Violent revolution: it’s what’s on the table

Another perfectly sane and rational GOP candidate has surfaced, and while he doesn’t appear to be directly advocating for the violent overthrow of the government, he considers the possibility “on the table”:

Texas GOP congressional candidate Stephen Broden has found himself in the spotlight after suggesting that the government may well need to be overthrown. In an interview this week, Broden was asked if he was actually calling for violence against the government when he told a crowd of Tea Party supporters last year that the “tyrannical” Obama administration might justify a “revolution.” If any government destroys our liberty, Broden replied, “we have a right… to get rid of it by any means necessary.”

You have to wonder if these people were the guinea pigs in some foul secret experiment that subjected them to a lobotomizing process and erased All Memory prior to January 2009.

The Obama administration is way far from perfect, but where were the baggers when George W was pissing all over their liberty and crapping on their beloved Constitution with disgusting policies like the suspension of civil liberties, invasion of privacy, outrageously broad expansion of Executive power, renditioning, torture, etc.?  (Initiatives that for the most part Obama has yet to rescind, I might add.)  Dick “Deficits Don’t Matter” Cheney shows up at a CPAC shindig packed to the rafters with teabagging fools and instead of being greeted with a volley of rotten tomatoes (and maybe some shoes), he’s received like a homecoming hero.  What is wrong with these people??

But I digress.  Which in itself just goes to show you how far down Bad Craziness Boulevard right-wing America has careened, that a candidate can casually talk up violent overthrow of government and it’s become so commonplace that it’s hardly worth the effort of a blog post.  Yeah yeah, violent revolution, 2nd amendment remedies, I’ll take you out, whatever.

 

Rachel and the Teabagger

Last night, Rachel Maddow interviewed GOP-teabagger congressional candidate Art Robinson, who’s running against 12-term Democratic Congressman Pete DeFazio.  There were several issues up for discussion, one being the fact that Robinson’s campaign has had $150,000 dumped into it by Persons Unknown, and some truly nutty things he’s said in the past.  Perfectly legit interview fodder, right?  Haha.    Engage VERBAL CAPS LOCK:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Okay, stop grinding your teeth, it’s bad for you.

Now picture about 10 or 20 of those in the US Congress.   Where they, you know, make decisions about things.  Things that affect real people, not imaginary aliens from the Planet Mongo.  Hey, don’t laugh: supposedly 35% of the electorate supports this whackadoo, who in spite of his claims to be a “scientist”, is anything but.  In any sane universe, that is terrifying.

Apart from that, you have to admire Rachel’s restraint.  My question for Mr. Robinson would have been:  “Do the words ‘Shut your fucking mouth’ mean anything to you???’“

UPDATE: I watched this video again, and it occurred to me that this interview is such a perfect metaphor for the generational evolution that’s going on in politics and society right now… and not just in the States, but everywhere.  A lot of angry old people confronting their younger successors, and rather than working with them, being bitter and twisted that they are no longer calling the shots.

Who could have seen this coming?

Seriously, who ever would have imagined that a guy charged with stockpiling weapons because he feared an “imminent Armageddon” would turn out to be a teabagger?:

The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent “Armageddon” appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a “righteous ‘Mission from God,'” as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society.

As we reported yesterday, Gregory Girard, a Manchester technology consultant, was found with a stash of military grade weapons, explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters, camouflage clothing, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, and night vision goggles, say police. They believe Girard, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, was “preparing for domestic and political turmoil,” and feared martial law would soon be imposed.

Girard’s wife said her husband had recently told her: “Don’t talk to people, shoot them instead,” and “it’s fine to shoot people in the head because traitors deserve it.”

And you know who these people are talking about when they say “traitors”.

Keep whippin’ them into a frenzy, Sarah.   If you want to make a $100,000 omelet,  I guess you have to break a few eggs.

