09
Sep
15

On right-wing “heroes”

kim davis

The Right’s favorite Democrat, Kim Davis, was released from her contempt of court sentence on the understanding that she won’t interfere with her clerks doing their jobs.

This may be a short-lived reprieve, as her lawyer has said that he doesn’t see how Ms. Davis will be able to, in good conscience, allow her clerks to do their jobs and marry those heathen, damned to hell icky gay people. So, she may be back in the “Real Orange is the New Black” soon.

But, that’s neither here nor there. I have a more pressing question to investigate

Why are right wing heroes so bent in the head?

Let’s take, for popularity’s sake, Donald “The Hair” Trump. I know, the inestimable Paul Krugman wrote a glowing piece on Trump’s economic beliefs last week. But the only reason Donald is for, perhaps, maybe raising taxes on the rich is so that he can fund the police state which will be required to deport 11 million people. That’s akin to saying “Sure, that Holocaust thing was regrettable, but at least Adolf was a vegan!” This most recent and prominent Republican hero is one because he’s telling the base that he’s going to get medieval on whiny liberal asses.

Then you have the ur-Donald, la Sarah Palin of Wasilla. One couldn’t think that anyone could outdo her vapidness. She set the bar so high for word salad and appeals to the reptile parts of Republican brains. Remember, her heroism was for saying that then-Senator Obama “palled around with terrorists”, stoking the fever of hatred and vitriol from which we’ve yet to recover. Her status is from telling the base that she was going to get medieval on whiny liberal asses.

Then for the trifecta, let’s pick that Mozart of Michigan, Ted Nugent. Where does one begin? His homophobia? His racism? His misogyny? His getting out of Vietnam by shitting his pants? (But if he’d gone to Nam, he totally would’ve capped some fucking hippies.) Forget about the fact this his music is to music what Ayn Rand is to literature. Forget about the fact that if one of the “mongrels” he so routinely derides were to come at him with a gun, an odious excrescence would emanate from his sphincter. He is the perfect right wing hero: all talk, no walk. And of course, his status is from telling his troglodyte minions that he was going to get medieval on whiny liberal asses.

Detect a pattern?

Every right wing hero promises to dole out copious amounts of righteous violence, whether physical or verbal. Violence is at the core of right wing ideology. Without violence, it has nothing. It is an ideology of recrimination, of angst, of loss, and the only remedy is a violent one. All right wing heroes promise some cleansing sort of violence, some apocalyptic deluge of liberating hate. No one promises to make the world better; they just promise to make “them” suffer. Conservatism as it exists now serves nothing but hatred. Anyone not like you is to be of the suspect crowd, and can be dealt with accordingly.

Can you imagine a modern Democrat say, as Chris Christie did, that the undocumented should be marked with numbers a la Treblinka for easier identification? But that’s another hero, and it’s not even the most shocking thing to come out of the other side of the aisle.

I could list a database of Democratic failings. (Not having balls or strategic vision, aside from President Obama, would be top of my list.) But one thing for which you cannot fault Democrats, in general, is a lack of humanity. Bernie Sanders’ followers are gathering such flack, as is Bernie himself, because they seem so tone deaf to core Democratic values of inclusiveness. When he says “We’re going to take back the White House”, from whom, pray tell, is he going to take it back? Last I checked, a Democrat sat in the Oval Office. But that’s the thing about Democrats: we call out garbage like that. Meanwhile the right is freebasing hate, and the hits have to be more potent than previous ones to keep up the high.

Right wing heroes reflect them: hateful, intolerant, bigoted, petulant. They’re welcome to them. And no, you can’t have “your country back”; we’re using it at the moment, trying to make it better.


120 Responses to “On right-wing “heroes””


  1. 3 amk for obama
    September 9, 2015 at 12:00 pm

    vietnam had hippies??? one lives and lurns.

