatened minority in the country no matter what policies were in play. It’s not happenstance that Frank, Lewis and Cleaver — none of them major Democratic players in the health care push — received a major share of last weekend’s abuse. When you hear demonstrators chant the slogan “Take our country back!,” these are the people they want to take the country back from.”
Both of these journalists say much more eloquently what I have been thinking, IT’S THE DEMOGRAPHICS STUPID.
In an article I wrote last year on racism as a component of disrespect towards President Obama, I said: “However, the current climate has gone far beyond simple disagreement or even righteous indignation about a particular issue, and it is difficult not to see that for a very vocal and visible fringe group of Americans racism is certainly one component of their anger. There are certainly many components of the rage expressed by this group, but at least one of those components is showing itself to be race.” I also wrote about the connection between Obamaphobia and Islamophobia with the Obama is a Muslim crowd, and the fact that anti-Muslim rhetoric is reaching a dangerous level.
We have seen in the last few years a shocking escalation in EXTREME RHETORIC against whoever is seen as “the other”.
Signs from the 9/12 Tea Party march in D.C. ranged from simply unkind - “bury Obama care with Kennedy” - to conspiratiorial - “where’s the birth certificate”, “Obama is a Muslim”, and “don’t kill Grandma” - to vaguely menacing “violate our liberty at your peril”, “keep pushing us and find out what happens” - to really over the top - “we came unarmed (this time)”, Obama waving to al-Qaeda saying “whoa boys, I’ll take it from here”, “hang em high, traitors in Congress (and a list of names), “Obama is the anti-Christ”, a picture of Obama slitting the throat of Uncle Sam - and of course, there were Confederate flags and outright racist signs “What you talkin about Willis?”, “Homey don’t play dat” . Earlier Tea Parties had the same sorts of signs - “Sieg Heil Herr Obama” (with picture of Obama with a Hitler mustache), “Barack Hussein Obama the new face of Hitler”, “Chairman Maobama”, “Obama’s plan, white slavery”, “We need a Christian President”. Huffington post has a list of the 10 most offensive, but other sites found other signs that they found just as offensive, including “The zoo has an African and the White House has a lyin’ African!”. A news report called “Is the Tea Party Racism Going Too Far?” showed my personal vote for most objectionable - a sign depicting President Obama as an African witch doctor.
Remember those fellows at Obama rallies who were carrying loaded weapons, assault rifles and pistols? Frederick Clarkson pointed out [I] “Chris Broughton, 28, made national news when he showed up to protest a speech by President Barack Obama in Phoenix, Arizona with an AR-15 automatic rifle slung over his shoulder and a handgun.” ... “The night before Broughton’s fifteen minutes of fame, he attended a fiery Sunday sermon by his pastor, Rev. Steven L. Anderson, at Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona. Rev. Anderson, also 28, explained not only “Why I Hate Barack Obama,” but also why he and God both want the president dead. “When I go to bed tonight,” Broughton’s pastor declared, “Steven L. Anderson is going to pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell.”
Some individuals have called the president’s domestic agenda “economic fascism”, called the President an all-controlling Fascist leader, a socialist, a communist, compared to Hitler. The birthers claim that Obama is not an American, and their are even Pastors praying for the President’s death.
A tea party activist forwarded an email of Obama as a witch doctor.
There was a racist Obama billboard in Missouri.
There were the offensive Obama as a “monkey” tee shirts.
An Ohio man who hung an effigy of Barack Obama in his back yard.
On their website, the Republican Women of Clifton joked that Baskin Robbins had created a new ice-cream flavor named Barocky Road, which was half vanilla and half chocolate. But, this extended metaphor continues, the “vanilla portion of the mix is not openly advertised and usually denied as an ingredient,” which doesn’t even make any sense. Does “white woman from Kansas” ring any bells? It should.
Back in July, Chris Parry of the Vancouver Sun in an article entitled Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children discussed and quoted some remarks made on the Free Republic site: ”“A typical street whore.” “A bunch of ghetto thugs.” “Ghetto street trash.” “Wonder when she will get her first abortion.” These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative ‘Free Republic’ blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama’s 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front. The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, “To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds.” ... “Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?” wrote one commenter. “They make me sick .... The whole family… mammy, pappy, the free loadin’ mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin’, and especially ‘lil cuz… This is not the America I want representin’ my peeps,” wrote another.” This FreeRepublic.com website earned a spot in Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Persons in the World” segment after waiting all of three days to step in and take action on a message board thread full of such racist comments.
Shouts of Shouts of “traitor,” ‘‘terrorist,” ‘‘treason,” ‘‘liar” and even “off with his head” have been called out at Republican rallies.
Tea Party sign threatens gun violence if health care passes.
Tea Partiers called Rep. Barney Frank a “f****t.” They called Rep. John Lewis and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver the infamous “n-word.” They bullied a peaceful health care reform advocate with Parkinson’s disease, assuming for reasons known only to them, that he is too lazy to work and only seeks a handout. “Communist… you have to work for everything you get!”
Well known public figures have also participated in this extremist rhetoric.
Rush Limbaugh talked on air about “wiping out” political opponents. Rush Limbaugh played a parody song “Barack The Magic Negro” on his show.
The Values Voter Summit sold boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.
Glenn Beck labeled progressivism a tumor and he told listeners to “eradicate it” from the nation.
Bill O’Reilly wants to waterboard Nancy Pelosi. And, he said “Yeah, tax revolt. I think people, when they figure out how badly they’re going to get hurt in the next few years, there’s going to be a tea party on taxes and its gonna get nasty. Nancy Pelosi’s going to be bobbing up and down in the Boston Harbor.”
