It was the same thing against the Clinton administration and the Gore and Kerry presidential campaigns. Every hackneyed theory was aired and every blip or slip (even if the slip didn't actually occur, see Gore and "Love Canal") was thoroughly covered. Every Wingnut is given their 15 minutes, but widespread moderately liberal ideas (single payer healthcare for instance) are marginalized, and ignored. There actually is a "Vast Right Wing conspiracy", sadly it's run by News Corp, Viacom, GE, etc.....

jwin:

It was the same thing against the Clinton administration and the Gore and Kerry presidential campaigns. Every hackneyed theory was aired and every blip or slip (even if the slip didn't actually occur, see Gore and "Love Canal") was thoroughly covered. Every Wingnut is given their 15 minutes, but widespread moderately liberal ideas (single payer healthcare for instance) are marginalized, and ignored. There actually is a "Vast Right Wing conspiracy", sadly it's run by News Corp, Viacom, GE, etc.....

Not to mention the paranoid extremists who seemed so sure that G.W. Bush was planning to conquer an empire, steal Iraqi oil, and suspend elections in this country. Every religion and political movement has its wingnuts.

Yes. And if the movement itself does not shout them down and draw clear lines of delineation, they risk those beliefs becoming characteristic (or perceived as characteristic) of their group. In these cases, groups like Fox News are not only failing to shout them down, they're giving them prime placement.

That is the scariest part, the Fox news encouragement.

I see some very significant differences between the wingnutism of 15 years ago and that of today. Today's nutty fringe is now openly endorsed by GOP elected political leaders as well as by rightwing media pundits. It would've been hard to imagine Bob Dole in the '96 presidential campaign smirking approval at some idiot howling out for the murder of Bill Clinton. It was openly endorsed by Sarah Palin at her rallies. It would've been inconceivable for a 20th-century Republican governor to call for secession -- or to heap public praise upon a self-described "rightwing terrorist". For all the rage against the 2000 election fiasco, there were no Democratic political or party leaders who publicly asserted GW Bush did not legitimately hold his office.

Have we seen ANY Republican anywhere willing to state the obvious -- that it's wrong to carry firearms to a political really, or to howl for the murder of Americans they dislike? (well, I do give John McCain credit for -- however briefly -- standing up to such craziness). We've seen Republican congresspeople claiming that all non-Republicans in congress are "anti-American" -- presumably, for supporting the outcome of a democratic presidential election.

We see Fray posters claiming to know that "the left" holds all sorts of crazy ideas. But, when you ask them who these "lefties" are who have such terrible thoughts, they're either unable to say, or they name people like Rosie Odonnel or Alec Baldwin -- in other words, people who are prominent in entertainment and who are arguably "left", but who hold no public office and who represent no known voting bloc. It's only Fox News who annoints people like Ward Churchill as "Democratic Leaders" -- it just doesn't match up with reality.

Whew. Thanks. You saved me a lot of paragraphs :-)

EbenCooke:

I see some very significant differences between the wingnutism of 15 years ago and that of today. Today's nutty fringe is now openly endorsed by GOP elected political leaders as well as by rightwing media pundits. It would've been hard to imagine Bob Dole in the '96 presidential campaign smirking approval at some idiot howling out for the murder of Bill Clinton. It was openly endorsed by Sarah Palin at her rallies.

I still don't think of Sarah Palin as a "Republican political leader". I think of her more as a political celebrity.

It would've been inconceivable for a 20th-century Republican governor to call for secession -- or to heap public praise upon a self-described "rightwing terrorist". For all the rage against the 2000 election fiasco, there were no Democratic political or party leaders who publicly asserted GW Bush did not legitimately hold his office.

I haven't heard of Republican elected officials saying that Obama does not legitimately hold his office. I _have_ heard many Democratic elected officials saying that about GWB, especially after 2000.

Have we seen ANY Republican anywhere willing to state the obvious -- that it's wrong to carry firearms to a political really, or to howl for the murder of Americans they dislike? (well, I do give John McCain credit for -- however briefly -- standing up to such craziness).

It's not wrong to carry firearms to a political rally, as long as it's your own rally and you're not trying to break up someone else's. Or if it's not a rally but just a meeting, and your gun carrying is habitual. I do think that carrying a rifle to a meeting is over-the-top provocative. I see the "gun rights movement" as a sleeping giant that the Democrats under Bill Clinton woke.

In the 1990s Spike Lee called for murder of my President (Charleton Heston), saying "Shoot him with a Bulldog .44" (the type of gun used in the Son of Sam serial murders). I don't think all Democratic leaders stood in line to denounce that, though all would have, if asked -- just like all Republican congressmen would.

We've seen Republican congresspeople claiming that all non-Republicans in congress are "anti-American" -- presumably, for supporting the outcome of a democratic presidential election.

I don't follow politics much; which ones said such an outrageous thing? (Perhaps they merely meant to say that the non-Republicans were merely un-American.)

We see Fray posters claiming to know that "the left" holds all sorts of crazy ideas. But, when you ask them who these "lefties" are who have such terrible thoughts, they're either unable to say, or they name people like Rosie Odonnel or Alec Baldwin -- in other words, people who are prominent in entertainment and who are arguably "left", but who hold no public office and who represent no known voting bloc.

They probably just couldn't remember. Maxine Waters and Ron Dellums come to mind.