"Your posts included multiple instances of bigotted statements in a public forum."

By your definition, YOU have made multiple statements that are "bigotted." You seem to partial to your strong opinions, and you don't seem very tolerant of mine. In fact, you went a step farther by lumping other people's comments in with mine. I will happily admit that I, and others, digressed from the original article. But that's because I consider the NASCAR demographic that the author describes to be rather mythical--at least in a political context. As a cultural statement it's way more valid. I didn't mention that before, because others already had. I didn't feel it necessary to repeat every single point that I agreed with, nor condemn every single one that I disagreed with. But in doing so, I obviously left myself open to snipers like you.

"Either change or get used to it. Just stop complaining."

You stole that from Archie Bunker, you thief!

Casting doubt on my "liberal" credentials just because I disagree with you is lame. And hypocritical.

I had the same reaction as Leonard when I first heard about this. The thing that's funny to me though is that we can look at this and think, "Wow, that sounds pretty racist" and the Democrats will be lambasted for it. However, had the shoe been on the other foot, and the Republicans were complaining about a Democratic administration handling this... all hell would've broken loose and the Republicans would have a sterling political victory to show for all their hysteria.

I look at it this way. I have friends, family, and co-workers of every imaginable background. Black, white hispanic, asian. Some are artists, musicians, students, bible-thumpers, lawyers. Some are gay, straight, etc. What they all have in common though, is none of them has any trouble deciding if they should vote with the Democrats or Republicans. The ones who are Republican are hard-core and are never gonna change. The ones I know who are neither are the ones who are liberal, but feel the Democrats won’t stand for their rights and beliefs. They feel this way because of all the effort paid by the Democrats to courting the “moderate” Republicans, and no effort paid to them. How many votes have the Democrats lost there? I know A LOT of people who feel this way. The saying goes: “With Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?” I know liberal people who are so disgusted with the Democrats that they won’t vote, won’t register to vote, won’t give money, time etc. If the Democrats would stand firm on things like gay marriage, universal healthcare, fighting tort reform and unfair redistricting, fighting the Patriot act, fighting Bush’s appointees, fighting Bush’s tax policy, they WOULD vote, spend money and time with the Democrats fighting the hard right. So I would feel much more comfortable if the Democrats would try to bring them back into the fold, than going after moderate Republicans and Libertarians who have very little in common with traditional liberal values.

As I said before, Republican leadership is going to paint Democrats as far left anyway. If we try to meet them half way, they will paint us as wafflers, flip-floppers, and unable to take a clear stand.

DKG's point of view is stunning in it's contempt, and complete lack of empathy for "hard left" members of our society. It's just amazing that one could look at our country's current situation and conclude that the "hard left" is to blame. How anyone can view a group of leftist, pacifist, peace-loving folks as bullies is amazing.

I offer this nugget for those who don't understand where the scapegoating of the left comes from, and for those who might be wondering whose playbook Karl Rove has been studying from.

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While in custody during the Nuremberg trials, Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering was interviewed by a psychologist named Dr. Gustave Gilbert. Gilbert recorded Goering's observations that the common people can always be manipulated into supporting and fighting wars by their political leaders:

We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"There is one difference," I pointed out. "In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

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So I'm not accusing DKG of being a "Nazi" or employing "Nazi" tactics. Let me be clear on that point. All I'm saying is that the "hard right" noise machine has clouded his vision, and on some level, by scapegoating the "hard left," he is doing Karl Rove's bidding.