Faux Warriors

Greenwald;

But now, only four weeks into the presidency of Barack Obama, they are back -- angrier and more chest-beating than ever. Actually, the mere threat of an Obama presidency was enough to revitalize them from their eight-year slumber, awaken them from their camouflaged, well-armed suburban caves. The disturbingly ugly atmosphere that marked virtually every Sarah Palin rally had its roots in this cultural resentment, which is why her fear-mongering cultural warnings about Obama's exotic, threatening otherness -- he's a Muslim-loving, Terrorist-embracing, Rev.-Wright-following Marxist: who is the real Barack Obama? -- resonated so stingingly with the rabid lynch mobs that cheered her on.

With Obama now actually in the Oval Office -- and a financial crisis in full force that is generating the exact type of widespread, intense anxiety that typically inflames these cultural resentments -- their mask is dropping, has dropped, and they've suddenly re-discovered their righteous "principles." The week-long CNBC Revolt of the Traders led by McCain voter Rick Santelli and the fledgling little Tea Party movement promoted by the Michelle Malkins of the world are obvious outgrowths of this 1990s mentality, now fortified by the most powerful fuel: deep economic fear. But as feisty and fire-breathing as those outbursts are, nothing can match -- for pure, illustrative derangement -- the discussion below from Glenn Beck's new Fox show this week, in which he and an array of ex-military and CIA guests ponder (and plot and plan) "war games" for the coming Civil War against Obama-led tyranny. It really has to be seen to be believed.

Doug Gibbs went absolutely apeshit on his blog yesterday;

Absolutely. I mean, I don't agree with lynch mobs. But I do agree with doing what you've gotta do to protect your nation against the enemy. But the Liberals say, because of what's happening now, "Well, it's not that kind of Marxism, err, uh, socialism, I mean. You can’t call it that. We’re not taking over by some military coup."

And who is the "enemy"? It's Obama and the "disgusting liberal Democrats".

Greenwald is quite correct that the "Ruby Ridge" style of militia freaks grew out of a strange paranoia during the Clinton administration. Greenwald is also quite correct that the Loon Brigade cheered Bush on as he assumed near-dictatorial power. Now they seem a bit concerned because a "Marxist" inherited it all.

I left a comment on Doug's blog, probably the shortest I've ever left there. He deletes anything I write that is more substantive, but he approved this.

So, what are you going to do about it?

That's really the key, isn't it? The Loon Brigade is quickly working themselves up into a frothing mass, egged on the by the likes of Glenn Beck and Alan Keyes, who recently said;

"Obama is a radical communist, and I think it is becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois and now everybody realizes it's true. He is going to destroy this country, and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist."

So how are the Loons going to "stop him"? Eh? He's the President of the United States, and will serve his term. What are they going to do?

I really don't care if the Loons dust off their fatigues and pretend to be "defending" the nation by practicing at a range, or playing paintball. They'll still be the same joke of irrelevant idiots they've always been. We can just point and laugh as they become more extreme in their rhetoric.

The real issue is.. what, exactly, are they going to do to "stop" Obama?

But this Rush-Limbaugh/Fox-News/nationalistic movement isn't driven by anything noble or principled or even really anything political. If it were, they would have been extra angry and threatening and rebellious during the Bush years instead of complicit and meek and supportive to the point of cult-like adoration. Instead, they're just basically Republican dead-enders (at least what remains of the regional/extremist GOP), grounded in tribal allegiances that are fueled by their cultural, ethnic and religious identities and by perceived threats to past prerogatives -- now spiced with legitimate economic anxiety and an African-American President who, they were continuously warned for the last two years, is a Marxist, Terrorist-sympathizing black nationalist radical who wants to re-distribute their hard-earned money to welfare queens and illegal immigrants (and is now doing exactly that).

Those are the most paranoid conspiracy theorists. Grab some pop-corn and enjoy the show.

...

The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms—he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point. Like religious millenialists he expresses the anxiety of those who are living through the last days and he is sometimes disposed to set a date fort the apocalypse. (“Time is running out,” said Welch in 1951. “Evidence is piling up on many sides and from many sources that October 1952 is the fatal month when Stalin will attack.”)

/update

Some comments were approved.. and I peed myself.

You can see the typical right wing methodology in full bloom. They make intentionally vague comments about how somebody must be "stopped", without actually saying how they plan to do that. The implication is clear, however they know that's a really bad thing to say so explicitly.. so they just leave it up to your imagination to fill in the blanks.

There is an organization within the Federal Government that specializes in taking those types of.. shall we say.. suggestions.. extraordinarily serious.

/update 2

Just came across this bit from Digby that says it well;

Politics are always full of hyperbole and this kind of talk isn't all that shocking in and of itself. But as Sullivan points out, these aren't normal times. This kind of rhetoric is particularly toxic right now because we have a tremendous amount of stress among the population that's going to get worse. The fact that Obama is African American and a Democrat --- and the people who are likely to blame him for their problems are right wing gun nuts --- creates some special dangers.

/update 3

I see where this "civil war" language is coming from the Loon Brigade. Doug pointed me to New Hampshire resolution HCR 6. This resolution basically threatens the Federal government that they'll revolt.. secede from the union, and so on... based on some very broad criteria.

I. Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State.

II. Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

III. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

IV. Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.

V. Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press.

VI. Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition.

As another Loon said it;

The clock is ticking... The left has every American right where they want them, frustrated, confused and frightened. Socialism looks good only to those too ill-informed to know better, or too scared to care.

Wooo.. any type of weapon you want.. Can you imagine that? Fully automatic assault weapons.. A-Okay! How about a rocket launcher? LOL

This is going to be rather interesting to follow... but it seems to me a war was already fought over this sort of issue, in 1861, costing about 620,000 lives.

It is rather scary that a number of people.. the extreme right wing, are talking about civil war in the United States a month into the Obama Presidency.

....

I would point out that the Obama administration inherited this economic melt-down. The right wing would prefer that nothing be done, with some half million jobs being lost every month and no end in sight. I suppose it's simply a philosophical difference of opinion, but we've already seen the results of Conservative economics. We've seen what happened with the New Deal, and the spending in World War II.

I still support an ideological separation in the United States. It's more a fantasy than anything else, and obviously isn't practical. Why not just give the Conservatives all the states that voted for McCain, and we'll take the rest.. and each side leaves the other alone.. completely? Nah.. but could you imagine the accusations of "treason" if Democrats had put forward such legislation during the Bush administration?

It really will be interesting to watch the evolution of the Loon Brigade. I highly doubt there will be any sort of effect from their opposition to Obama's policy proposals, but they certainly will get crazier as time goes on. After 30 days, they are talking civil war. Where will it be in a year?