Obama Derangement Syndrome - the evidence mounts
Given the remarkable assertion here that the Left is insane, offensive, and totally without moral restraint, whereas the Right is beyond compare as scions of civil discourse, and any evidence to the contrary of either is utterly non-representative, let me offer some counter-examples culled from sources that I believe we can indeed reach consensus on as representing the “mainstream” right.
Obama had a gay love affair (front page post by RedState.com Editor)
Obama’s memoir was written by William Ayers (recommended diary at Redstate.com, post at The Corner @ National Review)
Obama’s got something to hide regarding his birth certificate (user diary at RedState.com, promoted to front page by Editors)
Obama’s got “ties” to Osama bin Laden - Virginia GOP Chairman Rick Frederick
Obama guilt by association with Marxists, Communists and Terrorists, Islamic Radicals.
Obama was a drug dealer (Dan Riehl)
Obama desecrated the memory of the victims of 9-11 because of how he placed flowers at Ground Zero (Michelle Malkin)
Obama Waffles - depicting him with exaggerated racial features and an Arab headdress on the box - do brisk sales at the Values Voter Summit, co-sponsored by American Values and Focus on the Family Action.
Obama supported a genocidal dictator in Kenya (Atlas Shrugs)
Obama is a pedophile sympathizer and wants to teach sex ed to kindergarteners (actual McCain campaign television ad)
And of course there is the mass, vicious, visceral, racist anger and threats against Obama at McCain campaign rallies, in response to Palin’s insinuations that “Our opponent … is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.” The GOP base thinks Obama is an Arab, a terrorist, and “still has the muslim in him“. The Secret Service is investigating shouts of “kill him” from one crowd at a Palin rally.
The narrative on the right has coalesced. Obama is a dangerous, immoral, radical leftist cipher who harbors secret communist designs and terrorist sympathies, and his victory in November will be ilegitimate and stolen (after all, “they” are already stealing Ohio).
UPDATE - a picture is worth a thousand words…
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25 comments
I like the secret plot with the Kenyan Government. That one’s my favorite.
Oh don’t forget he’s a fascist that bears an uncanny resemblance to Hitler too.
jrogge, you just invoked Hitler. Game over, godwin’s law! clearly the Left is rabid and the right civil after all.
Clearly.
BTW I was kinda hoping that that last post came off as sarcasm.
Aziz:
I wonder if you know that "data" is not the plural of "anecdote."
You can morally equivocate all you like, the reality is that the Left is significantly more batshit deranged than the right, and if you can’t tell that, that’s not my problem. Spend some time on Daily KOS, Firedoglake, Huff Post, etc.
Yes you can find some examples on the right, but the volume and the quantity is higher on the left.
It’s very similar, in fact, to the tendency to spout profanity, every study I’ve seen shows the Lefty blogs roughly 10 times as likely to use profanity than Righty blogs. I think thats about right for the tendency to be batshit crazy too.
Perhaps the batshit craziness is increasing on the right, if so you can hardly blame them, they’ve seen Democrats parlay Bush Derangement Syndrome into electoral victory, so no doubt many on the Right are saying “well, we need to do the same thing.”
I think it’s a sad commentary on our times that EITHER side does it, but the Left is far, far and away the worse offender at this time.
CosmicConservative’s last blog post..Podcars?. fiction or fact?
ok CC put your money where your mouth is, find me links of comparable quality and *authority* (no nutpicking from marginal bloggers). the best you’ll be able to do is assert that the nutcases are out in equal force on left and right. Its your assertion, not mine, that one side holds a monopoly, and while you certainly parrot the line about anecdotes and data well, you’ve yet to provide either.
jrogge, I actually laughe aloud at your first comment
sarcasm came across loud and clear, no worries 
The RedState post about the gay affair was about an Enquirer article about the topic. The point was that some on the left ignored the Enquirer’s story about the Edwards affair and then took what they said about Palin as gospel. In other words, they were wondering why stories about Democrats in the Enquirer were poo-pooed, but the Palin stories were newsworthy.
Frederick said (about Obama and bin Laden) that "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon", which is true.
