Right Wing Extremism

Talk Of Obama Impeachment Over Benghazi Tragedy: Republican Insanity!

Ronald 68 Comments

The Republican Party and the conservative movement have been out to get President Barack Obama from the day he took office, just as they were with President Bill Clinton.

The right wing was able to impeach Bill Clinton over his sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky, but was unable to remove him from office, even with a majority Republican Senate in 1999.

Now, the tragedy of the death of the ambassador and three support staff in Benghazi, Libya, is being conjured up to be a scandal on the level of Watergate under Richard Nixon, Iran Contra under Ronald Reagan, and the sex scandal under Clinton.

And Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, now a right wing talk show host gone mad, are suggesting that impeachment of Barack Obama is possible, a totally lunatic concept!

NOTHING about Benghazi is worthy of impeachment, and it would simply be another “lynch mob” as occurred with Bill Clinton, making a mockery of the impeachment provision of the Constitution, by utilizing it for the third time in 40 years, when only the Richard Nixon case was worthy of impeachment!

It would undermine the ability of the government to deal with the many domestic and foreign policy issues this nation faces, and be a waste of time and money, as even with an impeachment, which would stain the reputation of Obama permanently, as it did with Clinton, the reality is that NO WAY would a two thirds vote of the Senate be possible to remove the President from office, any more than it was with Bill Clinton!

It is an exercise in futility, unjustified, and clearly is just a political ploy that would reverberate on the Republican Party and the conservative movement, leading to just more political confrontation, and cause disgust among the American people!

The Lunatic Fringe Is Taking Over The Republican Party: Talk Of Armed Revolution Supported By 44 Percent Of Republicans In Poll

Ronald 15 Comments

Talk of an armed revolution being likely in the near future against the government of Barack Obama is really terrifying, as the lunatic fringe on Talk Radio, Fox News Channel, the Koch Brothers, the American Family Association, and other right wing groups, is building up the idea of such violence, and the Republican Party leadership, instead of condemning such lunacy, is actually encouraging it with their rhetoric and, often, complete silence. 44 percent in a recent poll of Republicans stated the belief in an armed revolution to preserve freedom in America!

How can a reputable political party stay silent in the face of such extremism, and expect normal, sane people to look at them in a respectable way?

The idea of bloodshed and violence has never been more likely, particularly with the issues of gun regulations, immigration, gay rights, and abortion rights all being hotly debated and promoting division.

It is ironic, though, that the talk of revolution comes from the South and the Great Plains and Mountain States, the areas with lots of land but few people, and the idea that the GOP would back secession and armed revolution, when that was what caused them to be born in the 1850s as an opposition to such extremism, is mind boggling!

There are more patriot and militia groups than at any time since the mid 1990s, and the concern about widespread bloodshed is very worrisome.

One wonders what will happen when Barack Obama leaves the Presidency in 2017, with the early likelihood of Hillary Clinton replacing him. Will that tone down the rhetoric, when one considers the right wing attacks against her when she was First Lady, and her husband was subjected to vicious character assassination?

A woman in the White House is unlikely to tone down the massive split that we see in our nation, and the likelihood of long term dangers to our national security from these right wing groups is at least as great as the threat from Muslim terrorism!

The Republican Party Crisis: Does It Have A Future, Or Is It To Go Into The Dustbin Of History?

Ronald 4 Comments

As we enter the year 2013 in two days, the long term future of the Republican Party as a legitimate long term alternative to the Democratic Party is in dire threat of disappearing into the dustbin of history!

The Republican Party lost the Presidential and Congressional Elections of 2012 in a sound repudiation, with Barack Obama soundly defeating Mitt Romney. The US Senate, with 23 of 33 seats up for election being Democratic seats, and expected to lose some seats, ended up winning 25 of the seats, gaining three seats and only losing Nebraska to the Republicans. The US House of Representatives, while remaining in Republican hands, saw a gain of ten House seats by the Democrats. If it was not for gerrymandering by many Republican state legislatures, the Democrats would have gained control, as they won more total votes nationally in House races than the Republicans.

