FROM CROOKS & LIARS;
As the mounting weirdness that is emanating from right wingers continues to flow, an increasing amount of death threats follow.
Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In the President’s Secret Service.
Some threats to Mr Obama, whose Secret Service codename is Renegade, have been publicised, including an alleged plot by white supremacists in Tennessee late last year to rob a gun store, shoot 88 black people, decapitate another 14 and then assassinate the first black president in American history.
Most, however, are kept under wraps because the Secret Service fears that revealing details of them would only increase the number of copycat attempts. Although most threats are not credible, each one has to be investigated meticulously.
According to the book, intelligence officials received information that people associated with the Somalia-based Islamist group al-Shabaab might try to disrupt Mr Obama’s inauguration in January, when the Secret Service co-ordinated at least 40,000 agents and officers from some 94 police, military and security agencies.
Being black has definitely increased the number of nut jobs on the prowl, but because he’s in the Democratic party that number is much higher. And it’s only going to get worse from here. The violent rhetoric from talk radio and FOX News continues to throw gasoline on the fire.Remember Dr. Tiller?
I read an interesting article about the Secret Service a while back.
They have different levels of crazies that they track. If you make threats against the president’s life, you get put on the list. If the SS thinks the threat is serious enough, they come to visit you any time the president is in town. Sometimes they’ll take the nutballs to a movie while the president is speaking, and sometimes they’ll take them out for ice cream.
Let me guess, they are not watching “Clockwork Orange”
The violent rhetoric from talk radio and FOX News continues to throw gasoline on the fire. Remember Dr. Tiller?
~l3wis
I find this story disturbing. I have felt for a long time talk radio and 24/7 cable news has successfully spawned a divided and hateful country. Gets me to thinkin. I’ll direct this at you Sy. I know you hate Keith Olbermann, and put him in the same category as an anti-christ. I feel the same about hannity, about o’reilly, about beck, about lars larson, about limbaugh, about boortz, and numerous others, like our local spin-masters knobe and belfrige.
But when I watch Olbermann I get the sense he is only rooting out the truth. Do you feel the same way about the names I have put out?
Maybe I’m wrong – but I’m convinced the birthers, when they scream “he’s a Kenyan!” it’s code for “he’s a (n-word)”
I know you hate Keith Olbermann, and put him in the same category as an anti-christ. I feel the same about hannity, about o’reilly, about beck, about lars larson, about limbaugh, about boortz, and numerous others, like our local spin-masters knobe and belfrige.
Interestingly, O’Reilly tore into the birthers the other night about how stupid they are and how much damage they’re doing to the conservative movement.
Maybe I’m wrong – but I’m convinced the birthers, when they scream “he’s a Kenyan!†it’s code for “he’s a (n-word)â€
The whole thing sort of reminds me of Blazing Saddles when sheriff Bart is on his way to Rock Ridge.
“The sheriff is near!”
Did you see that poll that showed 58% of Republicans either believe Obama isn’t a US citizen or are unsure? Only 42% beleive he is an American citizen.
As much as the right is trying to distance themselves from the birthers, it seems it is a much larger percentage than they would like to admit. It just goes to show how out of touch those people are.
The left has their fair share of nutjobs too of course, but it doesn’t seem they are nearly as well organized and don’t have near the numbers that the birthers or teabaggers seem to have.
The left has their fair share of nutjobs too of course, but it doesn’t seem they are nearly as well organized and don’t have near the numbers that the birthers or teabaggers seem to have.
~Costner
They are well organized because they have all of talk radio, and with very limited exceptions, 24/7 cable news to stoke the fires of hate.
The GOP has a problem with “How do you turn the crayzeee down, when that’s about all you’ve got?”
Seriously. Palin brought them in droves and spoke conspiracy and invoked really violent shout outs. Ditto, until McCain finally got a clue that his rallies were more about mistrust and hate and feeding that instead of problem solving. Talk radio, Rush, Hannity, Glen Beck are all about turning up the crazy with no real rational approach to problem solving.
