The core reality of today's right is that rhetoric drives substance. The first order of action on the right, learned from Limbaugh and Beck and so on, is rhetoric. The more extreme the better. The more it offends liberal sensibilities the better. The more it outrages the better.Today's Menu:
And when you take rhetorical positions like that - liberalism is fascism, government is evil, Islam is a danger and a hoax, and so on - you define the substantive parameters that can permissibly follow that rhetoric. Because you can't compromise with fascism and evil and dangerous hoaxes. That is impossible. You can only crush them. So you oppose everything, and amp up the rhetoric even more, and the cycle continues.
Calling Obama a Nazi has already been made normal. Glenn Beck (referring to Obama) has used words like "Nazis" and "Hitler" and "communism" and "fascism" in the last two years... it's an everyday thing for him. He's the highest profile, but he's not alone. All over the country on the AM radio dial, his imitators and wannabees are doing the same thing.
Above Quote From: Ailes, Murdoch and Nazis by Michael Tomasky , at The Guardian.co.uk, Nov. 19, 2010
* Ailes blames "Nazi" comments controversy on "unscrupulous" rabbis
* John Hagee Christian Zionists
*Mosque protests reach new level of surreal By Melissa Bell A Christian church in Phoenix has had to make a presidential-type denial: It is not Muslim
* Keith Olbermann Pam Geller Worst Person in the world
* Coulter advocates profiling: Terrorists "all look alike. They're all foreign-born ... They're all Muslim"
* Robertson’s Organizations Persist in Calls for Probe of Congressional Muslim Staffers
* Beck: TSA may be using full-body scanners to precipitate a communist revolution
Since the midterm election things have gone from bad to worse as the GOP, Tea Party gang , Religious Right have joined together to attack the Obama administration and all liberals and progressives while they ramp up the hate of all Muslims and immigrants and according to their view "fellow Travelers" which includes those who still oppose the criminal policies of the Bush/Cheney Regime which Fox News et al defend on a daily basis.
Pastor John Hagee Preaching On Behalf of Israel - clip from Journeyman pictures on Christian Zionists-Hagee is the head of Christians United For Israel.
The interest and security of Israel must come before that of all other nations including the USA. Of course the Christian Zionists argue that the interests of and security of America as a Christian Nation in the final analysis are the same as Israel's. Therefore Pastor Hagee states that the USA according to his Biblical interpretation must help Israel to regain the territory it had during the time of the first temple in Israel as it was granted by God to the Israelites. This piece of land given to the Jewish people is referred to as Eretz Israel.
For instance see:
Eretz Israel HaShlema / Greater Israel at Global Security .org.
Today's Jews are the living representatives of Judah, one of the 12 tribes of Israel that conquered most of Palestine in the 13th century BC. Judah’s share of the territory continued for seven centuries, until the Babylonian Captivity, in which Judah was deported by Nebuchadnezzer in 587 BC. They returned again within less than half a century, and held Judea, once more, for the next 773 years, until they were evicted by the Romans in AD 135. Jews never renounced their claim to the land of Israel, and always hoped, believed, and proclaimed that they would get this land back again.
Mosque protests reach new level of surreal By Melissa Bell A Christian church in Phoenix has had to make a presidential-type denial: It is not Muslim. Washington Post , Blog, Nov. 16, 2010
Countdown via Islamophobia Today. com
Keith olbermann Pam Geller Worst Person in the world because she has helped stir up hatred of Muslim Americans
Arizona: Islamophobes mistake church for mosque at Islamophobia Today,Nov 17, 2010
In an era saturated with absurd moments of anti-Muslim fear- mongering, mosques have become a touchstone for Islamophobia. Even unbuilt mosques have set off a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in Tennessee, Texas, California, and most notably, New York.
Not to be outdone, the people of Pheonix, AZ were quick to call foul over the appearance of a dome-like structure along an interstate. But in the clamor over the impending Muslim takeover, these Arizonans missed one small detail – the building is not a Mosque, it’s a church:
A new dome-like structure near 19th Avenue along Interstate 10 in Phoenix is the Light of the World church, a nondenominational Christian church hoping to modernize traditional worship services, a church spokesman said
Since the distinctive dome shape went up, church leaders said they have received phone calls from concerned neighbors who’ve mistaken the building for an Islamic mosque.
On Wednesday, church officials hung a sign reminding people they’re a Christian congregation. “We’re trying to let people know that we’re Christian and our churches are modern,” said Uzieo Martinez.
“It is unfortunate that people are so intolerant to differences that they aren’t willing to see that the place of worship is not a mosque,” said Tayyibah Amatullah of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Arizona chapter. But with so many high-profile figures selling unfounded, anti-Muslim fear to the public, is it any wonder that all many Americans can see in Islam is a phantom menace?
Coulter advocates profiling: Terrorists "all look alike. They're all foreign-born ... They're all Muslim"
November 16, 2010 O'Reilly Factor
Ed Schultz Roger Ailes of The Fox News Propaganda Channel calls members of NPR Nazis while calling Obama a far left socialist/communist - his apology is anything but.
Robertson’s Organizations Persist in Calls for Probe of Congressional Muslim Staffers
# Post by Sarah Posner at Religion Dispataches religion dispataches Nov. 16, 2010
Under the headline, "Calls Rise to Probe Capitol Hill Muslim Prayer Sessions" yesterday, Pat Robertson's news channel, CBN News, was able to offer only one organization that has called for a probe of the Congressional Muslim Staff Association: Robertson's own American Center for Law and Justice.