  2. September 9, 2015 at 12:02 pm

    I still think Davis is a republican now. May have been a democrat at one point in time but not anymore.

  3. 6 JER
    September 9, 2015 at 12:03 pm

  4. September 9, 2015 at 12:05 pm

    Meanwhile the right is freebasing hate, and the hits have to be more potent than previous ones to keep up the high.

    ***********

    Right ON..

    • 8 jackiegrumbacher
      September 9, 2015 at 12:30 pm

      Very well put, Pf. Wonder when they reach the ‘overdose’ stage when the hate literally does them in.

      • September 9, 2015 at 12:43 pm

        i was cosigning….LL…

        we are in the thick of the battle….

        i was so encouraged at how we fought back on the issue of the Iran Deal…and even tho some of the DEMs are wishy washy….they will vote NO…although a few won’t filibuster…

        the fight and strategy of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid….along with grass roots efforts….has proven to be monumental

      • September 9, 2015 at 1:36 pm

        This from Smartypants

        what we need is a candidate who can acknowledge our anxiety and engage us as adults with actual plans that inspire our hope for the future.

        **********************
        We Had one in Barack Obama…sad to say …we may never see the likes again….

  5. 17 JER
    September 9, 2015 at 12:06 pm

  6. 18 amk for obama
    September 9, 2015 at 12:13 pm

    Image and video hosting by TinyPic

    self-inflicted wounds

  7. 19 jacquelineoboomer
    September 9, 2015 at 12:13 pm

    Thank you, LL. Excellent piece.

  8. 20 vcprezofan2
    September 9, 2015 at 12:16 pm

    How-d’y-doo, TODobots?

  9. 21 amk for obama
    September 9, 2015 at 12:16 pm

    gop has evolved’ into a party of assholes since raygun. no wonder dreck is their leader now.

  10. September 9, 2015 at 12:16 pm

    Congrats on 1st jazz!!!

    True ….

  11. September 9, 2015 at 12:17 pm

  12. September 9, 2015 at 12:18 pm

    Bunch of updates on Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, ongoing Turkish suppression of Kurds, etc., in the sidebar ….

    bbl …

  13. 29 jacquelineoboomer
    September 9, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    Listened in on a couple Hillary events. She seems really tired, this week, to me. Not tired because it’s a grueling campaign … seems tired of having to defend herself. Tired of having to remember to give a little credit to her former boss, President Obama. Tired of talking to reporters and supporters. Tired that people are questioning her. Maybe tired because she blames some campaign staffers for not telling her how to handle the e-mail fallout, well, in the current climate. Also, I’m no expert, but sometimes when you’re particularly annoyed about something, it affects the volume of your speaking voice and makes it sound as though your throat hurts.

    There were a couple of phrases in her Iran Deal speech that got me a tad upset, but, overall, I felt drained after listening to the parts I listened to … and Hillary sounded drained, too.

    Hey, just my take.

    Not sure where all this is going on her part, but it won’t be pretty, either way.

    • 30 jackiegrumbacher
      September 9, 2015 at 12:36 pm

      JO’B, if Joe Biden doesn’t run, we had all better hope that she becomes extremely energized and runs a stellar campaign because if she’s all we’ve got, we’ve got to make sure she makes it to the White House. The alternatively is just to ugly to contemplate.

    • September 9, 2015 at 12:41 pm

      Things have barely gotten started and she’s really mired in a lot of second-guessing. Her tears, not unlike the 2008 tears in NH, seem to come when she’s up against reality of how much she has to overcome just to stay afloat. And this time she has no real viable competitors from either party and they are gaining ground on her like nobody’s business.

      • 34 jacquelineoboomer
        September 9, 2015 at 12:47 pm

        I missed the tears, but I’ve been expecting them. Ugh. What a disappointment that was, especially to women of my generation (and hers) who actually lived through the damn “women’s movement” of the ’70s. I’m having a real tough time forgetting about her actions in that ’08 campaign, or even putting them aside.