Eight years and the GOP has done nothing on health care and has no genuine plans to do so now. What they do offer would do nothing to help those who are hurting and all about enabling the vampires that are making a huge profit in denying medical coverage. Crazy is all they’ve got and feeding into racial hate, mistrust, and promoting one single religion in it’s extremes. Any GOP individual that would speak up and do the right thing and appeal for calm would be forced to apologize to Rush later on. It kills me that the Blue Dogs are basically cozying up to a dying brand.
I really do fear more violence and I have always feared for Obama and was scared much of the campaign. It’s the crazies that are also really all about the 2nd amendments and their rights to bear arms while also acting out with tag bags on their hats and disrupting town hall meetings. They are desperate and certifiable and feel justified in acting out because they are losing control. Clear, rational thought isn’t an option for them.
I’m all about the second amendment – probably more so than the NRA.
But I don’t think I’m crazy.
I’m also looking for a good pair of bear arms to mount on the wall next to the deer head.
“he’s a Kenyan!†it’s code for “he’s a (n-word)â€
I agree Randall, it has always been about race. Racism is stronger then ever in our country.
I agree. It has ALWAYS been about race.
The democratic party lost the south with the passage of the civil rights act of 1964.
Lyndon Johnson signed the civil rights act in 1964. This is what he told an aide after he signed that law.
“I fear we have lost the south for a generation.”
Take a look at this map as it changes colors, by county, from election year to election year. The civil rights act swung the south to the right thanks to the backlash of southern whites.
http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2004/
Jumping in late here, but all I can say is Wow, you all are some seriously gullible motherfuckers.
Did you ever hear of a chap named Saul Alinsky? Well our POTUS and crew sure have, and they paid particularly close attention to Rule #13:
“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
This snip sums it up nicely:
“He wasn’t kidding. In his handbook for community organizers, Rules for Radicals, he made it clear that the way to succeed is to demonize your opponent. Pick someone your followers can focus their anger upon and attack him without mercy.
Who would have ever thought that the White House would follow Saul Alinsky’s playbook?
Well … anyone paying attention to the candidates’ histories in the recent election, that’s who.
Again and again, Obama has made it clear that Alinsky is his inspiration. As community organizer during the late 1980s, he worked for Alinsky protege Jerry Kellman. (Alinsky himself was already dead). The Chicago Sun-Times reported in a 2007 article entitled “Ruthless for Obama” that his campaign had organized Alinsky-style boot camps for activists called “Camp Obama” at which young recruits were urged to be “‘absolutely ruthless'” for their candidate. Even NPR calls Alinsky “The Man Who Inspired Obama.” Why should anybody be surprised when the new administration acts like Alinsky?”
http://rightcoast.typepad.com/rightcoast/2009/03/saul-alinskys-white-house-and-rush-limbaughgail-heriot.html
Sure, this author is commenting on the Obama/Limbaugh dustup, but you saw the same technique employed on Palin, McCain, Bush, Talk Radio in general, anyone opposed to Obama’s policies.
Furthermore, I haven’t seen any books being written or movies made (and winning awards) on how to assasinate this POTUS like we saw with Bush. I don’t see a running joke being made on late night TV about Obama’s intelligence or speech patterns or whatever. I didn’t see anyone questioning Cindy Sheehan’s mental state, like they are doing with Obama protestors.
Hell, they could shut down the Birther’s in a second by simply producing the document. But they don’t, not because it doesn’t exist as the Birthers think, but because they want attention on the Birthers so they can continue to personalize & polarize them.
There aren’t any more crazies on the Left than the Right or vice versa. It’s just that the crazies on the Right are going to be amplified and painted to be much more of a force than they actually are, per Alinsky’s rules.
Oh..and no hatin’ from me toward Olberman or anyone else for that matter, I don’t know the man personally so there’s no way I can pass that level of judgement. I just think he’s a lying, bloviating POS.
