Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right (Krugman)

[somone]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/opinion/10krugman.html

Climate of Hate
By PAUL KRUGMAN

... in April 2009 a report warned that right-wing extremism was on the rise, with a growing potential for violence. Conservatives denounced that report. But there has, in fact, been a rising tide of threats and vandalism aimed at elected officials, including both Judge John Roll and Representative Gabrielle Giffords. One of these days, someone was bound to take it to the next level. And now someone has. It’s true that the shooter in Arizona appears to have been mentally troubled. But that doesn’t mean that his act can or should be treated as an isolated event, having nothing to do with the national climate. Last spring Politico.com reported on a surge in threats against members of Congress, which were already up by 300 percent. A number of the people making those threats had a history of mental illness — but something about the current state of America has been causing far more disturbed people than before to act out their illness by threatening, or actually engaging in, political violence...

It’s important to be clear here about the nature of our sickness. It’s not a general lack of “civility,” the favorite term of pundits who want to wish away fundamental policy disagreements. Politeness may be a virtue, but there’s a big difference between bad manners and calls, explicit or implicit, for violence; insults aren’t the same as incitement. The point is that there’s room in a democracy for people who ridicule and denounce those who disagree with them; there isn’t any place for eliminationist rhetoric, for suggestions that those on the other side of a debate must be removed from that debate by whatever means necessary. And it’s the saturation of our political discourse — and especially our airwaves — with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence.

Where’s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P. And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.

Of course, the likes of Mr. Beck and Mr. O’Reilly are responding to popular demand. Citizens of other democracies may marvel at the American psyche, at the way efforts by mildly liberal presidents to expand health coverage are met with cries of tyranny and talk of armed resistance. Still, that’s what happens whenever a Democrat occupies the White House, and there’s a market for anyone willing to stoke that anger. But even if hate is what many want to hear, that doesn’t excuse those who pander to that desire. They should be shunned by all decent people. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been happening: the purveyors of hate have been treated with respect, even deference, by the G.O.P. establishment. As David Frum, the former Bush speechwriter, has put it, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we’re discovering we work for Fox.”...

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[robdogbucky]

2. Quotes of repubs about that DHS report.....

At the time, conservatives used the report to launch attacks on President Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. Michael Steele, for example, said the DHS was trying to "segment out Americans who dissent from this administration." A few of the other criticisms included:

Rep. Bachmann: "To me, it looks like the extremists are those running the DHS."

Rep. Burgess: "I don't know that the secretary understands the depth of the disruption that she's caused...I think the appropriate thing to do is for her to step down and let's move on."

Rep. Boehner: "The report that came out of DHS was offensive, and unfortunately, Secretary Napolitano still has a lot of explaining to do."

Rep. Peter King: " has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police. If they sent out a report saying that, there would be hell to pay."

Sen. Ensign: "...this report raised some serious red flags about the mission of the Department of Homeland Security."

Sen. Inhofe: "I believe this report to be very offensive to many Americans."

Newt Gingrich: "The person who drafted the outrageous homeland security memo smearing veterans and conservatives should be fired."

Source: NBC 4


And I wonder what each will say now about their own words?


"...I know you rub-a-dubba-dubba,
Mama, bust them suds
(Scrub, Mama scrub)
Again you rub-a-dubba-dubba,
Mama, bust them suds
(Scrub, Mama scrub)..."

Wash, Mama, Wash by:
Dr. John The Night Tripper




Hands off my Social Security!
Hands off Latin America!



rdb

[AspenRose]

3. K and f*in R

YES.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Shandris]

6. Message deleted by poster

He got removed, so I took my post down.

[AspenRose]

5. Is there any way to get the article without logging in?

[robdogbucky]

7. Of course there is, try Google like I did....

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/opinion/10krugman.html?_r=1&ref=columnists


"When you heard the terrible news from Arizona, were you completely surprised? Or were you, at some level, expecting something like this atrocity to happen?

Put me in the latter category. I’ve had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach ever since the final stages of the 2008campaign. I remembered the upsurge in political hatred after Bill Clinton’s election in 1992 — an upsurge that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing. And you could see, just by watching the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies, that it was ready to happen again. The Department of Homeland Security reached the same conclusion: in April 2009 an internal report warned that right-wing extremism was on the rise, with a growing potential for violence.

Conservatives denounced that report. But there has, in fact, been a rising tide of threats and vandalism aimed at elected officials, including both Judge John Roll, who was killed Saturday, and Representative Gabrielle Giffords. One of these days, someone was bound to take it to the next level. And now someone has.

It’s true that the shooter in Arizona appears to have been mentally troubled. But that doesn’t mean that his act can or should be treated as an isolated event, having nothing to do with the national climate..."


Etc., Etc., Etc.


Will the Repubs own their own words now?



At the time, conservatives used the report to launch attacks on President Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. Michael Steele, for example, said the DHS was trying to "segment out Americans who dissent from this administration." A few of the other criticisms included:

Rep. Bachmann: "To me, it looks like the extremists are those running the DHS."

Rep. Burgess: "I don't know that the secretary understands the depth of the disruption that she's caused...I think the appropriate thing to do is for her to step down and let's move on."

Rep. Boehner: "The report that came out of DHS was offensive, and unfortunately, Secretary Napolitano still has a lot of explaining to do."

Rep. Peter King: " has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police. If they sent out a report saying that, there would be hell to pay."

Sen. Ensign: "...this report raised some serious red flags about the mission of the Department of Homeland Security."

Sen. Inhofe: "I believe this report to be very offensive to many Americans."

Newt Gingrich: "The person who drafted the outrageous homeland security memo smearing veterans and conservatives should be fired."

Source: NBC 4


Google can be your friend. It can be their friend also.




Hands off my Social Security!
Hands off Latin America!


Just my dos centavos


robdogbucky

[LoZoccolo]

9. If you click on it from Google News you can.

http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=climate+of+hate

[AspenRose]

10. Thank you

I've shared with my FB friends

[hedgehog]

8. +1

[cyberpj]

11. kick

-