So the GOP really was walloped, and yet the party seems unable to accept what happened, and have allowed themselves to be hijacked by extremist groups, including the Tea Party Movement, Americans For Tax Reform, right wing talk show hosts on radio and Fox News Channel, the National Rifle Association,The Koch Brothers and other millionaires and billionaires, right wing preachers, and anti immigrant nativists and anti women’s rights elements, therefore resisting the need to move back from the extreme right to the moderate center, where the party had many victories over the years as a more mainstream conservative alternative to the Democratic Party.

It is now a moment of reckoning, as the Republican Party is about to implode, as public opinion polls make clear that the party will be blamed if America goes off the “fiscal cliff”, and taxes go up on everyone, and ruthless spending cuts, which hurt the most needy and disadvantaged in our society, occur!

There is a possibility that the Republican Party will go into the dustbin of history, if they do not reform in time for the midterm elections of 2014, which could, ironically, lead to the demise of the party on its 160th anniversary, having been founded as a reform oriented party in 1854, replacing the Whig Party!

John Boehner and Mitch McConnell have a major burden to deal with as the New Year begins, and their own personal futures, as well as that of their party, is meeting the challenge of becoming what they once were, a mainstream centrist party that can appeal to the changing demographics of America, or be replaced by a modern day Whig Party, with statesmen and leaders on the model of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, and former Whigs who started the Republican Party, such as Abraham Lincoln!

The Dangers Of Islamophobia On American Life And The Future

Ronald 5 Comments

Islamophobia has multiplied due to irresponsible right wing talk shows hosts, politicians, and websites that are exploiting the murder of Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Libya.

Sadly, Mitt Romney is adding to this hysteria by refusing to make it clear that America cannot declare war on the Islamic world, with its more than one billion population. He needs to calm the hysteria, but instead is contributing to it!

It is right that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton denounce the anti Muslim video that has caused demonstrations in the Middle East, and led to massive riots. We as a nation are not responsible for the reckless, divisive, hateful actions of right wing nuts and Christian and Jewish zealots who preach undying antagonism toward the entire Islamic world.

The reality is that we MUST coexist in this world, as a modern day Crusade would destroy this planet that seven billion people occupy!

And if we are not careful, we will have massive violence in this nation against our Muslim population, and massive retaliation by people out to defend their faith and their culture. The Muslim population overwhelmingly has denounced what happened in Libya and Egypt, and are trying to go about their lives and be good American citizens.

Just because there are some radicals does not mean that all Muslims should be painted with the same brush. Leave it to the FBI and CIA to handle that problem, as they have done very well so far!

Indeed, we need to keep watch over our own religious extremists who are willing to be outrageous in their behavior in the name of freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and do not care how they divide this nation, and put it under stress and danger, and undermine our national security!

Confessions Of Dirty Deeds By Those On The Right Politically, But Cowardice By Many Republican Leaders!

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In the midst of obscene racism and misogyny and bashing of labor and gays by right wing extremists in the media and the Republican Party, every now and then, we get some who feel guilt and confess to their horrific work and ask to be forgiven.

Examples include Lee Atwater, who mastered the concept of the political smear for the campaign of George H. W. Bush in 1988 against Michael Dukakis, and later confessed and asked for forgiveness on his death bed, dying from cancer.

Another such case was David Brock who smeared Anita Hill in the Clarence Thomas controversy in 1991, and did other dirty deeds for right wing hate mongers including smearing Bill Clinton, but later confessed and works to expose Fox News Channel and others who distort and smear, through his leadership of Media Matters For America.

And a third is Ken Mehlman, former chairman of the George W. Bush re-election committee in 2004, who helped to promote an anti gay agenda that year, and yet is himself gay, and has now apologized for what he did eight years ago.

This kind of conservative dirty tactics, as practiced by Atwater, Brock, and Mehlman still is very widespread, so we find Republican leaders unwilling to condemn Rush Limbaugh, for his description of a college student, who testified for the right of women to have contraceptive coverage on health care plans sponsored by employers, as being a slut and prostitute, who should produce sex tapes for Rush and others to watch! Speaker of the House John Boehner, and Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have no ethics that allows them to openly condemn such outrages by Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and other propagandists.

At the same time, there are conservative commentators who are decent and principled enough to condemn these kinds of statements and actions, including David Frum, Kathleen Parker, and Chris Buckley.

What a disgrace, that there is no standard of decency past or present on the right, in the mad rush to condemn, besmirch, and smear those they oppose, rather than criticize based on issues and viewpoints alone!