Well, Sy, I don’t think Olbermann is a liar, but he does exaggerate and is enthusiastic. But You have to consider where he came from, former sports announcer.
Let me just say this for the record, any nutjob who threatens the POTUS should be dealt with as seriously as we can. I stand by what I posted above, but I also don’t wish any harm on the Obama’s and am proud of my country for electing them.
I do think we are seeing a strategy employed and I think it’s a damn slipperly slope we are on if the only way to debate is to paint your opponent as crazy.
Here’s some other interesting info from the aforementioned book:
Agents told Kessler that both Barack Obama — code-named Renegade — and wife Michelle — code-named Renaissance — treat them with respect, as does Vice President Joe Biden. Still, agents were shocked when Biden revealed the location of the “undisclosed location†— or safe house for the vice president and president. If they had done the same, they would have been fired.
Obama invited agents to dinner twice, including a party for relatives at his home, and the Bidens buy agents food.
Contrary to Obama’s repeated claims that he is quitting smoking, he has continued to smoke regularly, agents say. A week after being sworn in as president, Obama told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that he hadn’t had a cigarette on the White House grounds. That left open the possibility that he smokes on the Truman Balcony and in the White House residence and West Wing.
Agents say he smokes outside the White House as well.
Among the many other disclosures in Kessler’s book:
~George W. Bush’s daughters Barbara and Jenna gave their Secret Service details a hard time and would try to lose the agents assigned to them.
~To this day, agents, including Chuck Taylor, who was on the Kennedy detail the day JFK was assassinated, believe they could have saved the president’s life if they had been stationed on the back running boards of his car. But Kennedy told agents he didn’t want them to ride on the rear running boards.
~Lyndon Johnson would walk around naked in the presence of his daughters; his wife, Lady Bird; and female secretaries. He was quite well endowed in the testicles, so everyone started calling him bull nuts. He found out about that and was very disturbed.
~Johnson was angry when a guest was served rare roast beef on Air Force One, and threatened to send the two stewards to Vietnam if they ever served “raw” meat again.
~Agents say Richard Nixon was the strangest president they ever protected. He had no relationship with his wife and did not sleep with her. He also would walk on the beach wearing a blue suit and dress shoes. Even in the summer he would insist on having a fire burning in the fireplace.
~Gerald Ford’s code name was Passkey. He was considered very cheap. Caddies at a golf club in California usually receive $25 tips, but Ford gave a dollar, if anything at all.
~Ford was, indeed, a klutz. The day after he left office, he was driving an electric golf cart in Palm Springs, Calif., when he accidentally crashed into an electric panel hanging on the wall of a shack for golf carts.
~Agents considered Jimmy Carter sanctimonious and a phony. The former peanut farmer pretended to be one of the people but actually had little regard for the “little people,†agents say.
~Ronald Reagan was folksy, and agents loved him. But they feared Nancy Reagan, and many saw her as cold and calculating.
http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/obama_secret_service/2009/08/03/243461.html
Yes Sy, it is just the liberal media conspiracy machine hard at work to paint the right as a bunch of whackjobs who organize protests where they hang teabags from their hats or where there are growing organized movements to question the validity of the Obama Presidency. They are all in it together!
Good God man…you’re fucking delusional.
You claim there aren’t books or movies about Obama being assasinated? Yea – I can see how that is so disappointing for you considering he has been POTUS for a whopping seven months, especially since you had what… one fictional book written about Bush in such a manner? Yea…great comparison.
As to jokes being made on late night TV about Obama’s intelligence – you’re right on that one, because Obama isn’t a moron and doesn’t hack the English language, so it wouldn’t be very funny to attack him for doing so now would it.
On the other hand, they do often make jokes about his mom-pants or his ears or his style of speaking / diction or his seemingly inability to get upset about anything or anyone. Then again we continue to hear the right and talk radio and Fox News “make jokes” about teleprompters even when it has been shown he can do without it… so are you looking for a double standard here?