Randall Terry at a press conference warned of “Random Acts of Violence” over Healthcare Legislation
The Christian Coalition published a statement claiming that Rep. Bart Stupak was a traitor just like Benedict Arnold and Julius & Ethel Rosenberg.
And sadly, civic and government organizations are not free from this inability to see just how dangerous this rhetoric is.
Sherri Goforth, an executive assistant for Tennessee state senator Diane Black, e-mailed a photo collage of America’s presidents that portrays President Obama as a set of eyes in the darkness.
Longtime GOP activist and former South Carolina State Senate candidate Rusty Depass wrote on Facebook that an escaped gorilla was “just one of Michelle’s ancestors—probably harmless.”
South Carolina GOP activist, Mike Green, tweeted the alleged joke, “JUST HEARD OBAMA IS GOING TO IMPOSE A 40% TAX ON ASPIRIN BECAUSE IT’S WHITE AND IT WORKS.” And yes, it was, obnoxiously, entirely capitalized.
After a friend elegantly declared, “obama bin lauden is the new terrorist….muslim is on there side…need to take this country back from all of these mad coons….....and illegals” on the Facebook wall of Young Republican vice-chairman Audra Shay, Shay responded, eight minutes later, “You tell em Eric! lol.”
The newsletter of the Chaffey Community Republican Women of San Bernadino, California, contained a food stamp depicting Obama as a donkey surrounded by things black people are supposed to enjoy eating.
On sale at the Republican Party’s booth at the Evergreen State Fair in Washington State around the time of the Pennsylvania primary was a three-dollar bill showing Obama wearing a Muslim headdress.
After complaints, he Sacramento County Republican leaders took down offensive material on their official party Web site that sought to link Sen. Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden and encouraged people to “Waterboard Barack Obama”.
The mayor of Los Alamitos, California sent out an e-mail that depicted the White House lawn planted with watermelons, under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.”
A Republican women’s club in San Bernardino County, California sent out a newsletter with a photo of Barack Obama surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and ribs.
A Councilman in Atwater, California named Gary Frago forwarded a series of emails which used racial comments and imagery to criticize the president. Some compared Obama to O.J. Simpson while others suggested that “nigger rigs” should now be called “presidential solutions.”
Chairman of the RNC, Michael Steele, issued a call to Republicans to put Nancy Pelosi on the “firing line” because of the health insurance reform bill.
Sarah Palin via Twitter told her Republican followers to “reload” and “aim for” Democrats, directing GOP activists to her SarahPac website where they found a map of the country festooned with rifle scope cross-hairs over Congressional districts held by Democrats. (John McCain defended Sarah Palin.
Mike Huckabee said we should “bring back tarring and feathering”.
Kennesaw, Georgia city councilman John Dowdy circulated a message promoting a racist, violent anti-immigrant video game.
Texas Governor Perry suggesting the possibility of Texas seceding from the union.
House Minority Leader John Boehner referred to a Democratic member and said he can’t go home; he’s a “dead man.”
Richard Behney, a candidate for the Indiana Senate said at a gathering of “Evansville 2nd Amendment Patriots” that “if new people don’t get elected to Congress in 2010, he’ll be getting out his guns to face down the American government”.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said at CPAC: “I’ve had enough. We should take a page out of her playbook and take a 9-iron and smash the window out of big government.” Rep. Michele Bachmann said that she wants residents of her state “armed and dangerous” over President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce global warming “because we need to fight back.” Congressman Mark Kirk commented that Illinois residents “are ready to shoot anyone who is going to raise taxes” as much as Gov. Pat Quinn is proposing.
This sort of rhetoric whether directed at immigrants, a racial group, a religious group, ........... can go beyond talk pretty quickly, especially during difficult economic times.
Rep. Steve Driehaus receives death threats. Rep. Anthony Weiner receives white powder in a threat letter.
“Snipers” threat left On Rep. Louise Slaughter’s Voicemail after Health Care Vote. There was also a brick thrown through her office window.
The propane gas line at the home of Rep. Thomas Perriello’s brother was cut after the address was posted by an organizer for the Lynchburg Tea Party, apparently upset at the congressman’s vote for the health care bill.
A brick was thrown through the window of the Monroe County Democratic Committee headquarters after a blog encouraged its readers to throw bricks at the windows of Democratic headquarters across the country.
In Wichita, someone threw a brick through the window of a county Democratic Party headquarters. The brick had “No to Obama” and “No ObamyCare” written on it. Over the next 24 hours, thrown bricks shattered the glass doors and windows of party headquarters from Rochester, N.Y., to Cincinnati.
Rep. Bart Stupak received a series of threatening phone calls for health care vote. He also received a fax with a drawing of a noose and an anonymous voice mail saying: “You’re dead. We know where you live. We’ll get you.”
The front door to the Tucson district office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was shattered with a pellet gun.
Bomb Threat made at Sen. Bunning’s Hazard, KY Office
Enraged at the sight of Mark Duren’s Obama bumper sticker, Harry Weisiger gave Duren “the bird” and then hit his car from behind, leading to a violent series of events.
This is the time for individuals, public figures, journalists, religious leaders, interfaith groups, elected officials, anyone who loves this country and doesn’t want to see it torn apart needs to take a stand against the hate speech, and the threats and violence. We really are better than this.
And yet, it was left wing loonies who shot up a federal courthouse in Nevada, an I.R.S. building in Austin, and The Pentagon. Nothing to worry about from that side, especially since the right is drawing pictures of 0bama that look like a monkey.
Pluck the log out of your own eye before seeking out the splinters in the eyes of others, Muzzie.
I don’t beleive these quotes from Free Republic.
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