Max Blumenthal on NPR’s Fresh Air on what the crazy, racist wingnuts are doing to paint Obama as the boogeyman:
The goal is to paint Obama as a totalitarian, secret communist, fascist, terrorist, Muslim, whatever they can do, a basic pastiche of right-wing hobgoblins, a multicolored pinata of every evildoer they want to smash in order to de-legitimize him and mobilize as much opposition as possible.
Sadly and unsurprisingly, the epicentre for these schizophrenic anti-government, anti-fascist, pro-theocracy anger-fests are gun shows:
And the crowd you see at gun shows, I mean, some people are just basic, apolitical gun enthusiasts, but it’s a very political gathering. There are Confederate flags. There are even Nazi flags being displayed throughout the conference because it brings in elements that are even considered extreme within the right-wing grassroots, like neo-Nazis.
And it’s a gathering place. Gun shows have become a gathering place for people who are the most extreme opponents of Barack Obama’s agenda, and they’re energized again by the battle over health care. And we’re seeing it across the board; it’s not just with the extreme, militia-oriented elements. We’re seeing it within the Christian right.
A recent poll showed that seven out of 10 white evangelicals are extremely opposed to Barack Obama’s proposed health-care reforms. And the Christian right is raising a lot of money, organizing against health care. So it’s across the board. The right is growing again. And those who pronounced the death of conservatism, or the death of the Christian right, were premature.
In related stories, Barack Obama is now receiving 30 death threats a day according to the Secret Service – a 400% increase over last year with President Bush – and in Canada our national newspaper of record is openly opining about whether Obama can even survive.
*SIGH*
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