Breaking: teabaggers are whacko

Canada was represented at the Teabaggers Convention in Nashville on the weekend by the National Post’s Jonathan Kay, that’s right, Jonathan Kay, our very own, among the Teabaggers, right in the belly of the beast.  And according to an article he wrote about the experience for Newsweek — titled “Black Helicopters over Nashville” — he was less than impressed with what he saw there:

[…]  After I spent the weekend at the Tea Party National Convention in Nashville, Tenn., it has become clear to me that the movement is dominated by people whose vision of the government is conspiratorial and dangerously detached from reality. It’s more John Birch than John Adams.  […]

I consider myself a conservative and arrived at this conference as a paid-up, rank-and-file attendee, not one of the bemused New York Times types with a media pass. But I also happen to be writing a book for HarperCollins that focuses on 9/11 conspiracy theories, so I have a pretty good idea where the various screws and nuts can be found in the great toolbox of American political life.

Within a few hours in Nashville, I could tell that what I was hearing wasn’t just random rhetorical mortar fire being launched at Obama and his political allies: the salvos followed the established script of New World Order conspiracy theories, which have suffused the dubious right-wing fringes of American politics since the days of the John Birch Society.

A somewhat dismayed-sounding Kay goes on to describe the baggers’ bizarre beliefs and conspiracy theories and the extent to which their worldview is driven by such bad craziness — well, who would have seen it coming, that they’re more than just a bunch of concerned citizens worried about higher taxes? He ends on an apprehensive note:

That doesn’t say much for the state of the right in America. The tea partiers’ tricornered hat is supposed to be a symbol of patriotism and constitutional first principles. But when you take a closer look, all you find is a helmet made of tin foil.

Kay was clearly a little taken aback by the magnitude of feverish madness he encountered at the Teabaggers Bash, where conservatism is a lot more Farah than Frum.  Unfortunately the Brotherhood of the Bag mandates that the Frums (and likely the Kays) of the world are flaming liberals unworthy of the label “conservative” who need to be driven from their midst with pitchforks and torches.   As a Canadian conservative — the equivalent of an American Democrat — Kay can’t be blamed for feeling as if he’d entered some kind of weird and scary alternate reality.

UPDATE: Kay also wrote about this little shindig in the NatPo, where he observed:

The smug left-wing take on the Tea Party movement is that its members are nothing but shell-shocked racists. (In the words of Janeane Garofalo: “It’s not about taxes. They have no idea what the Boston Tea Party was about. They don’t know their history at all. It’s about hating a black man in the White House.”) I saw no evidence of that sort of bigotry in Nashville.

Apparently he missed Tom Tancredo pining for the days of “Literacy Tests” and the crowd enthusiastically cheering the idea.  Can’t be everywhere at once, I guess.

But but but… Carter!

When we left wingnut website “Newsmax” last week, John L. Perry was  calling for a military coup to “resolve the Obama problem“.  It took “several” complaints before the bright lights at Newsmax recognized this for the bad craziness that it was, and pulled the article.  The page 404’d for awhile, then was replaced with this:

I get it: so the fuckwit who wrote the treasonous travesty is a liberal, is that the story?  Is that what they’re trying to suggest?   Okay, now for a little background on this guy — check out this little song he wrote about Obama 5 years ago:

Already you can hear rappers ranting out best-seller CDs without once repeating themselves:

“Obama, Boama, Amabo, Maboa.

“Oamba, Bamoa, Abamo, Maoba.

“Oabam, Baoma, Amoba, Moaba.

“Obaam, Bamao, Aobma, Mboaa.

“Obmaa, Bomaa, Aobam, Maaob.”

Captures the very heart and soul of America, doesn’t it?.

Everybody Sing Now

“We’re Barack Obama bound!

“There’ll be no heebie-jeebies hanging ’round.

“All aboard Barack’s Express!”

AF-LAC!

Who let that duck in?

Never mind the duck, who let the friggin KKK in?  Liberal, right.  Nice try, Newsmax.

Finally…

That explains why those deranged “Values Voters” held their little shindig this weekend… they wanted to squeeze in one last wankfest before the Holy Hoover vacuums them up into Heaven.

I got dibs on my fundie neighbour’s (“God wants me to have this car”) Maserati.