Why I Parted Ways With The Right
1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)
2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)
3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)
4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)
5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)
6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.)
7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)
8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.
9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)
10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source)
And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.
I won't be going over the cliff with them.Oh my my my. He dings pretty much every major Wingnut blog out there, El Rushbo, Glennsanity, Malkinvania and the whole crew. It's been done before, Wingnuts can reform (ask John Cole over at Balloon Juice). Chuck's former buddies are less than happy with him. But as Pam says:
These low-brow conservatives that coo over Palin, Glenn Beck and Rush are sheep -- no critical thinking whatsoever, in denial about how they are shilling for policies that hurt them, instead they focus on blaming on the "other" -- that doesn't look like them, worship like them, believe in reproductive freedom or isn't heterosexual. With fumes that weak, how can that movement sustain itself? It's an incredible feat.Hatred is self-sustaining. It's amazing how it keeps going. But it's even more amazing how people can sometimes redeem themselves from it.
At this rate, I may have to throw Chuck a blogroll link.
Do it, LGF is as good a window as you'll find into what I used to consider conservatism (before I grew up and found out it was hijacked by a bunch of poo throwing loons).
ReplyDeleteI expected a shitstorm in the comments after that post, but the majority of the first hundred responses was pretty fair.(I quit reading after that; the comments number over a thousand now). I think the moderate Republicans feel abandoned and leaderless, and they don't like the people who are stepping up as the voice of their party. I don't think most of them were happy with Bush/Cheney, either, but at least then they had THEIR party in the White House. Now they got nuthin'.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm prepared to start looking at LGF the way I currently view Rick Moran's blog (Right-Wing Nuthouse) and Tom McGuire's place (JustOneMinute) as the kind of center-right places where you'll occasionally find a decent (and even an intellectually consistent) argument against Obama.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do stress "occasionally".
I think that the way you approach these folks is the same way Obama does, except he gets accused of "triangulating" when he opens the door to folks who have a vote on the legislation he proposes.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine even ordering a pizza for folks here at work without asking what folks want on it, does that mean we end up with a pineapple/banana topping? No, but maybe we do a half cheese half mushroom pizza that the majority likes. It isn't what either extreme first advocated, but it is still a workable solution. I picture politics like this, but I'm young and naive.
Ok, "folks" is out of my vocabulary for a least a week after that.
ReplyDelete