Follow the wacky antics of right wing conservatives pretending to be under attack by an evil progressive cabal of secular socialists.

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Colorado Primaries: For Whom the Bullhorn Tolls

    Some Democrats have cheered the success of right-wing extremists in the Colorado primaries yesterdays. They have a point.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Why Did California Shooter Target the Tides Foundation?

    Late Saturday night, the California Highway Patrol stopped 45-year-old Byron Williams as he sped towards San Francisco. Wearing a bullet proof vest and armed with three guns, Williams opened fire on the officers. After a 12-minute firefight, CHP troopers subdued and arrested Williams.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    An Update on the Book Formerly Known as How Bill O'Reilly Saved Christmas

    In response to the relentless demands of millions of adoring readers, I've decided that it's time to break my media silence about the status of the book.

    After an eight-month effort that has been simultaneously grueling and exhilarating, the book is nearly finished. I completed the manuscript at the end of June and have been racing through the revisions since then. In a few weeks, it will be all over but the rhapsodic reviews. The book is still on schedule to come out in mid-October.

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    The Myth of the Gay Fascist: Don't Ask, Don't Tell

    I've written a couple of posts recently about the phenomenon of right-wing projection. Projection is a Freudian concept according to which people project their own feelings of hostility onto the targets of their hostility. It is a psychological defense strategy that enables people to disown their feelings of hatred and intolerance by attributing them to the people they hate.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Before the Tea Party: the Ghost of Republican Past

    In light of Tea Party favorite Rand Paul's overwhelming victory over the Republican establishment candidate Trey Grayson in Kentucky yesterday, it's worth taking a brief trip with the Ghost of Republican Past back to the first of many conservative purges in the modern era.

    [CUE PSYCHEDELIC FLASHBACK TRANSITION]

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Fear and Loathing in Phoenix

    As if its draconian immigration law weren't sufficient to demonstrate Arizona's profound appreciation for its Latino minority, the state has just enacted a second law to make the point. The new law prohibits Arizona schools from teaching "ethnocentric" courses that:

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Immigration and the "Race Card"

    If you harbor any doubt about the racist undercurrent driving right-wing immigration concerns, listen to Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh knows his audience, and when he discussed Arizona's immigration law on Monday, he gave them the red meat, or rather the black-and-brown meat, that they were looking for:

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Who loves a Tea Party? Not who you might think

    Who loves a Tea Party? A recent NYT/CBS poll punctured a couple of myths about the makeup of today's paranoid right-wing activists.

    Myth #1. Tea Party supporters are motivated by economic anxiety

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Glenn Beck Stand-In Tries to Out-Racism Beck, Says Obama Hates "White Guys and Capitalism"

    Last summer, a number of advertisers boycotted Glenn Beck's FOX News show after he accused Obama of being a "racist" with a "deep seeded [sic] hatred for white people or the white culture." Since then, Beck has avoided overt race-baiting, focusing instead on Obama's affection for Marxism, progressivism, fascism, totalitarianism, and many other unsavory "isms," not to mention a few unpleasant "y's" like oligarchy, tyranny, and the Democratic Party.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Maddow and Liberal Celebrities Stalk Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown

    Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) is desperately fighting off an election challenge from MSNBC host, Rachel Maddow. Though Maddow insists that she has no interest in running for Senate, Brown is not deceived by her evasions.

    Doctor Cleveland's picture

    Death Threats Aren't Politics as Usual

    Apparently, there are some Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits who feel that the worst thing about death threats and vandalism is that the politicians being threatened might gain public sympathy. Digby and Billmon both have brilliant analyses of the victim-blaming rhetoric being used here.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    First Press: How Bill O'Reilly Saved Christmas

    Readers, I apologize for my slow posting lately. I've been hunkering down to work on my upcoming book, How Bill O'Reilly Saved Christmas. But I'm popping my head up briefly to announce my first piece of press, a blog article at the Washington Post.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Why Do Liberals Hate Beauty Queens?

    What is the most persecuted demographic in the nation? It's not the blacks, the Jews, or the Hispanics, and certainly not the gays. One victim stands out in the gruesome annals of discrimination: the Beauty Queen.

    The latest sacrifice to the bottomless hunger of the gay liberal hate monster is Miss Beverly Hills, Lauren Ashley. Ashley simply quoted an innocent line from the Bible:

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Persecution Politics: Conservatives Challenge New Hate Crime Law

    A conservative "civil liberties" group has challenged the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act. The Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center is suing U.S. government on behalf of three pastors and the president of the American Family Association of Michigan.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Tea Party Threatened by Capitalist Menace

    The Tea Party, a potent collection of dyspeptic right-wing populist groups, was on the verge of national conquest. Having defeated a Republican candidate in a New York House election and a Democratic candidate in the Massachusetts Senate election, it seemed that there was no stopping this crew of tax-rejecting, socialist-hating, health-care-not-wanting defenders of the Constitution and all that is good in America.

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Persecution Politics: Civil War Rages in the G.O.P., but Watch Out What You Wish For

    In the wake of resignations by Democratic Senators Chris Dodd and Byron Dorgan, Democrats may be taking some shortsighted solace in the prospect of a brewing conservative civil war between the Republican Party establishment and the revolting Teabaggers, no pun intended. The differences between the warring camps are not ideological - the G.O.P. long ago purged its dissenting moderates - but attitudinal.

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    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Persecution Politics: Christian Leaders Sign Historic-Futuristic Declaration

    Friday, November 20, 2009. 145 evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian leaders have signed the "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience," in which they declared their shared opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. Though only hours old, the declaration has already been declared "historic" by those whose job it is to designate historic declarations.

    Michael Wolraich's picture

    Persecution Politics: Nazi Fever

    One of the recent propaganda tactics of the right wing has been to appropriate the leftist language of discrimination and civil rights to argue that liberal elites are persecuting white Christian conservatives. The most extreme form of this tactic is the Nazi attack, according to which liberals are portrayed as Nazis or fascists in order to represent them as brutal oppressors of helpless conservative victims. Commentators on the right have revised history to represent fascism as a leftist movement. They have invented or exaggerated associations between Democrats and Nazis.

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