I never heard jokes about Bush being unfaithful or being a man-whore like I did with Clinton either – so is that a double standard? No it’s not… because Clinton earned those jokes by his reputation just as Bush earned the jokes about his speech and intelligence and just as Obama has earned his jokes about his diction and fashion sense (or lack thereof).
Then let’s move on to the mental state of Cindy Sheehan….are you kiding me? That woman was made a target by the right just as these birthers are a target of the left. The difference is with Sheehan it was an emotional plight of a dead son so that makes a harder to pick on her. That didn’t stop talk radio from calling her a nutjob fanatic however – so it happens.
Then you actually go on to say “they” could shut down the birthers by “producing the document” but clearly you haven’t been paying attention. I can spend 10 seconds on Google right now and see a certified copy of Obama’s birth certificate, but that isn’t good enough for the crackjob birthers because they find some other excuse and move the goal post.
Now I don’t know if there are more nutjobs on the right than they are on the left, but those on the right are sure as hell more organized. Name a group on the left that has been as “successful” as the teabaggers because I surely can’t name one.
Add to that the poll I referred to earlier showing 58% of Republicans aren’t sure if Obama was born in the US and you start to see a pattern which can only be described as the end of the GOP as we know it.
Frankly, and I have said this for a long time, I wish the true fiscal conservatives would break away from the Republican party and do their own thing… because then I could support them. However as long as nutjobs like the teabaggers continue to get airplay on talk radio and Fox News and as long as groups like the birthers continue to show how out of touch they really are, and until talk radio itself stops controlling the Republican party and people like Rush are treated as the de facto leader of the GOP….then the party is doomed.
Face it – younger generations are overwhelmingly liberal in comparison to the older generations, and because we are continuing to experience population growth at an exponential rate… I don’t see things improving much for the GOP with their obsolete vision and social conservatism.
Hell, they could shut down the Birther’s in a second by simply producing the document. But they don’t, not because it doesn’t exist as the Birthers think, but because they want attention on the Birthers so they can continue to personalize & polarize them.
Did you SEE the interview they had with that crazy lady who leads the ‘movement’?
All anyone ever needs to do to polarize that movement is let her talk.
If I was Obama, I’d snicker every time I heard the birthers get publicity. There would be no need for me to address them, because as long as they’re in the news, they make the opposition look bad – and they don’t need the help of any of my community organizer friends.
Costner:
“especially since you had what… one fictional book written about Bush in such a manner?”
Actually, it became a film that won at least one award at the Toronoto Film Festival.
“That woman was made a target by the right just as these birthers are a target of the left. ”
She was exploited by the Left during the Bush presidency until she turned on both parties, then she was discarded. She’s also been rather shameless in how she tried to turn her son’s sacrifice into a career, yet no one in the MSM has “followed the money” like the did with the Swift Boaters.
and CNN’s Pres. has officially told Lou Dobbs to back off, so I suppose you are right about the left targeting the birthers.
“but those on the right are sure as hell more organized. Name a group on the left that has been as “successful†as the teabaggers because I surely can’t name one.’
How about the Gold standard of Community Organizers = ACORN. Not only have they avoided any serious scrutiny by the MSM, they have been receiving millions in Federal money for their “efforts” both in the campaign and afterwards. They are even going to “help” with the Census, despite multiple illegal activities in several states. If you’ve never heard of them you just proved yourself a complete ignoramous, once again.
“people like Rush are treated as the de facto leader of the GOP….then the party is doomed.”
Newsflash, idiot: It was President Obama who targeted Rush, a private citizen, as the leader of the GOP and as someone who shouldn’t be listened to. Same thing Clinton whined about, but when the rubber hit the road, the takeover of Congress by the Republicans was the best thing that ever happened to Clinton, legislatively speaking, of course.
