A President Was KILLED The Last Time RIGHT-WING HATRED Ran Wild Like This.

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That being John F. Kennedy, who was gunned down in Dallas, of course.


I've been thinking a lot of Kennedy and Dallas as I've watched the increasingly violent rhetorical attacks on Obama be unfurled. As Americans yank their kids of class in order to save them from being exposed to the President of the United States who only wanted to urge them to excel in the classroom. And as unvarnished hate and name-calling passed for health care 'debate' this summer.


The radical right, aided by a GOP Noise Machine that positively dwarfs what existed in 1963, has turned demonizing Obama--making him into a vile object of disgust--into a crusade. It's a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.


But I've been thinking about Dallas in 1963 because I've been recalling the history and how that city stood as an outpost for the radical right, which never tried to hide its contempt for the New England Democrat.


Now, in this this month's Vanity Fair, Sam Kashner offers up in rich detail the hatred that ran wild in Dallas in 1963. To me, the similarity between Dallas in 1963 and today's unhinged Obama hate is downright chilling.


Kashner's fascinating cover story actually chronicles the professional struggles of writer William Manchester who was tapped by the Kennedy family, after the president's assassination, to write the definitive book about the shooting. The Vanity Fair articles details the power struggles, and epic lawsuits, that ensued prior to Manchester's publication.


But this unnerving passage from VF caught my eye. In it, Kashner retraces Manchester's step as he researched his book. It's unsettling because if you insert "Obama" for every "Kennedy" reference, it reads like 2009:



Manchester also discovered that Dallas "had become the Mecca for medicine-show evangelists … the Minutemen, the John Birch and Patrick Henry Societies, and the headquarters of H. L. Hunt and his activities."


"In that third year of the Kennedy presidency," Manchester wrote, "a kind of fever lay over Dallas country. Mad things happened. Huge billboards screamed, ‘Impeach Earl Warren.’ Jewish stores were smeared with crude swastikas.…Radical Right polemics were distributed in public schools; Kennedy’s name was booed in classrooms; corporate junior executives were required to attend radical seminars."


A retired major general ran the American flag upside down, deriding it as "the Democrat flag." A wanted poster with J.F.K.’s face on it was circulated, announcing "this man is Wanted" for—among other things—"turning the sovereignty of the US over to the Communist controlled United Nations" and appointing "anti-Christians … aliens and known Communists" to federal offices.


And a full-page advertisement had appeared the day of the assassination in The Dallas Morning News accusing Kennedy of making a secret deal with the Communist Party; when it was shown to the president, he was appalled. He turned to Jacqueline, who was visibly upset, and said, "Oh, you know, we’re heading into nut country today."


Manchester discovered that in a wealthy Dallas suburb, when told that President Kennedy had been murdered in their city, the students in a fourth-grade class burst into applause.



Today, conservatives are expressing outrage that Rep. Nancy Pelosi had the nerve to raise concerns about the onrush of violent political rhetoric. The Noise Machine claims it has no idea what Pelosi's talking about. But the truth is, America's most famous bouts of political violence (i.e. JFK, Oklahoma City, etc.) have always been accompanied by waves of radical, right-wing rhetoric. Given that history, the GOP's insistence that the hate now filling the streets couldn't possibly inspire violence seems woefully naive.


<http://www.truthout.org/091909C>

[Common Sense Party]

1. Are you suggesting Lee Harvey Oswald was a tea-bagger?

No, of course not. A gang of Birchers shot Kennedy.

[lame54]

4. he was called a lone nut

[Va Lefty]

2. I remember a lot of hateful shit when Clinton was President

He was a "dope smoking, draft dodging communist". Also a lot of innuendo about the Clintons being involved in multiple murders in Arkansas. I don't mean to minimize your fears (I think the RW is trying to gin up the nuts to do something to Obama) just saying it's a oft used play in their playbook

[liberal N proud]

8. This hate is double that which was shown against Clinton

This nation is becoming more polarized with each passing day as the likes of Beck and Limbaugh stir their Beckerheads and Dittoheads into a froth of anger like this nation has not seen for a long, long time, if ever.

[Va Lefty]

10. Sadly, I agree. RW radio has evolved into Joesph Goebbels wet dream.

I pray that they are all bark and no bite. Many of them are impotent bullies. Race is a new factor into their hatred. Hatred and and fear are all they have left

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12. Electing Obama has become a recruiting bonanza tool for these hate groups. It doesn't take much for

a few wild-eyed demented haters to convince themselves that its time to cross the line and become urban heros within their circles. They definitely need to be closely watched indeed.

[Segami]

11. What Clinton experienced back then was nothing in comparison to what we're seeing today including

the out-in-the-open brandishing of firearms at Obama rallies that is laying the groundwork for a continuance of such in your face antics. The toxic air is without question quite different today with an increased sense of focused hate & purpose coming from these nut cases.

[Czar One]

20. And remember:

Most of the hatred for Clinton (pre-Lewinsky) was centered inside the Beltway. The vicious hatred for Obama is out there suffusing large segments of the country itself!

[Indigent]

24. I disagree. Clinton was called a murderer by prominet right-winges

Also, a man (Francisco Duran) today serves 40 years for attempting to kill him. Another one committed suicided by crashing a plane into the White House (1994). Some women called him rapist without evidence. He was called a drug-dealer, Etcetera.

(by the way, Kennedy was white).

[Indigent]

25. Don't forget a man fired 29 shots at the WH trying to kill Bill Clinton

Wikipedia it: Francisco Duran.