As I've reported after Fox News ran a report claiming that speakers with terrorist ties spoke at Congressional prayer meetings, the ACLJ called for a Justice Department investigation of the CMSA. Suhail Khan, a Muslim Republican who has worked as a staffer for a Republican Congressman and as a political appointee in the Bush administration, and who currently serves on the board of the American Conservative Union, called the Fox report nothing but "anti-Muslim bigotry" and noted that Robertson is "notorious for anti-Islamic comments."
On its Newswatch program, CBN attempted to create the impression that calls for law enforcement to intervene are somehow on the rise. Yet the only source for the story was Jordan Sekulow, the ACLJ's Director of International Operations.
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Beck: TSA may be using full-body scanners to precipitate a communist revolution media Matters November 18, 2010 9:01 pm ET
From the November 18 edition of Fox Business Network's Freedom Watch:
Ailes blames "Nazi" comments controversy on "unscrupulous" rabbis by Simon Maloy Media Matters Nov. 18, 2010
Yahoo News' Michael Calderone has posted a letter Fox News' Roger Ailes sent to Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League regarding Ailes' smear of NPR executives as "Nazis." In it, Ailes claims that "this all goes back to" the "unscrupulous" treatment he claims he received from Rabbi Steve Gutow and Simon Greer following their meeting with Ailes regarding Glenn Beck's constant invocations of Nazis and the Holocaust [emphasis added]:Ailes, Murdoch and Nazis by Michael Tomasky , at The Guardian.co.uk, Nov. 19, 2010
This morning you might be receiving calls because I used the word "Nazi attitudes" to describe the NPR officials who fired Juan Williams. I was of course ad-libbing and should not have chosen that word, but I was angry at the time because of NPR's willingness to censor Juan Williams for not being liberal enough. I think this all goes back to the visit we received from Rabbi Steve Gutow and Simon Greer. We had a cordial conversation where they explained the sensitivity of the Jewish people and I said Glenn Beck was very sensitive to Jewish issues and would never intentionally offend them. I agreed to talk with Glenn and was certain once he understood the sensitivity on the use of the word Holocaust would handle it differently on the air. I did speak with Glenn and he responded favorably. I then offered to hold a meeting where they could talk to our editorial staff and enlighten them about that sensitivity.
You know me as a friend and many IDF warriors know me as someone who is consistently strong in the defense of the Jewish people and the state of Israel. However, the rabbis used us in an unscrupulous manner. Instead of quietly working with us to solve the problem internally, they put out a cheap press release to say Glenn Beck was out of line, Fox was out of line and they of course came in and told us what we could do. None of that happened. I was and still am insulted by their behavior. No one knows better than you how easy it is to call someone anti-Semitic and I believe you have been heroic in sorting out those instances. There are others, however, who use racism and anti-Semitism for their own political purposes.
Ailes also explained to Foxman that he doesn't "feel much guilt" over Glenn Beck's many-days long smear of George Soros, because Beck's research was deemed valid by the Fox News "Brainroom":
I wanted to follow up on the Glenn Beck situation with regards to George Soros. I frankly don't feel much guilt because Glenn Beck only used Soros' words and our Brainroom dissected each statement and found them valid.
In reality, Beck falsely accused Soros of being a Holocaust collaborator, distorted several Soros quotes, and made repeated false claims about Soros in order to attack him as an all-powerful and dangerous "puppet master."
Finally, Ailes apologized for using "Nazi," writing that he should have described NPR brass as "nasty, inflexible bigot[s]":
I'm writing this just to let you know some background but also to apologize for using "Nazi" when in my now considered opinion "nasty, inflexible bigot" would have worked better. Juan Williams is a good man and like you a friend. And my friends never have to worry about me sticking up for them -- even if I'm occasionally politically incorrect I never leave any doubts about my loyalty.
Earlier this year Markos Moulitsas (Daily Kos) published his book American Taliban. It was more attacked than defended in the liberal blogosphere, to my reading, by people (like Yglesias here) who wrote that a literal comparison like that was way over the top. Even Moulitsas' defenders, like Digby, acknowledged that there was no literal comparison.
On the right, allegedly serious people say: no, it's quite literal. Liberalism is fascism. Liberals are Nazis. Not Zyklon B Nazis, they will pleasantly allow; but Nazis in the indoctrination and propaganda and reich-uber-Gott sense.
The core reality of today's right is that rhetoric drives substance. The first order of action on the right, learned from Limbaugh and Beck and so on, is rhetoric. The more extreme the better. The more it offends liberal sensibilities the better. The more it outrages the better.
And when you take rhetorical positions like that - liberalism is fascism, government is evil, Islam is a danger and a hoax, and so on - you define the substantive parameters that can permissibly follow that rhetoric. Because you can't compromise with fascism and evil and dangerous hoaxes. That is impossible. You can only crush them. So you oppose everything, and amp up the rhetoric even more, and the cycle continues.
Calling Obama a Nazi has already been made normal. Glenn Beck (referring to Obama) has used words like "Nazis" and "Hitler" and "communism" and "fascism" in the last two years... it's an everyday thing for him. He's the highest profile, but he's not alone. All over the country on the AM radio dial, his imitators and wannabees are doing the same thing.
Does anyone care about this? Does the ADL care about this? A group allegedly dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry in all their forms? Oh, yes, the ADL cares. They gave Rupert Murdoch an award last month.
Ben Adler of Newsweek writes that the ADL should revoke the award. That would be a courageous thing. It's obviously not going to happen. I'd like to say here that someone, some prominent Republican, needs to stand up to this and call it out, but it wouldn't do any good. Whoever did that would simply be accused of being a quisling, and the cycle would start up again, reinforcing itself in its thrashing little eddies of acrimony.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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