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Will We See Violence In 2008?
AngelHedgie
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Registered User regular
It's a pretty scary thought - could the election of a Democratic president provoke violence from the extreme right wing? While it may seem like it is a far fetched scenario. when one looks at the rhetoric from the extreme right, as well as the number of troubled vets coming back, and the right wing's penchant for embracing the "stab in the back" theory as a cover for their failed policies, and it becomes a scarily real possibility.
David Neiwart, a journalist who has done research into these extremist groups, has a well thought out look at this issue.
David Neiwart, a journalist who has done research into these extremist groups, has a well thought out look at this issue.
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Not to mention that his premise is totally hilarious. You think Bush's Secret Service doesn't have to deal with assassination threats of unprecedented scale throughout American history right now? How retarded are you?
The rhetoric on both sides is building to a boiling point, and singling out any given side is ridiculous.
Extremism exists on both sides of the political spectrum in this country, does that mean hatred is going to boil over? Doubtful. The article you link to is just another tired attack on conservatives for being the irrationally violent ones. Leftism in the country has a documented history of violence as well.
So, business as usual then.
I gotta wonder about groups like the minutemen deciding to step up the harassment, and anti-choice terrorists seem likely to have more conniptions than normal if Edwards or Obama make it in.
Also, I doubt that this election will reach the hysterical pressure of the last election.
Indeed.
Only 33%, I think, Would be sad to see W. go. I assume that number will be down even further by 2008.
having seen examples of what's posted in right-wing blogular circles, I'm less sceptical than most of you. There's been an escalation of incidents of harassment of left-wing bloggers, including campaigns to mass-post their personal information, harassing their employers, etc. Mob-attacks like that have gone largely unpunished, so the behaviour is reinforcing itself. I can see that getting worse, and perhaps breaking into the offline sphere.
The public is less divided on the war than last time.
Also, unseating a sitting president, especially in the middle of a war, is inherently more intense than running against a candidate who is not a president.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
I think some people connect the Oklahoma City bombing with right wing militias.
I think the real fallacy with the original argument is that it posits that militias only died out when Bush was elected. I think that draws a false causal connection. The militias declined and disbanded while Clinton was still president.
Well we all no liberals dont use guys.
Or spellcheck apparently
With regards to the Minutemen doing something crazy, you guys should read more stories about them. They get volunteers to sit on the border w/ cellphones and call immigration if they see a line of people coming from the border wilderness areas where illegals are known to cross. Lately they've taken to more proactive lobbying by staging small protests and offices of congressman and local level politicians who support being a safe harbor city or amnesty. I think that's called good and active citizenship isn't it?
And as for violence if the Republican loses. I'll point out that it wasn't Clinton who's motorcade was mobbed in 2000 after all the inciting done by the sore losers of the Democratic ticket 2000. It was the Dem ticket that held the rallies insinuating they'd burn the city of Miami down and violence would occur.
Reading about what Republicans did in 2000 is almost comical in how well behaved they were. When they were protesting the 3rd standards change in Miami-Dade they started making some chanting noises, a sheriff stepped out of the room said "please keep it down out here" and they got quiet. Later commenting about it the police officers were quoted as saying something along the guys of "those guys? pretty nice, worked with us anytime we asked them to do something, definatly easy to get along with compared to the Cubans we delt with over Elian Gonzolez."
A right wing strike is a tempter tantrum with some drums usually. It's the left that uses the word revolution any time they lose.
The Republicans will just blame all the current problems on any Dem that comes into office, much like they attempted to take credit for the Clinton economy.
It's going to be interesting to see how well the PR machine works when (not if) there is another 'turrist' attack on the states after we pull out of Iraq. It's not like we havent been really pissing everyone off since the invasion, it's just much more economical to attack America over there. Hopefully, the embassy they're building is large and shiny.
As I recall it, they bussed in young Republicans who literally pounded on the doors and windows of the building were a recount was taking place, physically intimidating the vote counters.
Anyway, the only way I see violence occurring on any significant scale is if Bush tries to claim that we are at war and therefore he can't step down.
Not that there is even the slightest reason to think that he would do such a thing to begin with.
Would you say they cross a line when they post the address, phone number, and place of business of someone with whom they disagree? Malkin did that a handful of times IIRC and I would doubt that she's alone in doing this. I tend to stick to less partisan places, though, so I only hear about it when something truly egregrious (how's that for spellcheck, will) pops up.
But what to me was most telling was that after they started causing the disturbance a single Sheriffs deputy came out the door said we need you guys to keep it quieter, and they did. It didn't take riot police to keep Republican activists in line, it took a single deputy saying please.
Compare that to a few months later when Bush was inaugurated and the protestors overwhelmed capital hill police and forced their way past the baracades of the presidential motorcade and forced the secret service to abandon the parade and just get the President out of there.
How would you consider the small gathering of Republican activists in Florida who needed a single deputy to tell them to hush to the mob that tried to swamp the presidents car in Washington DC after all the vitriol of the recount from the Dem side?
I try to keep up with her blog. Her style is not my preferred but she does bring some things to light that I don't catch elsewhere. The times I've seen her post the address, phone number and place of business of someone with which she disagrees has almost always been a newspaper. She's not posting personal home addresses, she's been on the receiving end of that and reserves a certain type of hatred for those who do.
If someone is posting a blog as a paid blogger for a newspaper, wouldn't you agree that if they say something disagreeable, the rest of us have a right to ask the editorial staff of the paper with which they work, if they agree to this, if it's the official position of the paper and to let them know you think they're wrong?
Would you mind giving a link to that, because I seem to recall vote counters either needing or requesting police escourts thanks to that polite little mob who would listen to Mr. Griffith. I also seem to recall that one of the people leading the rentamob was one of Bush's highest confidants and appointees. The one who just quit.
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Yeah
Hillary/Obama 4 lyfe