Obama's Safety: Fear Grows for President as Hate Groups Thrive on Racial Backlash

This is despicable, however you can't paint everyone who is a protester just because of this idiot. I believe Obama is probably a very nice guy, and he has a lovely family with two beautiful daughters and wish no harm upon them. I however, do not agree with his healthcare plan or most all of his policies, and that's that. Policy should not reach this personal level, and that goes for both sides. The left shouldn't call everyone protesting a "crazy right winger" and the right wing should not drag anything personal into this, such as death, family or anything of that sort. This man shouldn't be arrested, but he should be watched, because it's frankly sickening.

If you really wanted to talk conspiracy, the best thing that could happen to the Democratic party right now would be an attempt or successful attempt on Obama's life. You just pin that on a listener of Rush Limbaugh or anyone, and suddenly you have a panic reaction from the public to give the government a control over media. If anything happens to Obama, in my opinion it would be someone trying to make him a martyr.

I hope NOTHING happens to him, nothing, not an attempt, not a scratch. He's a human just like all of us, and his injury should not be a symbol to either side.

reply to post by crimvelvet


I disagree with both you and gorman91 (?) (Dave?)

I see one thiing, you see another.
That doesn't make my opinion wrong, it just makes it different to yours.

I disagree on the path laid out.

I disagree on where it's going.

But like I say, that's just my opinion and it means no more or less than anyone else's.

Margins Of Error

Originally posted by budski
Hence the overt marginalisation strategies that we are seeing, along with whipping up popular support against him via the medium of lies and disinfo.

Marginalization strategies?

You mean like government officials publicly characterizing anyone who may disagree with President Obama as "paid shills", "astroturfers", "racists", "white supremacists" and "domestic terrorists" -- via their own official statements and yellow journalism like this latest ABC hit piece?

Note how effectively the article uses a few extreme and carefully-selected examples combined with cherry-picked "expert" opinions to paint an alarming picture and lead the reader to conclude that opposition to President Obama's policy proposals is equivalent to a threat to his safety. Consider the implicit confirmation your own leading rhetorical questions offer for that conclusion:

Originally posted by budski
Has it really come to this?

Have the haters won so soon?

Has the right wing propaganda worked?

The childish spectacle of rampant argumenta ad hominem and appeals to fear presently dominating public debate would be humorous if it weren't so ominous. The consequences go far, far beyond any concerns about town halls, healthcare, the President's safety -- or the false dichotomy of "right wing" versus "left wing", for that matter -- and portend extremely dangerous times for our nation.

Yes, the handful of incidents highlighted by the source article are alarming, and the obnoxious behavior of some protesters (many of whom may in fact be shills) is deplorable, but the routine yet patently false implication that they are somehow representative of the tens of millions of opponents of President Obama's political agenda is much more so.

What is most disturbing about the latest trend in marginalizing and demonizing legitimate political opposition is that it isn't merely the more traditional fare of political parties, abusive corporations, unions and yellow journalists, but is now being openly orchestrated and promoted by the U.S. government -- as evidenced by nothing less than the public statements of the President himself and allied officeholders.

Beware the use of government power to silence political dissent, regardless of how seductive the pretext may be. Such behavior is the province of despots and dictators, not a free nation.

That is a road down which this country must not allow itself to be dragged again. :shk:

reply to post by Majic


Oh, I'm not underestimating the power of what Obama is doing, and nor am I saying that he is right.

Or wrong.

I'm saying that from the perspective of the article there are questions to be asked.

I think that is the basis of discussion, and learning - particularly if you learn by asking, discussing and yes, sometimes taking a view that you don't particualrly believe in.

And for me, it's important to understand all sides of the debate - not just my own point of view.

What better way to do that than to engineer a discussion which answers the questions I have.

No matter that it gets heated - I'm looking for diamonds in the rough.

Is that so bad?

reply to post by budski


Nope. It's patriotic sir!

But, while you have a right to speak your mind in the great diversity of ways to do it, you also have the right to be debated and countered.

reply to post by Gorman91

Nope. It's patriotic sir!

But, while you have a right to speak your mind in the great diversity of ways to do it, you also have the right to be debated and countered.

Perhaps...

And I never said otherwise...

So in this article, they successfully contradict themselves from one paragraph to the next.


First it says "Los Angeles police officers apprehended a man Thursday after a standoff with him inside a red Volkswagen Bug car in Westwood, CA – the latest disturbing case even though officials said the man had mental problems. "

Then in the very next paragraph it says ""I don't think these are simply people who are mentally ill or off their rocker," Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told ABC News of those behind the threats. "In a very real sense they represent a genuine reaction, a genuine backlash against Obama.""

So to prove their point that these are not crazy nutjobs, they use the example of a nutjob in LA.

I must say that they are getting really desperate if the only thing they can do now is say that anyone who opposes Obama is racist. The Southern Poverty Law center is at the spear of this feeble attempt to make freedom loving peaceful people appear to be violent terrorist racists.

I for one am laughing at you Southern Poverty Law Center, America is too smart for your B.S. to work. We are united, and standing tall, together for freedom!!!!!