Some time ago I mentioned that there would be an OpEd piece in the New York Times in a couple of days relating recent astroturfing and teabagging activities to a broader, more historical context. Well, the OpEd is out, and as expected, it is quite good.
The Guns of August
By Frank Rich
"IT is time to water the tree of liberty" said the sign carried by a gun-toting protester milling outside President Obama's town-hall meeting in New Hampshire two weeks ago. The Thomas Jefferson quote that inspired this message, of course, said nothing about water: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." That's the beauty of a gun -- you don't have to spell out the "blood."
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I was hoping the iconic "Kennedy moment" of my generation was going to be something spectacular and not something like, well, THE Kennedy moment.
This line got me (emphasis mine):
That's the scariest part, for me. Being a person who follows facts and evidence to logical conclusions tends to make us think that others should do the same. What do we do when we're up against the irrational and the unreasonable?
As an atheist, I'm often up against those things to a certain degree. I can vouch for the idea that it's impossible to reason with some people. It's scary when those "some people" are out there in rather large numbers, and they're well armed, and they're making very thinly veiled (if that) threats of violence.
You know who's missing from the sideshow? John "Two-Face" McCain. Even during his campaign he was pretty weak in addressing the loonies. He ought to be out there swinging the bat and knocking the loonies down, but nooo - the GOP loves the stupid and rabid; they seem to think it's what they need to win the next election. Fancy that, politicians who encourage stupidity and lunacy. Yeah, I'll vote for 'em.
Oh come on MadScientist. For all of McCain's faults, he did tell the people at his rallies that Obama is not some radical evil arab muslim (of course he did it in a way that any normal arab muslim would find offensive but that's pretty much the norm). Off the top of my head I can remember only one republican congressman who stood up in these townhall meetings against the loons. If you wanted to look for people who encourage the loonies in the republican party McCain is pretty much the last one you should pick. The guy is a bit of an idiot, and inconsistent, but he does occasionally do the right thing.