Rick Perlstein on Right-Wing Retardation

[Ed Anger]

If I'm going to pick a nutty side, it is going to be the right. Nicer uniforms, torchlight rallies and ultraviolence.

In the US it tends to be church ladies listening to talk radio and becoming outraged.

I'd rather listen to that. Seriously.

I've had my fill of leftist tripe. Being in the same county as Antioch College/Yellow Springs is painful.

[Valmy]

I've had my fill of leftist tripe. Being in the same county as Antioch College/Yellow Springs is painful.

You are only saying that because of the pain of 8 years of Bushitler crap.  The right wing douchebags have only begun to piss us off with their bullshit.

[Razgovory]

If I'm going to pick a nutty side, it is going to be the right. Nicer uniforms, torchlight rallies and ultraviolence.

the left? nagging.

You don't want to hang out with those neo-confederates. 

[Ed Anger]

I've had my fill of leftist tripe. Being in the same county as Antioch College/Yellow Springs is painful.

You are only saying that because of the pain of 8 years of Bushitler crap.  The right wing douchebags have only begun to piss us off with their bullshit.

Oh no. I've had 30+ years of exposure to leftist bullshit out of Antioch. No tea party nutjob will ever wash that away.

[DontSayBanana]

depressing article, as it suggests that public discourse is dead or dying.

on the bright side, languish can take pride is being ahead of the curve.

We've got massive social disconnects, gaps in education, and a ton of xenophobes and megalomaniacs- public discourse doesn't stand a chance in the US.

[Maximus]

I thought the article was pretty good as far as it goes, but completely leaves out the moveonistas and Cindy Sheehans which were utterly relevant to the topic.

B-

[Valmy]

but completely leaves out the moveonistas and Cindy Sheehans which were utterly relevant to the topic.

Yep it is a very selective cataloging of the crazy.

[Admiral Yi]

Which of the following seems more "Nazi-Like" to you:
Locking up random people, having them tortured with no respect for rights, manipulating security concerns to tip elections and invading foreign countries for little-no reason
OR
Attempting to reform Health Care. 

The former. :smartie:

But we're left with the fact that your defense of Bush=Hitler is that Bush is more Hitler-like than Obama.  A lot of people are more Hitler-like than Obama.

[Malthus]

As an outside observer I suspect that the right-wing crazy has more depth and traction to it than the left-wing crazy because it is in large part a massive expression of frustration. The whole Western world is if you like moving "leftwards" on certain issues - the demise of organized religion as a force to be taken seriously, the rise of certain socialist policies such as healthcare, gay marriage and the like. The radical right sees all of this as a fundamental threat to its very existence, and reacts with anger, which expresses itself in a willingness to swallow all sorts of conspiracy theory type nonsense as a way of channeling this unfocussed anger onto easy to understand symbolic targets.

A similar phenominon, ironically enough, as one sees in the Muslim world. 

[Sheilbh]

But we're left with the fact that your defense of Bush=Hitler is that Bush is more Hitler-like than Obama.  A lot of people are more Hitler-like than Obama.

But the thing is this has happened so quickly.  It's been six months.

As I've said elsewhere in August 2001 Bush wasn't popular with the left because of the missile defence and Kyoto, but he wasn't a hit with the right despite the tax cut because they thought he was a bit weak in his dealings with China (and the spy plane stuff) and NCLB was far weaker than he or they had wanted.  Bushitler stuff didn't start until, at the earliest 2002, and didn't really kick off until the Iraq war. 

Now Obama's done more in a short space of time but he's already getting the Nazi comparisons.

I think one of the differences between left-wing crazy and right-wing crazy is that the right seem to have gone crazy almost instantaneously.  It's the speed that really confuses me.

Edit:  This is just general crazy.  Apparently there's a poll in which 39% of Americans think the government should 'stay out of Medicare'

[Valmy]

Edit:  This is just general crazy.  Apparently there's a poll in which 39% of Americans think the government should 'stay out of Medicare'

That means they want Medicare left alone.  At least I hope it does.

[Ed Anger]

Speaking of left wing 'tards, who is that 'Ed Show' fuck at MSNBC? Watching that fucker makes me want to vote for Hitler.

[Admiral Yi]

Bushitler stuff didn't start until, at the earliest 2002, and didn't really kick off until the Iraq war. 

Bushitler maybe didn't start till then but Bush stole the election started right away.

[Sheilbh]

Edit:  This is just general crazy.  Apparently there's a poll in which 39% of Americans think the government should 'stay out of Medicare'

That means they want Medicare left alone.  At least I hope it does.

I think that could be how it could be interpreted but I'm not sure:

85% of Democrats, 48% of independents, and 16% of Republicans give Obama good
reviews. All but 4% of respondents who said they voted for him last fall think he's doing
a good job, while just 10% of McCain supporters give him good marks.

Obama's improvement isn't a reflection of support for his health care plan though. 47%
of voters say they oppose it with just 40% in favor. One poll question indicative of how
difficult it is to gain public understanding on a complicated issue asked if respondents
thought the government should 'stay out of Medicare,' something inherently impossible.
39% said yes.

The question does seem ambiguous, though:

Do you think the government should stay out of
Medicare?

My favourite result is this one though:

Do you consider Hawaii to be part of the United
States? If yes, press 1. If no, press 2. If
you're not sure, press 3.
Yes ................................................................. 90%
No ................................................................... 6%
Not Sure.......................................................... 4%

[Sheilbh]

Bushitler maybe didn't start till then but Bush stole the election started right away.

That's true.  But I also think it's a few steps from that to accusations of Nazism and people carrying guns and 'kill Bush/Obama' signs, or talking about watering the liberty tree.