        • September 9, 2015 at 12:51 pm

          Apparently she teared up yesterday in an interview with David Muir. Like you, I’m immediately thrown back to the 70s when it undermined every single thing we did. Not saying that’s right but it happened.

          If Joe doesn’t get in – and that’s still a big IF right now – then somebody really has to get to her because she is incapable of flipping the switch on her own. She seems to think she needs all these people around her giving her very bad advice.

    • 37 betseyc
      September 9, 2015 at 1:08 pm

      I’ve been traveling all summer (making sure Alaska was ready for PBO) 🙂 so haven’t heard her speak. But she looks exhausted, in every picture I see (which is mostly here.) I don’t think her heart is in this. I remember an article written in 2008 about her looking at her lovely house wistfully and wondering why she was entering into the insanity of running for president. It has stayed with me all this time. I wish she would have made the choice she talked about when she left the SOS post, and said she wasn’t planning to run for president, and would like to work on worldwide issues relating to girls and women. She would have been great at that.

      I have the feeling she let the people around her persuade her, because they want her to be the first woman president. I, also of her generation, love that part, too. I’m not saying she doesn’t have her own ambition, because that’s obvious, but even with that, I suspect she came to accept her followers hype. Her ambition may want this, but I don’t see signs that her heart does.

      • 38 debz
        September 9, 2015 at 1:48 pm

        I never thought her heart was in running for President in 2008 and I’m getting the same vibe from her this time too. I think it’s Bill pushing her so he can have his 3rd term. She really needs to get rid of all those Clintonites running her campaign. She needs someone to get her to wake up. I’m still hoping VP Biden gets in. He sure seems to have more energy than she does.

      • 39 jacquelineoboomer
        September 9, 2015 at 7:13 pm

        Agree with every word!

      • 42 vcprezofan2
        September 9, 2015 at 12:44 pm

        WC Morning, Meta! Hope you are in out of the heat. 🙂

        I think HRC would get so much farther if only more people had a sense she was not choreographed. Honestly, I don’t think Dems in general want her to be perfect’; I think they want to see someone who is not always weighing every word and who when she says ‘Stuff it!’ doesn’t sound like that was a poll tested comment. I cannot put my finger on a memory when she has sounded genuine (when it wasn’t putting someone down in debate).

        • 43 vcprezofan2
          September 9, 2015 at 12:45 pm

          • September 9, 2015 at 12:48 pm

            Yes, that is why I think her campaign is like watching paint dry. It always boils down to the same issues about who she thinks she has to be to run for POTUS. It’s exhausting because it’s fake.

            • 45 vcprezofan2
              September 9, 2015 at 12:53 pm

              Yep.
              I genuinely don’t get (from her) why she wants to be president. No, I don’t buy her tested spiel about wanting to listen to #wethepeople and work with us, yada, yada! She may have practised saying it over and over but it comes across as fake to me.

        • 46 jacquelineoboomer
          September 9, 2015 at 12:50 pm

          Apparently she has no “observant ego.” Damn shame.

          • 47 vcprezofan2
            September 9, 2015 at 12:55 pm

            And clearly, it’s not something she has been able to grow/plant/learn/whatever over her decades. [Reminds me of my sister.]

            She is nice enough, of course….but 😉

            • 48 jacquelineoboomer
              September 9, 2015 at 12:57 pm

              Of course. [Reminds me of both of my sisters, and my oldest niece. Good thing you and I are perfect, eh?]

            • 50 Vicki
              September 9, 2015 at 1:06 pm

              In my perhaps warped view–
              HRC is still running against President Obama. The fatigue and phoniness comes from the huge effort it takes to conceal her hatred and desire for revenge.
              Everything comes out wrong because her energy is going to protecting her core. Which is hurt and fury.

              To win, and by the way to care about becoming the next president, requires a better motivation than the ones driving her.