Obama does have connections (strong ones in many cases) with people who hold beliefs that are, at least, rooted in Marxism.
Riehl was asking about how Obama paid for an apartment after he lied about his income on the application. He didn’t accuse him of being a drug dealer, but asked the question based on his "running buddies" at the time.
The Obama waffles issue was probably just due to someone not checking what vendors were selling. They were asked to leave when officials saw what was on the boxes. I also couldn’t find any numbers to indicate "brisk sales".
I didn’t care for the sex ed bill either and the way it was worded left some room for interpretation. I never heard anything about him being a pedophile sympathizer.
I have heard of a FEW people using racist remarks, but the vast majority just don’t like Obama’s policies. To say the GOP base thinks he’s an Arab is a distortion - there are some who believe that, but it is a very, very small number. Also, the Secret Service has dropped the investigation into the "kill him" incident. Here is the quote:
Donovan said it wasn’t clear whether the threat was actually vocalized or, if so, if it was meant for Obama or even Ayers, both of whose names were uttered by Palin at that moment in her speech.
For those reasons, he added, the investigation was dropped.
Apparently, they are trying to steal Ohio. That would be obvious from the news stories on the issue.
Oh, I have pictures, too. These are just a few examples of the disgusting crap that’s out there.
http://tinyurl.com/4hyn4k
http://tinyurl.com/3ef97l
http://tinyurl.com/46lsax
http://tinyurl.com/3rka27
To pick on the one thread I’m familiar with, yes, one of The Corner’s contributers (Andy McCarthy) did pick up on the Ayers-as-Ghostwriter theory. And has been catching flack about it from another contributer on the same blog.
Quote Jonathan Adler:
"C’mon Andy. Giving credence to Jack Cashill’s maybe-Ayers-wrote-Obama’s-book theory is a bit much. This is even more outlandish than his stuff alleging a possible connection between Enron and Ron Brown’s death. Even if Obama’s book was ghost-written — and I’ve seen no evidence that it was — fingering Ayers as the potential author is nutter-territory stuff."
One distinction is that the nutters on the right get challenged by .. others on the right.
The birth certificate thing particularly got torn up from the right.
Aziz, could you show some examples of nut-rejection on the left? Particularly regarding Sarah Palin?
Obama sought and obtained the New Party endorsement. Pointing that out is guilt by association? As to the lie about the McCain campaign supposedly calling Obama a pedophile sympathizer, I’m not sure which is worse: the lie itself, or the implicit insult to your readers, who you presumably think are stupid enough to believe it.
Xrlq’s last blog post..Obama for President, Whoever That Is
I recommend reading this, this, and this, on the Volokh conspiracy. Also, the Washington Post has a piece on the history of negative campaigning in American politics.
Aziz,
You almost had me, then I started following the links you’ve provided and see that they don’t all quite match the headlines you give them.
I won’t argue that one side has a monopoly on vitriol, but if this is the best you can come up with, well… it actually pushes me the other way. I would have thought you could have done much better than this.
For example, the supposed Obama had a gay lover article is nothing of the sort. Texas pointed out what that article was really about, and if there was still doubt, you only needed to read a few paragraphs in:
This post is not intended to spread that rumor. Frankly, if Obama wins, we’ll have our hands full around here making sure folks don’t develop Obama Derangement Syndrome.
This is the evidence of ODS mounting?
I also would take exception to the description of Michelle Malkin’s post about Obama tossing the rose on the memorial as claiming that he “desecrated the memory of the victims of 9-11″.
Read the post; she claims no such thing. She doesn’t even insinuate it. The worst she says is that “He doesn’t know what he’s doing”, e.g. he doesn’t appear to have an intrinsic sense of appropriate behavior in a solemn ceremony.
“Desecration”. Sheesh. Aziz, I’m open to your argument here, but if your goal is to demonstrate facts in evidence that support your point, the cardinal rule is that you can’t make stuff up.
I haven’t heard of most of the things you cite. The only one I’m concerned about is the birth certificate issue which he could allay simply by producing it…
Yes, but quite a few of those are true.
