Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Will Conservative Republicans Continue To Defend Right-Wing Extremists?



FOX reporter admits viewers' extremism
scares him (June 10th)



FOX Reporter: Maybe we were wrong to
attack DHS extremism report


The [Republican] right went bonkers
over the DHS report.



From CNN two months ago
That Department of Homeland Security Report on right-wing extremism, heavily criticized by right-wing conservatives when it was released in April, warned precisely of the type of violence that occurred at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. on Wednesday and Dr. Tiller's abortion clinic just last week.

A wide swath of conservative Republican voices -- from Rush Limbaugh to RNC Chairman Michael Steele -- lashed out at the DHS Secretary over what they deemed an anti-Republican report. [They apparently identify with the right-wing extremists described in the report.]

When the DHS report was initially released, House Minority Leader John Boehner defended the right-wing extremists described in the report. Do Collin County's U.S. House representatives Sam Johnson and Ralph Hall support Boehner's defense of right-wing extremists? When the DHS report was initially released, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell defended the right-wing extremists described in the report. Do Texas' Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison support McConnell's defense of right-wing extremists? Texas Gov. Rick Perry courted right-wing extremists when he "suggested" that Texas might need to succeed from the union over President Obama's oppressive socialist leadership. Will Gov. Perry condemn right-wing extremists who promote hate talk and violence? (Media Matters quotes a number of top Republicans defending the right-wing extremists describe in the DHS report.)

If our elected Republican representatives will not repudiate and condemn not only the many acts of violence committed by right-wing extremists in the last several months, but also the extremist rhetoric from mainstream Republican media figures and congressional leaders that prompted those violent acts, how can the good every day Republicans living in Collin Co. continue to re-elect these people to office?


HuffingtonPost: When the 10-page DHS memorandum was made public its warnings [,about events such as the Holocaust Museum shootings and the the shooting of Dr. Tiller last week,] were widely criticized by main-stream conservatives.

It's been several months now since that DHS report was issues and, sadly, the study is proving increasingly prescient. In addition to the Von Brunn shootings, there has been the killing of abortion provider George Tiller, another type of ideologically-driven killing that the DHS report warned against.

"Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely," the DHS report read. "It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."
So Now They Want a Revolution? from BurntOrangeReport.com a couple of months ago:
Lately we have been hearing a lot of squawking and screeching emanating from the conservative right wing about a revolution.

This is rather perplexing given that we recently had an election in which the elected President won rather substantially. . .

. . .And despite all of the problems we face in these dire and stressful times the President's approval ratings remain in the 60's. Today it is at 67%. Today an ABC/Washington Post poll also reveals 65% trust President Obama to handle relations with Muslim nations. So, what is the problem? Why is a revolution necessary now?

In an editorial in the The New York Times (4/03/09) Charles Blow expressed his concern for conservative hate talk. Blow asserts conservative chatter and hate talk is far from harmless.
"Lately I've been consuming as much conservative media as possible (interspersed with shots of Pepto-Bismol) to get a better sense of the mind and mood of the right.

My read: They're apocalyptic. They feel isolated, angry, betrayed and besieged. And some of their "leaders" seem to be trying to mold them into militias." [reminiscent of the 1930's era German-American Bundist Movement fostered by Hitler's Nazi Germany]
Mr. Blow said he was initially amused by the twisted logic, garbled and veiled hate speech. After spending substantial time listening to conservative media, however, Mr. Blow changed his tune. He realized all is not harmless talk.
But, it's not all just harmless talk. For some, their disaffection has hardened into something more dark and dangerous. They're talking about a revolution.
Mr. Blow's article certainly gave me pause because I too had the tendency to dismiss the ravings of the right wing as just that. The events of this past week should certainly make us rethink some of our impressions of right wing hate talk.
Read the rest of the story at burntorangereport.com.
And then read Fearmongering at the DailyKos

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