Yes, they are racist, crazy, and crossing all sorts of boundaries they shouldn't. But is there a reason behind the lunacy? Is there a connection between Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Bachmann, Joe Wilson, the freaks at anti-healthcare rallies with posters of our President as Hitler, the birthers, and now the crazies with the death wish on Facebook?
I say yes. And the reason is us. This folks, is political propaganda warfare. It's Republican blitzkrieg. It's what happens when the "reasonable" people in a party either abandon it or leave it to the crazies for political gain.
Frankly, I've had it with these idiots. But their strategy is rooted in history. It worked in 1994. It worked in 1980. And they are banking on it working again.
This is not a conspiracy - it's tried and true political theater of the absurd. The Republicans know that this extreme opera of theirs has an amazing effect. The vitriole, the racism, the hate is not just designed to rev up the Army of Idiots. It's designed to demoralize us.
In order for the GOP to have any shot of winning the 2010 midterms enough to impact policy in their direction. In order for them to even hope that 2012 is a contest, they cannot just excite their base. They need to get their vote revved up, and make us stay home at the same time.
Listening to the insanity is demoralizing enough. But a belief that people like this could grind the progressive agenda to a halt - that they could actually win - that's the buzz killer. I don't use that term lightly. It was the buzz - the excitement - over President Obama that drove us all to the polls in record numbers in the first place.
For the first time in years we have a smart President, one who is exactly who he says he is, and we stand on the cusp of an intellectually - not emotionally - driven domestic and foreign policy. The right cannot stand it. The power structure is terrified. They have lost and they know it. So now it is the GOP versio of guerilla warfare. And they will do whatever they believe the must in order to maintain the status quo.
To them this is war, and they are fighting it the way they know how. And it is incumbent upon us - all of us - to refuse to be demoralized. To fight their drive to generate progressive malaise just keep showing up - on this website, at rallies, in front of your elected officials, as volunteers, as contributors and - most importantly - as the voice of reason that votes.
Do I believe that there are some who would do the President harm? Yes. Do I believe that there are those who are emotionally vested in this rediculous political behavior? Yes. But I also believe that the minute their sick and twisted strategy loses it will discredit the crazies for a long time to come - and maybe, just maybe, even shut a few of them up!