As far as the "angry base, " please. The left has been calling Bush Hitler and engaging in assassination fantasies for years. They’re FAR more unhinged and violent than the right, as evidenced by the fact they’re now calling Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist bomber, "mainstream."
How about the massive vote fraud ACORN is now committing? Do I even need to cite the last election’s slashed tires in Milwaukee, shots fired into Bush/Cheney offices in Tennessee, crudely forged 1971 memos slandering Bush passed to the national media (which was only too ready to believe them).
It’s not even close.
Brian, I’m willing to concede I exaggerated her tone. Malkin is a particularly sore spot for me, given that she wants to round my kind up and all. But ok, Obama did not show appropriate behavior because of how he laid flowers. Is this line of argument really exculpatory?
Dave - assassination fantasy? Show me where you saw that in the mainstream liberal media or blogsphere. I’ve NEVER heard that, not a single time, not even on Dailykos (and mu user id is <1000 there, so I’ve been around there a long long time.)
As far as “most of these being true” I think that the statement alone is indicative of some contamination by ODS. None of them are even remotely reasonable lines of discourse.
Paul, if a scurrilous and ridiculous rumor is just that and nothing more, than devoting a front-page post to it, linking to the original smear artist, and then inviting discussion on it without attempt at rebutting commenters who run with the ball enthusiastically, all suggest a motivation and intent that is not magically erased by “oh and yeah I’m not intending to spread the rumor. I’m just sayin’ is all” CYA statements.
Dishman, there were ZERO scurrilous rumors about Sarah Palin’s pregnancy in the mainstream left media. Apatr from Andrew Sullivan, who is as usual a basket case in his own world, but he got shouted down on it by every mainstream liberal blogger. The main rumormonger (who Sullvan cited) was a single diarist at dkos whose comment thread immediately filled to several thousand replies, one of the nastiest brawls I’ve seen on dkos in a while with people defending Palin’s privacy determined not to let the thing stand. In general I was quite proud of the liberal blogsphere for standing up to the garbage peddlers and trolls within. There is plenty to critique Palin on, but her children are off-limits.
Choey, Obama has put his birth certificate on his actual campagn website, if you are so inclined to view it.
Eric, yes Andy was called on it, but he isn’t a lone diarist, he’s a major columnist for NRO. So the fact remains that the nonsensical idea has actually penegtrated the conservative pundit elite, not just teh fringes.
harbors secret communist designs and terrorist sympathies
You present as though it’s some crazy right-wing lunacy, but we’d be hearing the same from the MSM if McCain had a close 20-year relationship with a white racist pastor, a John Bircher instead of a Communist mentor, and had launched his political camapaign from the home of a right-wing terrorist like Eric Rudolph instead of the leftwing Weathermen.
Frankly, it’s rather astonishing the media has managed to whitewash all that.
Show me where you saw that in the mainstream liberal media or blogsphere. I’ve NEVER heard that, not a single time
You’re kidding, right? Remember the newspaper advertisement in FL about shooting Rumsfeld in the head? The infamous "where are they now that we need them" Guardian column about past presidential assassins?
That’s off the top of my head. Michelle has a whole chapter of her book devoted to the phenomenon.
http://michellemalkin.com/2006/08/31/assassination-chic/
As far as “most of these being true” I think that the statement alone is indicative of some contamination by ODS. None of them are even remotely reasonable lines of discourse.
Good grief. There are actual facts behind most of them, your lurid overstatements of what the links actually say notwithstanding. Saying they aren’t "reasonable lines of discourse" is especially galling considering Obama won his Senate seat by getting his opponent’s child custody proceedings unsealed.
Dishman, there were ZERO scurrilous rumors about Sarah Palin’s pregnancy in the mainstream left media. Apatr from Andrew Sullivan, who is as usual a basket case in his own world, but he got shouted down on it by every mainstream liberal blogger.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=sarah+palin+trig&aq=f&oq=
It’s still the THIRD result for Sarah Palin + Trig, and about half the first page. That’s how “shouted down” the rumor was.
