Letters to the Editor
-
Who are we saving from what?!?
Just asking.
-
Does Giuliani still have a legitimate shot at the nomination?
I haven't seen any polling data lately on the GOP's slate. Anyone hear anything on this?
In any case, does this messianic nihilism actually improve his standing among the GOP's base?
-
A Third Bush Term
Giuliani really is frightening. If elected, he might 'out-Bush' Bush, as his authoritarian impulses and predilection for fear mongering are easily on a par with Dubya/Cheney. He is hardly a 'moderate,' as Glenn rightly points out. His 'moderate' persona was a by-product of NYC's political culture. In the national arena, which is far more conservative politically and culturally, I think you'd see the 'real' Giuliani come out. God help us, because I feat he has a real shot at the Presidency...
-
Very familiar..
to anyone who has worked in a state psychiatric hospital. Glenn, you call it exactly- paranoia. He really, really believes he is divinely inspired (the narcissistic component) to save us (even if he has to destroy the world to save it...)
When will the Democrats learn that you can't "reason" with either the 25% of the electorate (who just happen to be the top quartile of Altemeyer's Right Wing Authoritarians) who lap up this insanity, or the paranoid crazies who vomit it up? I work with lots of blue collar folks who were hard-core Bushies 5 years ago- if you just say "these people are f-ing CRAZY", they take the ball and run with it! Why isn't Dennis Kucinich taller?????
drdave
-
The American Reich Wing lives and breaths paranoia
He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point.
That isn't just Rudy. It is the underlying theme of pretty much the entire American Reich Wing mindset. The "crisis" - the ever present "threat" - is the central motivator of the American Reich Wing and has been since William F Buckley and "National Review" became the "conservative movement" in this country.
Though Buckley pointedly moved away from the John Birch Society the defining ethos of his brand of "conservatism" has always been fear and enemy driven. Always an enemy. An ever present and uniquely evil enemy (always the most evil ever- more so than the last one) that is imbued with almost magical powers- unstoppable powers.
There is little to no room for nuance about this enemy. They are powerful beyond measure, crafty in ways that only the Reich Wing can see. So for example- the "China break" with the Soviet Union in the 50's wasn't real but just a "Ruse" to fool "useful idiots" (tagged liberals usually). And we see this today with the lumping of the entire Muslim world with hundreds of ethnic groups, languages, cultures, countries, and sects into the ridiculous individual they call "Islam" - which marches to one fiddle and wants to "take over the world".
It is little remembered today as the Reich Wing likes to claim it was their steadfast resolve while constantly being undermined by "liberals" that "defeated" the Soviet Union- but their rhetoric was actually quite pessimistic about the US chances of winning the "Cold War". Indeed- they presented themselves as the lonely defenders against an unstoppable force- the Soviet Union and global communism that the US had slim hope of defeating. This was standard rhetoric up until 1989 and the fall of the wall. I know- because I was a reich winger and I now see the constant state of hysteria and fear that I was kept in- that is the purpose of much reich wing propaganda- to keep their adherents at a constant state of anxiety and fear.
What makes Rudy different is how he plays up this aspect of the Reich Wing- one that has generally been tamed when competing for larger audiences. But the rank and file are indeed motivated almost solely by fear of an all powerful enemy that only they- Cassandra like- really grasp the full scope of the "threat" from while silly "liberals" or whomever don't "get it" like they do.
-
Just as
End times enthusiasts have their own particular story line and agenda which results in them voting as a block, the same is true for the bedwetters. They are a large group of people with identifiable leaders (Can you say David Horowitz?) and if they identify a candidate who shares there agenda, they will vote for him en mass. Rudy knows this and is directly speaking their language.
One of the things that boggles me about this particular movement though is the obsessive nature of its practitioners. This at times can lead to some high comedy, but the idea of one of their own capturing the Presidency should stike fear in the heart of reasonavble people the world over.
Also - as a note directed specifically to the betwetters among us:
Pakistan is a real threat. Iran - less so.
-
Rudy Giuliani is now a "religious leader" - he is "the one" -- the only one --who can save us.
While I couldn’t make it all the way through the video (it is Jonah Goldberg after all), it’s becoming quite clear just how “terrorism” has changed conservatism.
The term “fighting terrorism” is no longer about just abstract “foreign policy” but it has now entered into the realm of “religion” – and Giuliani is now the “most religious” of the Republican candidates -- hence his endorsement from Pat Robertson.
Yes, “fighting terrorism” has indeed “reshaped conservatism” and it has done so by becoming a “religious value” – a religious value more important than abortion, gay marriage and all the other issues the GOP used to use to scare “the base” of the religious right.
By re-defining “fighting terrorism” as our most important “religious value” the neo-cons have overcome the most vociferous objections to Rudy among the Christian Right.
In the fight for civilization, Rudy is now not only a “religious leader” -- he will soon become “their” religious leader. Very soon he will be anointed as the only one – “the one” -- to “save us” and our civilization.
Conservative Christians across American will be “praying for Rudy” to save us.
Let us pray.
http://tinyurl.com/3dybzb
-
President Rudy Must NOT Happen
Rudy is a tyrant, who, if given the expanded Executive office Bush has established, would be an unbridled horror. Randy Maestro, Rudy's Deputy Mayor (1996-1998) and former Assistant U.S. Attorney with Rudy (1985-1989), writes a paean at Townhall to "Rudy the Prosecutor":
Rudy also brought a record number of federal narcotics prosecutions to address the drug epidemic in our city. He even instituted a "Federal Day" program once a month to prosecute those arrested for drug offenses in the federal system to have the maximum deterrent effect. Moreover, he used drug forfeiture laws in innovative ways to seize both proceeds and instruments of those crimes. For example, when New York officials couldn't get local judges to evict drug dealers from public housing projects, Rudy seized the tenancies from them to the cheers of neighbors forced for too long to endure their drug crimes.
Oh yeah, how "innovative" of Rudy. To kick poor people out of federal housing projects by employing the atrocious asset forfeiture tool to steal their "guilty" tenancies. I wonder how many non-violent drug offenders had their lives, and their family's lives, ruined by prison as a result of Rudy's "Federal Day." One can expect him to be just as "innovative" with the "inherent" powers of a Yoo presidency.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RandyMaestro/2007/11/16/rudy_giuliani_the_prosecutor