Originally Posted By ecdc <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/26/obama-rumors-presidency-s_n_552197.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...197.html</a> Here's something I've been insisting all along. Looking at the whispers and rumors about Obama vs. Bush, far right conservatives are far crazier and far more prevalent than the far left. It's insane how easily people propagate and spread these lies.
Originally Posted By Labuda There's a comment someone posted there that crystallizes the way I feel. Just in a much more elegant way than I've been able to come up with myself. Credit to murfthesurf3: Obama is frightening to those who believe that America belongs to them in perpetuity. He represents the kind of change that the dominant population has always resisted with rumor, threat, and violence. This has been repeated in immigrant cycle after cycle. A city is German and Dutch, think New York. And then "they" show up with their strange language, customs, color and religion. They are the Irish, the Italians and the Polish. They are relegated to the worst occupations and the worst neighborhoods.They are the subject of vicious rumors and horrid tales. They are kept "out" of the inner circles of power, wealth and influence by the dominant groups. And then comes a tipping point. Sometimes it is an event, sometimes it is a movement, sometimes it is so gradual that it things change and no one is quite clear as to when that change happened. Today, that event is the election of Barack Obama. And they are doing what panicked people do. They are afraid and with fear comes the kind of anger that leads to this nonsense.
Originally Posted By DAR Yep it's always good to know that those who opposed Bush we're much more reasonable. <a href="http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=621" target="_blank">http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=621</a> Drives to the basket, count it and the foul!!!!!
Originally Posted By ecdc >>Yep it's always good to know that those who opposed Bush we're much more reasonable.<< Way to totally and completely miss the point. No one has ever said both sides don't have their crazies. Of course they do. The question is one of size, scope, and influence. To put it another way, you can get wet in a light summer rain, or in a tsunami. Most of us are smart enough to know the difference and treat them differently.
Originally Posted By gadzuux It's not just "those crazy right wingers" that are spreading this stuff - it's the actual republican party itself. For every whack-job lie that's out there, there are bonafide GOP representatives fanning the flames. Death panels? Straight outta ex-governor Sarah Palin, and endorsed by Senator Chuck Grassley. Birthers? McCain's home state of AZ now wants to require all candidates to show their birth certificate in order to be on the ballot. And numerous republican representatives have lent credence to these people. FEMA Relocation camps? Michelle Bachmann - thank you very much. Two bit politicians trying to get mileage out of Obama's middle name of "Hussein"? Every one of them GOP. I've said this repeatedly, but it's still the truth - these cheap tawdry smear tactics only work on the dumbest clucks out there, and yet they still gain traction with republicans. Go figure. The flip side is that it repulses people of any sensibility at all. I guess the republican leadership feels that they don't need rational people, or that they've already lost them long ago, and all that's left are the thoroughly corrupt and those stupid enough to support them. Still - I have to think that they wouldn't resort to blatant lies if they didn't have to. If they had anything solid on the guy they'd have used it long ago. They don't, so instead they just make stuff up - the more heinous the better - he's a muslim, he's a foreigner, he's a socialist, he's a radical, he's a pacifist, he's going to take your guns, he's going to kill your grandma, he's gonna lock you up in an internment camp. And some fools really do believe all this. And they stand around in public with illiterate signs proclaiming that they know "the truth" and they've got god on their side - on "AMERICA'S" side. There is no counterpart to any of this on the left. It just wouldn't be possible. It can only stem from a deliberate campaign of fear and ignorance and a deft ability to manipulate stupid fearful people. These people are called "republicans".
