I met my second "I wish Obama would die" repub tonight.

[tavernier]

This one is from NYC. The first one was from North Carolina and he told me (after Obama's first term inauguration) that he could "put a bullet through his head and not feel one bit bad about it." His words made me shiver and have a few nightmares, but even so, I did "get" the underlying north/south thing. But this New York fireman... WTF??... Can anyone explain this to me?? Is this just basically a republican thing??

[Whovian]

1. Racists think of those of different skin color

or even of different opinion to be less than human. They are ignorant and fearful people.

[standingtall]

2. It's basically a rascist thing

bigots exist in the north just like they do in the south, and in every profession although there is probably more of them in the south.

[elleng]

3. Plain old weird, imo, from a NYC fireman.

Could be race.

[madinmaryland]

4. Yes. There are even racists and bigots in NYC. nt

[LiberalFighter]

5. Not all of NYC police and fire are the finest.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. It's race IMO.

Biden could be a veritable Socialist compared to Obama and the racists would prefer him solely on the basis of his skin color.

[CakeGrrl]

7. What were the contexts in which they said this to you?

Just curious...were they strangers just assuming you had a sympathetic ear? Who broached the subject?

I'm just interested to know how much it takes for some of the hate-minded to express it.

[tavernier]

13. Last night's discussion

started with Obama care. We are a group of neighbors that get together for cocktails in the evening. I live in the Florida Keys, so all of us are seniors and transplants. The retired fireman started the conversation with "Obama just shut down my friend's business. I feel so bad for him. Fourteen years with a successful business and Obama shut it down." I said, "What? I thought Obama was in D.C. this week discussing business with Boehner. How could he ruin your friend's business at the same time?" He answered, "Obamacare. Obama's wonderful new program. I hate the guy. I wish he was dead." Another neighbor then said, "You aren't telling us the whole story. Obamacare didn't shut down his business. There are many steps involved in the decisions of business owners." The fireman responded with, "He is destroying our country." I said, "Excuse me? After eight years of George Bush, you think that Obama is the one destroying the country?? Shame on you!"

At that point everyone laughed, and we moved on to other things. Since it is a mixed group politically, we try not to get into heavy discussions.

The other guy who would have shot Obama without a moment's regret... that conversation took place right after the first election and was prompted by a picture of Obama and Biden on the wall of my office. Up until that point, I honestly thought this was one of the nicest guys I'd ever met; hardworking, thoughtful, considerate. But yes, a true southerner, through and through.

Conversations like this just make me think that we are still very much in a civil war, and yes, fox news is the one supplying the bullets to the confederacy. If anything were to happen to Obama, God forbid, I would hold them 99% responsible. And I bet at this point, they would even want to take the credit.

[Fla_Democrat]

8. Tell them....

You know they are in a hurry for President Biden to take office, but they are just going to have to wait 4 years.

[abelenkpe]

9. Unplug this fellow from FOX news and right wing radio

And six months later he'd be a reasonable rational decent human being. It's the constant stream of hate and lies daily outrage that has made him mad.

[Walk away]

10. Yes, I have heard the same words. They are indoctrinated by Rush and Glenn

They actually think it's normal to threaten the life of the President. I have a rich client who said the exact same thing last year. Since then he has shown an interest in a mutual business. I had to tell him that I don't do business with extremists. He apologized and said he thought we had a lot in common if we sat down and talked about it. I explained that the things he was saying were against the law and I thought he had too many issues.
These folks are actually nuts.

[lbrtbell]

11. Yet these same 2 people would crucify Psy

For rapping violent words that he didn't even write.

Gotta love that Repuke hypocrisy!

[Terra Alta]

12. They hate him because of his skin color.

Especially the fact that he is biracial. People like that think people should stick with their own kind -- black with black, white with white, and so on.

I don't ever remember such hatred against a President before. Even when Clinton was President, Repukes didn't spew such hatred against him, although they were a tad obsessed with his sex life.

They hate Obama because he's a successful black man. That's it.

[GoCubsGo]

22. I remember it.

Who can forget Jesse Helms telling President Clinton that "He had better have a bodyguard whenever he visits here"? And, if you think ol' Mush Mouth was the only one spewing threats like that against Clinton, think again. That kind of talk was commonplace, especially here in the South. Instead of Dinesh Disouza's "2016", we had Jerry Falwell's "The Clinton Chronicles". Instead of birtherism, we had Whitewater. We had the FBI pawing through Hillary's underwear drawer looking for "evidence". We had John McCain and Rush Limbaugh mocking Chelsea's looks and calling her a "dog". We had nutters accusing Hillary of being a lesbian, a witch, a Satan-worshiper, you name it... The Clintons were accused of murdering everyone from their enemies to their friend, Vince Foster. And, it went on and on and on.

They may hate Obama because he's a successful black man. But, they hate him even more because he is a successful, well-liked Democrat who has been able to clean up their fuck ups--the same reason they hate the Clintons. They only hate Obama slightly more, and it's the black thing.

[gollygee]

14. I didn't like George W. Bush

But I never wanted any harm to come to him. I just wanted him to stop being president.

I think the Republican Party currently has a huge sense of entitlement. They don't care about Democracy - evidenced by how they tried to suppress the vote, but also by how they seem to think they're entitled to hold office or do what they want in spite of the American people. Rick Snyder's latest stunt in Michigan is more evidence of this.

I think entitlement, coupled with the racism others have mentioned, does this.

[demwing]

16. I often wished that Bush would ride the Segway more

And on bad days, I would think about him going hunting with Cheney.

[JHB]

18. I'll admit to symapathizing with the pretzels...

...'cause, really, pretzels?

[demwing]

21. He had to be stoned

cotton mouth + the munchies = pretzel choke

[democrattotheend]

19. Same here

As angry as I was and as much despair as I felt after 2004 I never wished ill on him. I make it a policy of not wishing illness or harm on anyone.

Agreed about the entitlement. Racism is definitely part of it, but it doesn't explain all of it.

One thing that makes me sad is how much sheer hatred of the president has developed on some of the blogs that I thought were on our side. It's one thing to be disappointed and I am all for holding his feet to the fire, but when I look at blogs like Americablog sometimes I have to check to make sure I am not on FreeRepublic. They call him "Barry" (I thought that was a right wing thing!), a snake oil salesman, and some of them are convinced that he is a demagogue plotting to murder the poor and put a Democratic face on it. It's sad how much irrational hatred exists on both sides.

[GoCubsGo]

23. I wanted him in jail.

I didn't want him dead, either. That would be getting off too easy. I would rather see him lose everything--just like many of us have, thanks to him and his ilk. I am still hoping I'll see him in an orange jump suit one of these days.

[JHB]

15. Who do you think voted for Rudy Guliani?

Read up on Il Duce-ani's campaign for mayor against Dinkins. Race was a big part of that, and the cops and firemen were centers of Rudy support.

[Renew Deal]

17. He wants to leave Biden in charge?

Obama is cautious and practical compared to Biden. Biden would be way too liberal for their taste.

[barbtries]

20. basically a racist thing.

so of course they would be republicans. just my opinion.