“What is happening to America?” I ask myself while reading newspapers and scanning the intertubes from my sick bed where Canada’s national health plan is treating me at no cost, without any waiting times and without making me go before a death panel.
A crazy Kansas Congresswoman - a Republican, naturally, and she's not even Michelle Bachman - says her party is looking for a "great white hope."
In Virginia, a man wearing an Obama T-shirt at a town hall meeting is punched in the face without provocation by another man wearing an anti-abortion T-shirt.
Only days after Sen. Chuck Grassley tells an Iowa rally they should fear that health care reform will let the government “pull the plug on Grandma,” Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele is on the Today Show insisting “no elected Republican official has used scare tactics to frighten constituents into opposing the measure. I haven't."
Meanwhile, on the same day, the RNC sends out an e-mail over Steele’s name and signature claiming health care reform is really an attempt to deny Republicans health care.
A man who tells a town hall meeting he is a "proud right wing terrorist" is applauded by the Republican Congressman holding the event instead of reporting the self-proclaimed terrorist to Homeland Security which is what Bush and Cheney did to nearly everyone who objected to their war of lies.
The lunatic lout who toted a semi-automatic weapon to an Obama rally in Arizona belongs to a church where, the previous Sunday, the pastor prayed for the death of the president, hoping "worms consume his soul."
The same fundamentalist Christian group that targeted the last abortion doctor to be killed - in his church, no less - has set its sights on another physician, including putting details of his home and phone, family photos and a map to his clinic on the web.
In a similar act of Christian charity, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops is now against healthcare reform because it includes end-of-life counselling.
After Sarah Palin posts a condolence note about Ted Kennedy on her Facebook page, many of her "friends" leave comments such as "good riddance to bad rubbish," "Now, if we can only get Pelosi and Reid to join him" and "It's about time."
And all of this is in just the last few days.
Meanwhile, to my knowledge, only one elected Republican official has called for this to stop. I guess crazy is a pre-existing condition, as Paul Krugman notes in his blog.
Nothing good will come of this. And I am beginning to suspect that the United States is no country for an ailing old man like me, anymore.
Tom Degan
1958-2023
To all Tom’s faithful readers of the Rant, we are sad to announce that he
passed away on December 7th, 2023. Thank you so much for th...
6 comments:
You have hit the nail on the head.
My humble prediction is that a civil war (basically a "class" war is not far off). If the 2010 and 2012 elections give the Obamans a super majority in both houses and a re-election of the President - the loonies will start something within 60 days.
But the extent to which the uneducated, uncompassionate, and uncaring masses embrace hatred, fear and blind obediance to a fantasy and fairy tales, is truly scary.
I'd be more than a little concerned too....
I agree with your points but the lady is from Kansas, not Nebraska.
Thanks MacG ... I made the correction.
america? has become the poster child for rudeness,ignorance, hatred. disrespect, in your face attitude and negations of facts, ethnocentrism, racism..and and an under-educated class that has no clue of how the world functions, how government really functions the good and bad of it,and confuse capitalism with democracy. they are in denial of truth, are unable to be introspective..and believe the dogma of the american dream which is now a diffusive tactic to stop any embarrassing accusations from taking root..there are over one million americans who have left america..who are insulted and demeaned..for what? seeking a better and different life..the answer from the uninformed is then why are you here? the answer is many are planning to live elsewhere, the ignorance of the masses is the saving grace of those who know better. heads up people americans can think all they want that they are gods..thinking is one thing being it is another..every country has a right to patriotism and the right to defend their birthplace..why is this difficult to grasp? because the lies of a hegemonic society havea taken deep roots. the mantra here is clone a product,service, belief or thought and market it.so anything goes.
that is what is happening in america.
Senator John McCain has been quite vocal in his defense of Senator Kennedy as well as President Barak Obama. In as much as I do not like Senator McCain's ideologies, one must give him credit for keeping the personal attacks and nonsensical rhetoric out of the mix. Senator McCain has consistently been this way and I have the utmost respect for him, as should we all.
And to Charley, thank you for the post. I have been personally insulted by the far right wing funded commercials depicting Canada's health care system and nothing short of third world grade.
Yet we have a longer life expectancy, lower infant mortality rate and higher satisfaction rate than our American neighbours. We must be doing something right.
I do find it amusing, however, that the right wing wants people to trust insurance companies over government. Insurance companies are the most incredibly grotesque example of service and loophole digging I have ever witnessed. The idea that my life would be in the hands of a company that exists solely to make profit and who hires people whose compensation is based on finding ways to deny claims, would be incredibly horrifying.
Both Krugman and Perlstein got it right. The danger is not in the individual displays of lunacy. Those folks have always been and always will be out there. Reverend Wright, Obama's pastor, was quoted saying call sort of crazy things in much the same way as you quote the pastor in Arizona. The real danger is when institutional actors lend them a sense of legitimacy. Obama distanced himself from Reverend Wright. That is the responsible thing for our political leaders to do. Letting this type of behavior stand unrefuted by the institutions on the right is the crime. This post was very timely as I just just posted an essay on the same topic on my own blog rudysriffs.blogspot.com. Check it out.
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