“Face it – younger generations are overwhelmingly liberal in comparison to the older generations”
That’s because they don’t understand they are the one’s who will be left to pay the tab. As they get older, have kids, get the career going, and maybe even start moving up in the world, people tend to move right as they begin to see more and more of what they make being extracted from them. The first time they move from getting a tax refund to paying in usually is when the light bulb goes on.
Unfortunately, our current batch of “leaders” is trying to make more and more people think they are getting something for nothing from the Govt., from cash for a new car to health care. And as long as they have lemmings like you doing the legwork they’ll get away with it.
Newsflash, idiot: It was President Obama who targeted Rush, a private citizen, as the leader of the GOP and as someone who shouldn’t be listened to. Same thing Clinton whined about, but when the rubber hit the road, the takeover of Congress by the Republicans was the best thing that ever happened to Clinton, legislatively speaking, of course.
And how did those presidential insults effect Rush?
Oh yeah, his audience got bigger.
“How about the Gold standard of Community Organizers = ACORN.”
And the last time you saw an effort that involved public protests or whackjob accusations from ACORN was when exactly?
I know trying to paint ACORN as pure evil is a favorite tactic of your fearless leader Rush, but believe it or not they have actually done some good things like getting people out to vote and holding voter registration drives. Aside from this past campaign, nobody heard much from them however – because they don’t go on national television with batshit crazy accusations, and they don’t tell people to hang ACORNS from their hats or rearview mirrors in some type of insane silent protest, and they don’t organize rallies across the US to protest policies of one specific political party that just happen to match the policies of the other political party.
So remind me again how this was a relavent comparison?
“Newsflash, idiot: It was President Obama who targeted Rush, a private citizen, as the leader of the GOP and as someone who shouldn’t be listened to.”
Ummmm – no, you are again incorrect. The GOP has made it clear Rush is essentially the face and voice of their party. Just look what happened when Michael Steele tried to back away from that… he was put in his place and had to apologize for it.
If the GOP doesn’t want people to see Rush as their spearhead, all they need to do is come out and say he isn’t. When has that happened exactly? Hell they ask him to speak at their events and they willingly come on to his show to discuss the evils of the Democratic party and Obama.
If we aren’t expected to beleive Rush is a leader if not THE leader of the GOP… then the GOP has nobody to blame for that perception but themselves.
Not that I would expect one of Rush’s followers to be able to think critically however.
Oh, so as long as ACORN is being stealthy in their illegal and unethical activities, it’s all good with you then?
Jesus, you are a fuckin’ hypocrite:
“On Monday, Nevada officials charged Acorn, its regional director and its Las Vegas field director with submitting thousands of fraudulent voter registration forms last year. Larry Lomax, the registrar of voters in Las Vegas, says he believes 48% of Acorn’s forms “are clearly fraudulent.” On Thursday, prosecutors in Pittsburgh, Pa., also charged seven Acorn employees with filing hundreds of fraudulent voter registrations before last year’s general election.
Acorn spokesman Scott Levenson calls the Nevada criminal complaint “political grandstanding” and says that any problems were the actions of an unnamed “bad employee.” But Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada’s Democratic Attorney General, told the Las Vegas Sun that Acorn itself is named in the criminal complaint. She says that Acorn’s training manuals “clearly detail, condone and . . . require illegal acts,” such as requiring its workers to meet strict voter-registration targets to keep their jobs.
Other Democrats on the ground have complaints. Fred Voight, deputy election commissioner in Philadelphia, protested after Acorn (according to the registrar of voters and his own investigation) submitted at least 1,500 fraudulent registrations last fall. “This has been going on for a number of years,” he told CNN in October. St. Louis Democrat Matthew Potter, the city’s deputy elections director, had similar complaints.
