At the Republican state convention in Montana some fringe members constructed a small building, riddled it with fake bullet holes and hung a sign over the door which said, "Obama library." It was an outhouse. Inside were insults to the first lady, the Secretary of State and Nancy Pelosi.
Elsewhere, a malicious blog accused the A.C.L.U. of trying to make it against the law to use the word "Jesus" at Marine funerals or put a cross on their tombstones. This was a complete lie. We have a murdered abortion doctor and recently a lesbian couple in Texas was shot; one of them dead.
The president and governor Romney have both been heckled. Neither is acceptable. What do you think this is...the British Parliament? Take your anger out at the ballot box or in print, as I'm doing.
So how do Republicans court the vote of thoroughly objectionable people without being too obvious? I will tell you. They speak in code.
Nothing we can't understand, but they somehow think it gives them plausible deniability. This does not include conservative Vermonters. They are (mostly) decent sorts. I will translate their code:
"Radical feminists," or, as the malignant Rush Limbaugh put it, "feminazis" = Women who demand equal rights and reproductive freedom. Remember, the social agenda of this current batch of Republicans (depending on which way Romney flips or flops) is straight out of the Dark Ages.
"Obama care" = Romney care
"Top down economics" = trickle-down economics...didn't work then, won't work now. Congressional Republicans blatantly continue to help widen the gaping gap between rich and poor as they serve their corporate overlords. That is their primary function. We 99 percent are tired of being trickled down on.
"Compromise" or "bipartisanship" = Do exactly as I say. My way or the highway. The know-nothing tea baggers have made that even worse. And when Democrats agree to a position held by Republicans months or even weeks before, more often than not Republicans take it off the table and move the goal line further to the right. What could be more telling?
"Unpatriotic people who hate America" = Anyone who disagrees with us. No one questions the patriotism of right wingers. But we must add another layer to that -- it's called jingoism.
Righties, you can keep on wrapping yourselves in the flag and wearing religion on your sleeves; you're only fooling each other.
"Liberal" = A dirty word. I proudly wear the mantle of Liberal
"Socialism" = An even dirtier word. We'll go into that another time, but for now, God bless Senator Bernie Sanders.
"New voter I.D. laws" = Voter suppression designed to rig an election; to keep hundreds of thousands of African Americans, Hispanics, senior citizens like myself, young people, Asians and disabled from voting.
Right wing Republicans! Get to a time machine and go back to your good old days with Joseph McCarthy and the John Birchers. There's no place for you here in the future. You have no more Lincolns or Teddy Roosevelts or Eisenhowers or Everett Dirksons. You are deservedly destined for the trash heap of history, unless, God forbid, you succeed in your unwitting drive to turn this country into a tyrannical theocratic serfdom.
Mike Lussen lives in Warren.
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