So where is that well informed electorate?

I just watched a clip of Sean Hannity’s show – or rather, campaign rally for Michelle Bachman. Are you kidding me? Is Fox going to have a show at her opponent’s rally? It was totally sickening. You have a congresswoman that has repeatedly “yelled fire in a crowded theater”. She stirs up fear to build her brand and fire up her base. You pair her with a celebrity that tells her fans to “reload” and “rise up” and uses gun sites to denote what congressional races need to be targeted. Then you put them in front of a rabid throng and put it on a news channel. Yes, yes, I understand that it is suppose to be in the “commentary” portion of programming. But, this is not commentary any more than the tea parties that they endorsed and promoted or the all the major talking heads urging viewers to call their Senators and tell them not to vote for health care. It is not news programming and it is not commentary programming. It is simply programming of their masses. It is beyond bias.

Here is a question that Hannity posed to Bachman: “Does the president understand or have the moral clarity that… Reagan had or George Bush had, that there’s good in the world and evil n the world. And, if people think they are doing God’s work, doing God’s will and that virgins await them in heaven when they kill innocent Americans. Does the president lack that moral clarity? He called America Aryan, he went on an apology tour. Where does this come from?”

Does the president have moral clarity? Does he have the moral clarity of George Bush!!?!! Ok which do you consider moral, wanting to end nuclear weapons or starting two wars that you can’t finish? He cited Bush right before the phrase “people think they are doing God’s work”. Bush thought he was doing God’s work! He said he didn’t ask his dad for help but went to a higher father. He peppered his speech with Christian imagery and allusions to church hymns. Where does Hannity come from? It is just unbelievable. His question was posed in a discussion of the president’s nuclear policy. The Fox/Palin/Bachman take was that it was too soft to say we wouldn’t nuke a country if they followed the non-proliferation treaty. All options should be on the table, they said. The potential threat from the US should be a deterrent. If I remember correctly we had eight years of such policies under Bush and all his moral clarity. How’d that work out? Oh, yeah. Two wars and Iran and North Korea working on getting nukes.

A question that we need to ask

The discovery of the body of Bill Sparkman is most disturbing. The details of the case are still forthcoming, but what has been reported – that he was found hanging from a tree, naked, bound with duct tape and “Fed” written on his chest – makes me think of lynching. It turns my stomach.

The question that must be asked is how culpable are those spewing hatred of the government and fear of the census?

The hyperbolic ravings of the likes of Michelle Bachman are laughable. That doesn’t mean that they cannot also be dangerous. The freedom of speech does not mean that one is not also accountable for what they say.