Before I stop wasting time on this, a final demonstration of how dishonest your post is:
"Obama’s got “ties” to Osama bin Laden - Virginia GOP Chairman Rick Frederick"
One might expect with the word "ties" in quotes that Frederick actually said they had ties, which would be a pretty serious accusation. Of course, he said no such thing. He just pointed out they both had "friends who bombed the Pentagon" — which is entirely accurate.
You might spend a little more time worrying about your own derangement.
He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama’s controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won’t salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don’t even know where Senator Obama was really born." Actually, we do; it’s Hawaii.
you’re right, he never used the word "ties" himself, he was just ridiculously inflammatory and dishonest in a different way. I was however wrong to use the quotes, I was catually quoting the reporter, but the actual word was "connection" rather than "tie", I seem to have substituted a synonym.
I am actually willing to grant you that you have a reasonable difference of opinion with me regarding whether the link to Ayers is significant. The "launched his career in his house" thing is pretty dishonest in itself, but theres lttle point in arguing about the details with you. I’m not particularly worried about McCain’s association with Hagee, either, though my reasoning is sure to drive you nuts, so I will spare you that, too.
I will also concede that yes, the people who immediately and ferociously pushed back against the Palin nonsense at dailykos, in thread, were indeedunable to prevent that post form being indexed by google and linked to by other sites, bestowing it with sufficient pagerank to persist in google searches. The vast left wing conspiracy seems to be losing its luster. The only inflouence we have over google nowadays is getting them to honor Paqddington Bear instead of Columbus Day. Ha ha! small victory, but victory nevertheless.
UPDATE - just saw malkins links. Cafepress shirts? columnists in the Guardian? your evidnetiary standard is much lower than the one I used in my post. If you had examples of assassination rhetoric from pundits in The Nation or American prospect, or actual Democratic party personnel, or the frontpagers at major Democratic websites like Dailykos, or even shouts from the masses at Obama rallies, or anything even remotely comparable to what I’ve shown in my post, then youd have a point, that yes the rhetoric on the right is as bad as the left - which is actually my point too, since I’m NOt arguing one side worse than the other.
if you really want to go mud-dragging there are plenty of cafepress shirts about Obama I can link here and pollute the thread even further, but Im not interested in that level. Sinking to Malkin’s levek rarely pays dividends.
Dave,
well…
i think overall there’s a tendency to think "i am [right/left] leaning. i am reasonable. therefore, people who think like me are also pretty reasonable." but i would submit that not only does nobody think alike, but everybody is very unreasonable about a large number of things which may or may not include politics or the current presidential candidates.
for example, Dave is very willing to give total passes to people extolling violence at McCain/Palin rallies, but suddenly shots fired into Bush/Cheney offices are emblematic of the left as a whole.
How about the massive vote fraud ACORN is now committing? Do I even need to cite the last election’s slashed tires in Milwaukee, shots fired into Bush/Cheney offices in Tennessee, crudely forged 1971 memos slandering Bush passed to the national media (which was only too ready to believe them).
It’s a conspiracy!
Malkin is a particularly sore spot for me, given that she wants to round my kind up and all.
No, she doesn’t. If you read her book, rather than reading lies told about her book, you’ll understand that her point has been entirely misunderstood and misrepresented.
I read the book, Martin. I borrowed it from a library, and I have also referred to the online version several times at Google books. She makes an impassioned case for justifying Japanese American internment - a case that was factually debunked, comprehensively and systematically. The entire rebuttal is 29 posts long and first appeared on Volokh. And she’s been making the basic argument that Islam and its adherents are fundamentally hostile to American values as a matter of inherent doctrine, agreeing with Daniel Pipes and Robert Spencer.
So she does have a single line of CYA saying shes not directly advcating for Arab/muslim internment. Thats in the intro to the book. The rest of the book, and her own writing since, say otherwise.
(incidentally, Martin I take comments by you very seriously and make every effort to find good suportive links. This is because I genuinely respect you. Please note that reciprocity and courtesy obligate you to ask me whether I’d read a book before assuming I havent. Please extend me the benefit of the doubt that I have earned.)
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