[lame54]

3. Clinton wasn't killed

[Va Lefty]

7. That's my point

still I surprised nobody made an attempt

[Posteritatis]

27. What? There were several attempts on Clinton. (nt)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Those who do not remember history...

Are condemned to repeat it...

Please be careful, Mr. President.


K&R

[elocs]

6. Better to have them out there where they can be watched.

I guarantee that every rethug who shows up an an Obama appearance carry a gun has a sharpshooter's rifle aimed at his forehead. I bet the freepers would be surprised if they knew how many of their groups and organizations have already been infiltrated. Obama is being protected by the best of the best and they are keeping track of the GOP hatriots.

[Alameda]

14. Well.........you are more optimistic than I am.

.........but I hope you are right. These people are very frightening indeed!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. This is what they do. They've always been haters.

But throw race into the mix and you really have an ugly mess. It's very worrisome.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. Or a McVeigh

That's my fear.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. patsie

[tabbycat31]

16. even my mom fears for Obama's life

she told me today that he should not visit the south for his own safety.

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17. I would like to believe that Obama's life experiences as an African American has taught him

to be more in-tune with the surrounding hatred that exists throughout understanding when to side step these racist potholes and when to confront them head on. Today is exactly 8 months since Obama's taken his Oath Of Office and the current vitriol being lobbed against him and his family (within such a short period of time ) has become very telling. This can only get worse unless leaders from BOTH sides see the makings of where this is all heading and begin taking a co-operative initiative at calling these haters and their actions out.

[tabbycat31]

22. can I just ditto you?

[Indigent]

18. Bill Clinton was killed?

I didn't know that.

[treestar]

19. The SS should be doubled

Forget the costs.

The POTUS should not ever go into Texas or SC, ever.

[Segami]

21. Lets not forget Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. The politics of control through FEAR.

[GCP]

23. All you need is one or two SS guys who are in on a plot

Think "Seven Days In May"

The plot centers on the fictitious U.S. President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March). As the story begins, Lyman faces a wave of public dissatisfaction with his decision to sign a treaty with the Soviet Union, an agreement that will supposedly result in both nations simultaneously destroying their nuclear weapons under mutual international inspection. This is extremely unpopular with both the President's opposition and the military, who believe the Soviets cannot be trusted.

As the debate over the treaty rages on, an alert and well-positioned Pentagon insider, United States Marine Corps Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey (Kirk Douglas) becomes aware of a conspiracy among the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) led by his own superior officer, the charismatic head of the JCS, Air Force General James Mattoon Scott (Burt Lancaster). As he digs deeper, he uncovers the conspiracy's shocking goal: Scott and his cohorts, Colonel Broderick (John Larkin), Colonel Murdock (Richard Anderson), Gen. Hardesty (Tyler McVey), along with allies in the United States Congress led by Sen. Frederick Prentice (Whit Bissell) and influential members of the news media led by Harold McPherson (Hugh Marlowe), are plotting to stage a coup d'etat to remove President Lyman and his cabinet seven days hence.

Slightly different scenario but never underestimate insider dealings.

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26. I don't underestimate anything, if fact, all levels of intelligence résistance to some degree

should be factored in as an expectation.

[bertman]

28. Actually, GCP, you don't need to go to a fictitious account to illustrate this idea.

The Secret Service (hereafter referred to as the SS) blatantly violated it's own regulations for Presidential protections for JFK's Dallas visit:

1. No turns on the motorcade route of more than 90°: the turn from Houston onto Elm was 120° and the President's limo actually ran up onto the curb trying to make the turn, thus causing the vehicle to slow down to a crawl.

2. SS agents positioned on foot to either side and slightly to the rear of the limo to prevent clear lines of fire to the President: There were NO agents in place because both agents were called back to the followup car by their supervisor when the motorcade started moving. Both agents expressed great surprise and disbelief when they were called back in direct violation of procedures.

3. The moment imminent danger is obvious to the SS agents in the motorcade, the President's limo is to speed away from the scene: After the first shots were fired, the President's limo slowed to a crawl (some witnesses said it stopped). It did not start moving again until after the fatal shot hit the President.

4. The SS agents on the President's detail are to consume no alcohol while they are on duty, meaning when they are on the trip guarding the President: the entire SS detail spent the night before the Dallas visit drinking and socializing in a Dallas bar, with the exception of one agent who had been flown in the morning of the motorcade.

5. The local Texas Army Reserve Military Intelligence unit was told by the SS that its assistance was not needed in securing the motorcade route or in protecting the President, in direct contravention of the stated procedures for a Presidential visit. The Army Reserve Commander protested vigorously but was overruled.

6. The Dallas Police Department was told that it was to take no active role in the Security of the President, other than directing traffic and having some motorcycle officers ride in the motorcade: the Dallas cops were reduced to spectators without a security role UNTIL the moment the President was shot. Despite the fact that hundreds of them were lining the motorcade route they were told they had no responsibility for helping to ensure the safety of the President.

7. After the shooting, members of the SS held eye witnesses to the shooting telling them that their versions of what they saw and heard were simply wrong. These witnesses reported that they were intimidated and threatened by the SS agents that tried to get them to lie about what they saw.

All of this despite the fact that the Dallas area was considered a hotbed of KKK and John Birch Society activity, as well as the headquarters of the major oil companies who were apoplectic that the President had eliminated the oil depletion allowance that cut their net profits from 30% to 15%.

Yet, with all of these failures and the death by assassination of a sitting U.S. President no one in the SS was held accountable because JFK was "shot by a lone nut".