amy31416
04-05-2010, 08:07 AM
As a McCarthyist, get yer mind out of the gutter. :p
I know she's been semi libertarian-friendly, but does she even realize her hypocrisy in supporting the "right-wing-extremist" witch hunts? Justin seems to imply that she knows full well what she's doing, but given the cognitive dissonance that people display--on the left and the right, I'm not so sure.
Either way, it's (of course), a very well-written article and I'd love to see Maddow address it, or have Raimondo on for an interview.
Rachel Maddow, McCarthyite
The FBI, the left, and the war on "extremism"
by Justin Raimondo, April 05, 2010
Every government lives in fear of its own citizens. The fear waxes and wanes, as the tides of public opinion and economic ups and downs crest and wash over the political landscape. In good times, the fear is somewhat contained: discontent, albeit ever-present, is masked by prosperity and contained; in bad times, the fear overflows into the everyday life of the citizenry, which is viewed with the utmost suspicion by the ruling elite. In Washington, they’re wondering: how long will they put up with it?
Today, the answer to that question is: not much longer – and the fear is manifest in the latest campaign against "extremism," which is being touted by the "mainstream" media, the authorities, and the professional "extremist"-hunters who work in tandem with both. To give you the flavor of the witch-hunting atmosphere being whipped up by the media-FBI complex, get a load of Rachel Maddow, the "liberal" MSNBC commentator, last Thursday night. After running a videotaped interview with anti-abortion militant Scott Roeder – recently sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an abortion doctor – in which Roeder expressed support for the "sovereignist" doctrine that the federal government has no right to institute drivers’ licenses, she averred:
"So, yes, so you can see Roeder as an anti-abortion extremist. You can also identify anti-abortion extremism as one branch of the broader movement of violent, militant, anti-government extremism in this country. We associate that movement with the early and mid-’90s, which is when that tape of Scott Roeder that you just saw was filmed. But just in the last 18 months since President Obama took office, a white supremacist shot and killed a security guard in an attack on the Holocaust Museum in Washington. An anti-tax extremist flew a plane into a building in Texas that housed an IRS office. He killed an IRS worker. Nine suspected militia members [were] arrested for allegedly plotting an attack on police officers as part of a war they wanted to wage against the United States government. A Tennessee white supremacist convicted of plotting to kill President Obama near the end of the presidential campaign in ‘08.
"And, of course, there’s Scott Roeder killing Dr. George Tiller.
"And, of course, there’s the wave of threats and property damage against members of Congress after the health reform bill passed.
"Is it helpful to find the connections between these disparate acts, to understand what American extremism is now? Or are these all individual crazy people with no connection to politics, no connection to each other, no connection to a broader movement or to the broader country at large? What’s the better way to understand this and is this stuff going to stop? Joining us now is Eugene Robinson…"
One can easily guess Robinson’s answer to Maddow’s largely rhetorical question, but let’s rewind just a bit, and note the smearing methodology employed here: the classic amalgam. Grouped together in one intellectual package deal are:
* "antigovernment" activists
* white supremacists out to kill the President,
* antiabortion fanatics out to kill abortionists,
* and crazed anti-Semites out to attack the Holocaust Museum.
At least one of these things is not like the others, and Maddow – no dummy – knows it. ....
Read the rest at: http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/04/04/rachel-maddow-mccarthyite/
I know she's been semi libertarian-friendly, but does she even realize her hypocrisy in supporting the "right-wing-extremist" witch hunts? Justin seems to imply that she knows full well what she's doing, but given the cognitive dissonance that people display--on the left and the right, I'm not so sure.
Either way, it's (of course), a very well-written article and I'd love to see Maddow address it, or have Raimondo on for an interview.
Rachel Maddow, McCarthyite
The FBI, the left, and the war on "extremism"
by Justin Raimondo, April 05, 2010
Every government lives in fear of its own citizens. The fear waxes and wanes, as the tides of public opinion and economic ups and downs crest and wash over the political landscape. In good times, the fear is somewhat contained: discontent, albeit ever-present, is masked by prosperity and contained; in bad times, the fear overflows into the everyday life of the citizenry, which is viewed with the utmost suspicion by the ruling elite. In Washington, they’re wondering: how long will they put up with it?
Today, the answer to that question is: not much longer – and the fear is manifest in the latest campaign against "extremism," which is being touted by the "mainstream" media, the authorities, and the professional "extremist"-hunters who work in tandem with both. To give you the flavor of the witch-hunting atmosphere being whipped up by the media-FBI complex, get a load of Rachel Maddow, the "liberal" MSNBC commentator, last Thursday night. After running a videotaped interview with anti-abortion militant Scott Roeder – recently sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an abortion doctor – in which Roeder expressed support for the "sovereignist" doctrine that the federal government has no right to institute drivers’ licenses, she averred:
"So, yes, so you can see Roeder as an anti-abortion extremist. You can also identify anti-abortion extremism as one branch of the broader movement of violent, militant, anti-government extremism in this country. We associate that movement with the early and mid-’90s, which is when that tape of Scott Roeder that you just saw was filmed. But just in the last 18 months since President Obama took office, a white supremacist shot and killed a security guard in an attack on the Holocaust Museum in Washington. An anti-tax extremist flew a plane into a building in Texas that housed an IRS office. He killed an IRS worker. Nine suspected militia members [were] arrested for allegedly plotting an attack on police officers as part of a war they wanted to wage against the United States government. A Tennessee white supremacist convicted of plotting to kill President Obama near the end of the presidential campaign in ‘08.
"And, of course, there’s Scott Roeder killing Dr. George Tiller.
"And, of course, there’s the wave of threats and property damage against members of Congress after the health reform bill passed.
"Is it helpful to find the connections between these disparate acts, to understand what American extremism is now? Or are these all individual crazy people with no connection to politics, no connection to each other, no connection to a broader movement or to the broader country at large? What’s the better way to understand this and is this stuff going to stop? Joining us now is Eugene Robinson…"
One can easily guess Robinson’s answer to Maddow’s largely rhetorical question, but let’s rewind just a bit, and note the smearing methodology employed here: the classic amalgam. Grouped together in one intellectual package deal are:
* "antigovernment" activists
* white supremacists out to kill the President,
* antiabortion fanatics out to kill abortionists,
* and crazed anti-Semites out to attack the Holocaust Museum.
At least one of these things is not like the others, and Maddow – no dummy – knows it. ....
Read the rest at: http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/04/04/rachel-maddow-mccarthyite/