What The Tim Pawlenty Endorsement Of Mitt Romney Means For The GOP Presidential Race

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Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, the first dropout of the Presidential face in the Republican Party, has endorsed former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for President, has agreed to be the national co-chair of his campaign, and will be at his side tonight as Romney participates in the fifth Republican Presidential debate in Tampa, Florida, which is sponsored by CNN and the Tea Party Express.

What does this mean?

1. It is the beginning of a concerted campaign to stop Texas Governor Rick Perry.
2. It is an attempt to draw the GOP toward the center of the political spectrum, away from right wing extremism.
3. It is an attempt to convince evangelical Christians and Tea Party activists, some of whom liked Pawlenty as a possible Presidential candidate, to come over to Romney.
4. It is an attempt to take away any possibility of Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann regaining support in Iowa,and elsewhere, as a fellow Minnesotan has firmly rejected her candidacy by endorsing Romney.
5. It is an attempt to weaken any hope of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman somehow overtaking Romney and becoming the alternative to Perry.
6. It is also a veiled attempt of Pawlenty to remain in contention for the Vice Presidential nomination on a Romney ticket, a position he came close to gaining with John McCain in 2008, before the Arizona Senator made the fateful decision to select Sarah Palin.

So this endorsement and involvement in the Romney campaign by Pawlenty means a lot more than is obvious on the surface!

We shall see how the Pawlenty strategy works out, but clearly the GOP establishment is terrified at the thought of Rick Perry being the Republican nominee against President Barack Obama, seeing disaster ahead!

The GOP Race Down To Four Candidates: Bachmann, Perry, Romney, Huntsman!

Ronald 1 Comment

So the 2012 Republican Presidential race is down to FOUR candidates in the real world: Establishment Republicans Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, both happening to be Mormons: and Tea Party Republicans Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, born evangelical Christians who promote combination of church and state and have followers who believe Mormons are a cult and not truly Christians!

What a mess the Republicans are in, and it should make Barack Obama feel very comforted after the rough times he has had lately with the Debt Ceiling debate, the lowering of the credit rating from Triple A to Double A Plus by Standard and Poor’s, and the stock market gyrations of the past week!

The Republican Party may boast that they are on the way to defeat of Barack Obama, but instead they are on the way to a bloodletting in the caucuses and primaries, with the Iowa caucus likely to be a battle between Perry and Bachmann, and the New Hampshire primary likely to be a battle between Romney and Huntsman. The South Carolina primary will likely be a battle between the survivor of Iowa and the winner in New Hampshire, and then Florida will play a major role, as the fourth largest state, in determining who the leading candidate will be.

But likely, the battle will go on into the other caucus and primary states and could drag out to June, and severely weaken the party, and strengthen Obama.

So forget Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich completely, and Tim Pawlenty has already bowed out ot the race!

And realize, after the bloodletting that will go on in the GOP, the only real hope that will exist for the Republicans to defeat Barack Obama will be IF they nominate either Romney or Huntsman, with the hope by Establishment Republicans that neither will have been fatally wounded during the caucuses and primaries!

If either Perry nor Bachmann end up as the nominee, the election will be a “cakewalk” for Barack Obama.

The upcoming battle can only benefit Barack Obama, as it demonstrates the right wing extremism prevalent in the Republican Party!

Newsmax, John Perry, And A Military Coup Against President Obama?

Ronald 1 Comment

Newsmax, a conservative publication, first published yesterday an article by John Perry, a right wing journalist, predicting a military coup against President Obama, and then quickly withdrew it.

In the article, Perry calls for a military takeover in which Obama would be kept as a ceremonial leader, but the “Marxist” tendencies of the President would be overcome, and the nation would be protected by a military sworn to defend the nation and save the country from a President seen as out of control and dangerous to the future of the nation, possibly destroying it as we know it before the next election in 2012.

This is just further proof of how the far right has gone amuck and endangers the nation and its elected President. Again, we are reaching a stage of “clear and present danger”, and the kind of hate and hysteria being promoted cannot be allowed to continue without a strong reaction by the Secret Service and the FBI.

Instead of the so called danger of a “Marxist” takeover, we are much more endangered by a truly Fascist seizure of power, more so than at any time in my lifetime, and it is truly terrifying!