Elsewhere, Washington state prosecutors fined Acorn $25,000 after several employees were convicted of voter registration fraud in 2007. The group signed a consent decree with King County (Seattle), requiring it to beef up its oversight or face criminal prosecution. In the 2008 election, Acorn’s practices led to investigations, some ongoing, in 14 other states.”
and:
The stink is bad enough that some congressional Democrats have taken notice. At a March 19 hearing on election problems, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, pressed New York Rep. Gerald Nadler, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, to hold a hearing on Acorn. He called the charges against it “serious.” Mr. Nadler agreed to consider the request.
Mr. Nadler’s office now says there will be no hearing on Acorn because Mr. Conyers has changed his mind. Mr. Conyers’s office released a statement on Monday saying that after reviewing “the complaints against Acorn, I have concluded that a hearing on this matter appears unwarranted at this time.” A Democratic staffer told me he believes the House leadership put pressure on Mr. Conyers to back down. Mr. Conyers’s office says it is “unaware” of any contacts with House leaders.
Then there’s Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Last month, he voted for a committee amendment (to the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act) by Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R., Minn.) to block groups indicted for voter fraud from receiving federal housing or legal assistance grants. Identical language was passed into law in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Mr. Frank now says he “had not read [the amendment] carefully” before backing it. He gutted the amendment on Thursday, claiming that the language Congress passed just last year is “a violation of the basic principles of due process.”
A lot of money is at stake. In the stimulus bill passed by Congress, Acorn is eligible — along with other activist groups — to apply for $2 billion in funds to redevelop abandoned and foreclosed homes. Meanwhile, public records show that last spring the IRS filed three tax liens totaling almost $1 million against Acorn, most of which concerned employee withholding.
All of this infuriates Marcel Reid, who, along with seven other national Acorn board members, was removed last year after demanding an audit of the group’s books. “Acorn has been hijacked by a power-hungry clique that has its own political and personal agendas,” she told me. “We are fighting to take back the group.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124182750646102435.html
Sigh: Oh, so as long as ACORN is being stealthy in their illegal and unethical activities, it’s all good with you then?
Nice red herring Sigh, but where they hell did I say that exactly? I said they did a lot of good (and I still stand by that), but I neer said they should be able to get away with cheating the system.
If ACORN does something unethical or illegal then you’re damn right they should be held accountable and/or prosecuted.
That being said, both you and I know that most of the accusations of voter fraud all boil down to individuals who likely were paid based upon volume, and who abused the system in order to pad their paychecks. We see it during every election from voter drive firms all across the board.
Accusations and investigations are just fine… but it seems rare that those types of investigations lead to anything other than a small group of people who took matters into their own greedy hands.
But hey – if we can paint ACORN as just one big bad apple why not huh?
Not that this has anything to do with the topic at hand however. You still can’t compare the batshit crazy teabaggers or the birthers or the swiftboaters with ACORN….because I don’t recall ever seeing ACORN organize a movement that appears as it is one short step away from a lynch-mob.
So your diversion aside – what exactly was your point again? Did you even have one?
Costner:
“Name a group on the left that has been as “successful†as the teabaggers because I surely can’t name one.”
You asked, I replied. You even cited their successes and glossed over any negatives. Then you pretend like I’m trying to divert.
But, hey you went a whole post without mentioning Rush nor attacking me or my family personally.
Nice baby step.
Again – I have no idea who you or your family is, so if you take this shit personally that is your problem not mine.
And my quote about a group being as “successful” was obviously in reference to a group which has staged nationwide protests and considers their movement to be as important as one of our nation’s most pivotal days. A group which has received massive unparalleled media coverage from both the left and the right including talk radio. A group which continues to be discussed on a daily basis and one which from some accounts is actually gaining members daily.
If you think ACORN is even remotely close to the same level then I’m afraid we will have to agree to disagree.
And about attacking you personally? Are you serious Sigh? Have you bothered to actually read your last few posts? You’re surrounded by glass on all sides and you think it is a good idea to fire off a slingshot. Brilliant.
Stay classy buddy.