Kathleen Parker: Due to rhetoric of right-wing pundits, "volatility could become explosive"

[babylonsister]

Wow, this is hugh coming from her.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201004180009

Kathleen Parker: Due to rhetoric of right-wing pundits, "volatility could become explosive"

April 18, 2010 11:06 am ET by MMFA Staff

From Parker's April 18 column:

Is the political environment becoming so toxic that we could see another Timothy McVeigh emerge?

No one knows the answer, but fears that anger could escalate into action beyond the ballot box are not misplaced. Ninety-nine percent of angry Americans might be perfectly satisfied to rail at their television sets -- or to show up at a Tea Party rally -- but it takes only one.

The biggest concern for security folks in Washington is the lone operator, the John Hinckley, who tries to take out a president for his fantasy girlfriend. Or some variation thereof.

This is why "Don't retreat. Reload," Sarah Palin's recent imperative to her Tea Party audience, felt so off. Obviously, she wasn't suggesting that people arm themselves, as she has explained several times since. Hunting and military vocabulary are hardly new to politics. We "target" audiences or "set our sights" on policies and politicians all the time. In the world of healthy competition, trophies are victories, not dead people.

But words matter, as we never tire of saying. And these are especially sensitive times, given our first African American president and unavoidable fears about the worst-case scenario. If Jodie Foster could bestir the imagination of Hinckley, a Sarah Palin in the Internet age could move regiments.

<...>

All of the above have put the nation ill at ease. Add to the mixture of organic anger and grass-roots momentum the heckling language of Beck, Limbaugh & Co., and one fears that volatility could become explosive. What's next, militias?

[Kerrytravelers]

1. They've been building this anger for years. It's a little late to just start noticing.

I appreciate what she's saying, but where has this collective voice been from the right for all these years. These people didn't wake up angry the morning after the election. They've been dangerous since the Clinton years and even before. I guess it was fine before, but now that we have a Black president, the clear racial meme is shining through even more loud and clear. It isn't just the figurative "welfare queen" anymore. All these years of race-baiting is coming to a fruition.

[pinboy3niner]

2. Palin's defense is that she was talking about voting

Then, one tea bag held up THIS sign at one of their rallies:

"WE VOTE WITH BULLETS"

Makes it kind of hard to rationalize their way out of responsibility for violent rhetoric . . .

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. And NOW they notice?

Well at least before we have the next McVeigh come out.

[Hamlette]

4. I disagree with Parker about almost everything but occasionally she calls the GOP out on their BS

don't read the comment section, BTW, lots of crazy there. Must have been linked at a Glenn Beck Rally or free republic.

[hatrack]

5. No shit, Kathleen - looking for a little preemptive cover?

Pathetic.

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. It is not just military and hunting metaphors

It's the over the top lies in the rhetoric. "Death Panels" come to mind.

The followers actually do believe that Obama plans to put them in death camps, and that belief comes straight from the rantings of Limbaugh, Beck, Palin, etc.

[Quantess]

7. RWers don't like Kathleen Parker.

She's too sensible for them.