              • 51 vcprezofan2
                September 9, 2015 at 1:21 pm

                Funny enough, Vicki, I have never (and don’t now) ascribe feelings as strong as hatred to HRC re PBO. I do agree though that she is still unnecessarily running against him. BUT, so are they all! Not very smart despite all their degrees and money and support and….

                • September 9, 2015 at 1:25 pm

                  I think she may have some feelings of affection and admiration for PBO but the burn of losing to him and to prove herself better is a very strong motivation and it’s burning her.

            • 54 hopefruit2
              September 9, 2015 at 1:18 pm

              Well vc, I come bearing good news to both you and JO’B. Although you can’t choose your family members, you can choose your President! 🙂 🙂 🙂

  14. 57 amk for obama
    September 9, 2015 at 12:25 pm

    If Noah had been smart he would have swatted those two flies. Also. too. the two mosquitoes.

    zzzzzztime.

    • 58 jacquelineoboomer
      September 9, 2015 at 12:43 pm

      Tell me about it. I’m about to take a nap, and hopefully “Lucky,” the hopefully unaccompanied cricket that now resides in my living room chirping his head off, won’t follow me. I’ve called him Lucky since my friend reminded me that in some cultures crickets are considered good luck, after I explained to her bleeding liberal heart that I was trying to step on him. And missed, twice.

      Don’t let me down, Lucky! I’ll leave a light on for ya.

      Later.

  15. 60 amk for obama
    September 9, 2015 at 12:26 pm

    Son: “Dad whats the difference between confident and confidential?”

    Dad: “Hmm. You are my son, Iam confident of that. Your friend Timmy is also my son, that’s confidential!”

    aaand I am outta here.

  16. 62 jacquelineoboomer
    September 9, 2015 at 12:28 pm

  17. September 9, 2015 at 12:30 pm

  18. 67 JER
    September 9, 2015 at 12:39 pm

  19. 74 JER
    September 9, 2015 at 12:42 pm

  20. September 9, 2015 at 1:00 pm

    Yes, I know it’s Politico. But it’s another perspective on VP Biden’s decision.

    A month ago, Vice President Joe Biden was sitting in his office in the West Wing, talking to an old friend who’d come to visit.
    “Jill wants me to run,” he said.

    http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/biden-jill-joe-2016-elections-213428

  21. September 9, 2015 at 1:02 pm

    Nothing like finding “Leave Comment,” then have the doorbell and phone ring as soon as I hit post! I hate “drive-by” firsts…

    Still trying to catch up on all of the great info filled posts since last Thursday.

    Thanks, once again for the birthday greetings! I’m Blessed to start a new decade — Sassy Sixty… The weekend was filled with lots of “life 101,” first world situations (I just REFUSE to have problems). Friday (my BD) found me at the laundromat — 16 loads — I have TOO MUCH STUFF! I’d not done laundry since my machine broke on July 4th fortunately, I have a HS kid that helps with chores and he gave me a hand. Intended to crash when I got home, however, there was a voice mail from my neighbor (cousin by marriage) saying she was taking me out to dinner. We had a marvelous time. Saturday morning I found, she had left on my porch, the most beautiful card telling we just what I meant to her and her family. TEARS!

    Saturday, my Mom, cousin, and I hit COSTCO. More later on why I love COSTCO…

    My paternal Uncle is visiting from California; as the family compound in DE is rural and full of allergens, I decided to host them for a dinner party on Sunday. I went all out — plan was to dine alfresco. I polished the silver, broke out the china & crystal. Had all of the side dishes prepared and ready to go; broke out the 8 pounds of fresh salmon purchased at COSTCO and it stunk to high heaven! Now, this is 20 minutes before my guests were to arrive! I called for chinese takeout — they were none the wiser!

    Why I love COSTCO. I was going to return the salmon yesterday, however, was washed out after my infusion treatment, I called the manager instead. Told him how upset I was and that I had stuck the fish in the freezer for return at a later day. He apologized profusely and stated when I returned the fish, I’d receive a refund AND a free replacement. Like a company that stands by its product.

