Excerpts from "Rage, Racism and American Unreason" by Susan Jacoby in the Washington Post on September 14, 2009:
"We have entered what columnist Kathleen Parker calls "a political era of uninhibited belligerence," that is finding expression in sermons, at town hall meetings, on radio talk shows, even on the floor of Congress."
"Maureen Dowd of the New York Times told it like it is in her op-ed column Sunday, when she said that the real meaning of South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst during President Obama's health care speech was not "you lie" but "you lie--boy."
"Many Americans spent a good deal of time last November patting themselves on the back for having elected an African-American president. What we are seeing now is the bitterness of an un-reconciled minority that will never accept the legitimacy of that election."
Obama represents just about everything Tea Partiers dislike. A Harvard educated attorney, gifted intellectually, a modernist focused on making changes for a better future, a man who refuses to wear his religion or his patriotism on his sleeve, relies on empirical data not his gut to make decisions; and, worst of all, from their point of view, an altogether cool guy.
"We want to take our country back" is a phrase heard at many mob rallies. Try to follow their logic: Since their country needs taking back, it must have been theirs in the first place and the people who took it from them must have lesser rights to the country than they do. According to Sarah Palin only "Real Americans" have a right to govern the country. (Real Americans in her view are Obama opposites; also white, conservative and Christian.)
Unfortunately, the mob now has an ace up their sleeve that could tip the balance in their favor. The recent ruling by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case has opened the flood gates to unlimited amounts of funding by corporations and unions for independent political broadcasts in candidate elections. Corporations, of course, have much greater resources than unions.
Chief Justice John Roberts led the conservatives on the bench in deciding this case. This "Justice Roberts Money" could be a game changer; and it is already beginning to impact the current election.
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