Special Comment on the Nine Days Since Tuscon
Keith's Special Comment on the nine days since Tuscon:
To date, only one commentator or politician has expressed the slightest introspection, the slightest self-awareness, the slightest remorse, the slightest ownership, of the existence of the fantasy dream cloud of violent language by which we are now nearly blinded.
Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on the nine days since Tucson. That awful night, I said this: We need to put the guns down. Just as importantly we need to put the gun metaphors away and permanently. Left, right, middle - politicians and citizens - sane and insane.
This age in which this country would accept "targeting" of political opponents and putting bullseyes over their faces, and of the dangerous blurring between political rallies and gun shows, ended.
I cited seven examples of violent rhetoric from the right; only one from the left -- my own. Because the point of that Comment and this one was not that the right pulled the trigger in Tucson but that we as citizens must stop the next Loughner, and the only way to do this is to accept personal responsibility and to pledge -- as I said that night -- that "violence, or the threat of violence, have no place in our Democracy, and I apologize for and repudiate any act or any thing in my past that may have even inadvertently encouraged violence."
This afternoon, former President Clinton issued a statement honoring what would have been Dr. King's 82nd birthday:
"...we'd all do well to heed this message. While no one intends their words or actions to incite the violence we saw in Tucson -- and it's wrong for anyone to suggest otherwise - we live in a world where what we say and how we say it can be read, heard, or seen by those who understand exactly what we mean and by those whose inner demons take them to a very different place.
"That's not an argument against free speech, but a reminder that, as with all freedoms, its use carries with it responsibility. Therefore, we should follow the example Dr. King set and exercise our freedom of speech in ways that both clarify our honest differences and nurture the best of us rather than bring out the worst."
Perfect.
Yet the response?
To date, only one commentator or politician has expressed the slightest introspection, the slightest self-awareness, the slightest remorse, the slightest ownership, of the existence of the fantasy dream cloud of violent language by which we are now nearly blinded.
"Our political discourse," John McCain wrote in an otherwise steaming serving of Washington Post Op-Ed partisan flab, "should be more civil than it currently is, and we all, myself included, bear some responsibility for it not being so."
That's it.
One individual assumed any personal responsibility for any of it, besides me: John McCain. Not Palin, not Beck. Not Limbaugh, not West. Not Kanjorski, not Malloy. Not O'Reilly, not Angle. Not Jesse Kelly, not President Obama.
It's me and John McCain.
taking blame he does not deserve.
Some stuff you can't make up!
Yeah, but why won't Keith sign Beck's manifesto? Clearly, he's not serious about toning down the rhetoric like Glen, BillO, and Rush.
(/s, for the impaired)
I posted a link to this last night on open thread.
to undo the other 13 + minutes.
"And ultimately we learn — especially from Mrs. Palin's foolishness — this template of what the right would do in an actual open-and-shut slam dunk case in which a partisan of the right attempted to kill one of the left. The right would blame that victim blame him or her for not having brought enough security. Or for not having brought a gun."
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
How does that "undo" the other 13 minutes?
Beware of anyone promising a future full of yesterdays.
That's a big no no, apparently.
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
a hyperbolic projection.
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
From the American Heritage Dictionary:
Hyperbole - A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in "I could sleep for a year" or "This book weighs a ton."
What Keith predicts as the response from the right has already happened. This is a literal statement. No exaggeration needed.
Beware of anyone promising a future full of yesterdays.
His penis?
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
When KO said, "The right would blame that victim blame him or her for not having brought enough security. Or for not having brought a gun.", that precisely what the right DID do.
He was factual throughout. The right wing won't admit any complicity in their eliminationist rhetoric, and won't accept any justified blame. Instead they attempt a constant lie of false equivalency and victimhood, then attack the real victims.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." -- Robert E. Howard
shaped by the distorted information they receive by your comment. Olbermann gave no examples of people blaming victims in this case. He closed by saying that in and open and shut case of political violence the right would blame the victim for not having enough security or not having brought a gun.
You state that is "precisely what the right DID do." The right is not a person
nor is it a monolith. And you would be hard pressed to justify saying
anyone on the right of any prominence did so.
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
...did. No hyperbole injected, infected, neglected or rejected.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
you join Cthulhu and shultzbk in believeing it happened without showing who did so.
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
Ricky, you seem to be about two threads away from telling us that words have no meaning. Are you taking your meds on time?
Watch the clip again -- Keith is very explicit about the right-wing talkers who have directly or tangentially suggested that the shooting happened because the congresswoman was not adequately thugged-up. See Trent Franks at 7:55 in the clip and Trent Humphries at 10:05.
In other words, it's her fault.