    • 82 mtmarilyn
      September 9, 2015 at 1:26 pm

      Oh Jazziz, it is so soul safisfying when your family afirms your value to them. Know that they do appreciate you. We sure do here at TOD.

      I so love Costco. They stand by their empolyees and their products. Have a beautiful day.

  22. 84 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 1:23 pm

    Hello TOD.
    Rainy. Dull. Cloudy.
    Another Winner, LL. Thank you.
    Congrats Jazziz2 on your Gold ⭐

  23. 85 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 1:26 pm

    So Congressional GOPers are once again…..trying another Gimmick…….after all their chest pumping for months end…..now they are whimpering out? Wow……whenever beaten at their own designed slant game…….the either move the Goal Post Again, or they change the rules or they Go Never Mind as if Nothing was ever a problem. Shameful.

  24. 87 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 1:30 pm

  25. 92 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 1:34 pm

    How many people Worked in that Court House, Visited and Observed Court proceedings and walked away without saying anything?

  26. 93 JER
    September 9, 2015 at 1:36 pm

  27. 99 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 1:37 pm

    The Actual quote is: I am Not the President.
    It aches my Liberal Bleeding Heart that Wisc elected this man 3X in 4.5yrs.
    What a pathetic fatuous idiot……Walker is.

  28. 100 Allison
    September 9, 2015 at 1:39 pm

  29. 101 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 1:40 pm

    Interesting?

  30. 103 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 1:42 pm

  31. 104 JER
    September 9, 2015 at 1:52 pm

  32. September 9, 2015 at 1:55 pm

    The Hate Rally!

  33. 108 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    😆 🙄 😆 🙄

  34. 111 JER
    September 9, 2015 at 1:57 pm

  35. 114 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 1:59 pm

  36. 116 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 2:04 pm

    Holy smokes.
    It will be hard for me to ever justify casting a vote for Sen Sanders.
    In SC, HRC is leading Sanders by nearly 30% points.
    Dr. Cornell West isn’t the answer……sorry.

    • 117 sherijr
      September 9, 2015 at 2:34 pm

      wow, I guess Bernie really is running against President Obama, cannot think of any other reason for Cornel West’s presence.

      • 118 0388jojothecat
        September 9, 2015 at 2:55 pm

        What has HE ever done for poor and working people? Sell books only fed him and no one else. What office has he run for? What had he been doing before Barack Obama was State/U.S Senator and President? Not a damn thing….

  37. September 9, 2015 at 2:11 pm

  38. 120 Nena20409
    September 9, 2015 at 2:25 pm

    This link fits more with this post……
    An apple doesn’t fall too far from a tree.


Comments are currently closed.

@POTUS

@BarackObama

@WhiteHouse

@FLOTUS

@MichelleObama

@PeteSouza

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

@TheObamaDiary

@NerdyWonka

RSS Obama White House.gov

  • An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.

RSS WH Tumblr

  • An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.

RSS Steve Benen

  • Christie enters race, blasts Trump as 'lonely, self-consumed...mirror hog'
  • Writer who left day job and traveled the country details experience in 'America the Beautiful?'
  • Army Secretary: 'Woke military' criticisms are undermining our recruiting
  • Everyone in the golf world caught off guard by merger, says writer
  • The impact of big tech rolling back misinformation measures
  • Steve Rattner breaks down what's driving America's sour mood
  • Joe: Gov. Newsom is calling out 'abhorrent' moves by DeSantis
  • Richard Haass: PGA/LIV Golf merger a question of 'when' and not 'if'
  • Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, testifies before grand jury
  • 'Kimberly Akimbo' star says show has taught her the preciousness of life

Categories

Archives

Blog Stats

  • 43,366,296 hits
September 2015
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930  

%d bloggers like this: