The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    On the Obama Hating

    By AmericanDreamer on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 2:41pm |
    This is the only post I hope I make on this odious subject.

    Bush was deeply hated by many. But I don't believe I have ever seen a single comment by a tpmcafe denizen even suggesting or intimating violence against Bush or Cheney.  Not one, that I've seen, anyway. 

    A major difference between right-wing hate versus hate emanating from other parts of the political spectrum is the public visibility of implied violence coming from the former, and the utter depravity of right-wing figures with a major media presence in failing to condemn it unequivocally.  Threats of violence surely come from people of all--and no discernible--ideology.  But that seems to me a major difference.
     
    Before the presidential election, Sinclair Lewis' classic It Can't Happen Here was creeping its way up the queue in my reading pile.  (I note that Tom Wright read it a few months back.)  I was specifically concerned with what might happen if we had another presidential election close enough that the outcome was seriously and credibly disputed, after having come to the conclusion awhile back that it is more likely than not that the 2004 presidential election was stolen.  Fortunately, we didn't.   After Obama won I breathed a big sigh of relief and hadn't thought about it much since then.
     
    Playing by the rules of the radical right wing I could say that these people "hate America", the charges they levy freely against their fellow citizens who have strenuous objections to specific US policies adopted by particular Administrations and Congresses.  It isn't as though they don't have lots of levers to block the Obama agenda without resort to violence or threats of violence. 

    A good friend of mine--huge early Obama supporter, very active in media reform circles, and heavily involved in launching an interfaith reconciliation project (Muslims/Christians/Jews)--is not someone easily given to paranoia.  He sent me an email a couple of days ago on an interview done with the author of the book The Eliminationists.  I've not had a chance to watch the clip yet--my friend says the author emphasizes the distinction between free speech versus responsible speech.  Indeed.  Glad to post the link if anyone is interested.

    The haters never go away, alas.  They just stew and eventually regroup or refocus politically.  Their right-wing allies publish books called The End of Free Speech.  If the Justice Department were to launch one or two high profile incitement-to-violence prosecutions, the loonies would love nothing better.  It would "prove" their point that "liberal fascism" is here.  Oh happy day for them--time for the gloves to come off! 

    Their standard is: thinly veiled threats of violence are legit coming from them; intense criticism of particular public officials and public policies by those opposing them from a point of view not their own, however, amounts to "hating America."  These people--the haters--are sick.  There are always going to be people like that out there.  What is also inexcusable is the deafening silence when it comes to condemning that rhetoric from so many in the right-wing commentariat.