Beware of anyone promising a future full of yesterdays.
where is Tuscon. There is a Tucson AZ.
...SUV
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
to disagree with our former president, but when he says,
"While no one intends their words or actions to incite the violence"
i do think, all these right wing hacks want violence, i do think that is there intent; which is ultimately why i agree with david neiwert, there are too many instances of pumped up "patriot' violence to let them off the hook.
Yup , the more chaos they can create the better .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
First off, I'm really glad for Gabbie Gifford's seemingly full return to health. Secondly, who the hell thought anything would actually change! Third, now that Gifford is recovering nicely, and no significant gun control legislation is likely, nor is any false civility, let's get back to the business of fixing this nation. Anyone who thinks civility is what's wrong with our politics isn't paying attention, it's a symptom, not the problem. Money and our bought and paid for politicians, including Mr. Obama, are what's wrong with the educational, healthcare, political, judicial, financial, military, and economic systems. Notice I mentioned every major system this nation has, because unless and until we remove the corporate and wealth influence on our politics, nothing else matters!
...
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
...last night in the Special Comment was any of the violent rhetoric coming from the left. With all the complaining from the right about it, I wonder why he didn't mention that?
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
what you're implying. Are you saying the violent rhetoric from the left is equal to the rhetoric from the right?
Because it plainly is NOT.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." -- Robert E. Howard
...snark, whatever it is.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
If anyone had seen the rant by Beck about how he would love to kill Michael Moore with his bare hands with Mike's life slipping from him and then says, archly, "I won't do it" as if someone else would do it who don't have as much as Beck to lose from murder. Beck would dance joyously had it happened.
The only thing that the Right can come back on is Grayson's statement that the right and health care industry doesn't care if you die as long as they get their profits
Paul C
...of the last nine days is how quickly dogma reframes experiences. The shooter was mentally ill, and it's true that there is no predicting what material a paranoid schizophrenic is likely to weave into his delusions and hallucinations; but that said, our political "leaders" actively create (and thrive) in a paranoid milieu. The paranoid milieu serves them well at election time because it "motivates" their base to vote and makes it very easy to bury actual issues under muddleheaded, red herring conspiracy theories. And it is this paranoid milieu, IMHO, that makes it more likely for the "unhinged" in our society to target politicians or other public figures rather than, say, their parents, police officers, FBI agents, or other nearby authority figures, which are typically the targets when people with serious mental illnesses become violent (an exceedingly rare event).
Listening to Keith run down the events of the last nine days just underscores the blinding speed at which our society goes from shock, to grief, to anger, and then to rewriting the facts of the shocking event to fit our worldview. Keith's last statements sums it up well: No fact and no event can cause our political talking heads to reconsider their belief systems. Absolutely nothing.
Beware of anyone promising a future full of yesterdays.
Does a Presumption of Sanity go along with a Presumption of Innocense?
The Soviet Union used to put political enemies into mental hospitals to "cure" them.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
...is that anything like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhYLz63csS0
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
Friar Tuc's?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
hey right wing mofo's
BRING IT ON!!
...however, I've thought about showing up at a republican'ts rally with like a crossbow or shotgun and a sign comparing whoever it is to Nero or Caligula just for fun. Would that be over their heads? Maybe it would be better to show up with a Super Soaker and signs comparing the guy to King George (the mad one). I don't know, I think Caligula would be appropriate for most republican'ts considering all of the sexual follies the right dallies in.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
shouldn't you come on horseback or with a fiddle?
"Folks, this is not your father's Republican Party."
Joe Biden
Not a SINGLE Liberal ever took out a gun to prove their point in US. The Vietnam protests that we see is the cry of a generation mired in a false war - not a liberal outburst.
Keith would shit himself if his beloved "government" put their guns down.
Everyone-INCLUDING all military soldiers and hired thugs such as XE-PUT DOWN YOUR GUNS!! Everyone stop squeezing the triggers. I know it's crazy and the World as we know it will end.
We shall all have peace...
In memory of Dr. King and his loving soul mate Coretta
1)Thou shalt not believe in a military victory.
2)Thou shalt not believe in a political victory.
3)Thou shalt not believe that they, the people of Afghanistan, love us.
4)Thou shalt not believe that the Karzai Government has the support of the people of Afghanistan.
5)Thou shalt not believe that the majority of the people in Afghanistan look upon the Taliban as terrorists.
6)Thou shalt not believe the figures of civilians killed given by the Generals.
7)Thou shalt not believe that the Generals know best.
8)Thou shalt not believe that the enemy's victory means more terrorism.
9)Thou shalt not believe that the world supports the United States.
10)Thou shalt not kill.
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