Well, it’s about damn time! And, I might add: what the hell took so long?
While the black helicopter set shows up to shout down reasonable dialogue at town hall meetings around the country, most Congress Critters have mirrored Arlen Specter’s deer in the headlights look, completely incapable of handling people whose whacked-out notions about the president and Congress have been matched only by the volume with which they shout their crazed ideas.
Our media has presented these wackos as “the other side of the debate,” as if it’s reasonable to discuss whether the President of the United States really might be a Nazi. Funny thing: when folks like town hall protestor Mike Sola show up for their Fox News moment, they start with the crazy talk, like “Democratic thugs” visiting them in the middle of the night:
"If you call my son un-American, your thugs already know where we live. They came to us in the middle of the night," Sola said, speaking directly to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Sola said this "visit" happened the night his tirade against Dingell aired on television. He then threatened to kill "the person" if he sees him on his property.
WTF?
As Joan Walsh pointed out on Hardball last night:
What’s going on is a kind of thuggishness. We’re supposed to treat these people like they deserve an equal place at the table when they’re being organized by right-wingers.
William Kostric, you had him on your show--he said he’s wasn’t a Birther, he’s a Birther, he belongs to We The People. Katy Abram--Lawrence O’Donnell did a great job with her last week--everybody’s acting like she’s just a normal American housewife. She’s a leader of the 9/12 movement, which is Glenn Beck’s insane right wing movement.
I’m trying to remember all of the anti-war lefties that cable news yakkers like Chris Matthews interviewed after major events like the 2006 anti-war protest.
Oh, wait.
I eagerly await the day when our news media gets over its conservative addiction. But I guess that would require they first admit they have a problem.
Anyway, I’m hoping this Barney Frank thing energizes some folks. It’s one thing to have a vigorous debate, but Democrats need to quit coddling and enabling the crazy at their events, and the media needs to quite trotting them out for their 15 minutes of cable news fame.
And if you can’t tell who the players in this game are, here’s a tip: the person carrying the picture of President Obama with a Hitler mustache drawn over his upper lip probably doesn’t have anything legitimate to contribute to the dialogue. And MSNBC, CNN and all the rest might want to quit interviewing these folks after every town hall, unless you want “the most trusted name in news” to start resembling the latest episode of Inside Edition.
