Clinton’s Critique of Overheated Rhetoric

“We can’t let the debate veer so far into hatred that we lose focus of our common humanity.”
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Hear here!
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Case-in-point. I presonally expected BIll Clinton to be in the White House purely for the party (and I don’t mean the Democratic Party, nor any Political party), and I found his economic policies to be far too Republican for my tastes, and his serving of certain economic special interests to be deplorable quintessential politcs-as-usual to enrich friends and later oneself,
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BUT
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I certainly do appreciate statements from him that I wholeheartedly agree with,
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thus emphasizing that any person can have ideas and even personal characterisitcs that one despises, and yet also have ideas and even personal behaviors that one appreciates. We are all in this together, and we owe it to ourselves to embrace our diversity. Otherwise, we might miss a great idea or a helping hand.
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Calling one another names does not help that to happen.

t

tt

Clinton is not well liked by the right. But then again they are not big on intellectual honesty. They instead to like to take every comment or action to its lowest interpertation and get all offended. I think they secretly like being offended more than anything in this world.

Firstly, what’s up with the T’s man?

WJC is stating the should-be obvious. But condemning irresponsible politicians shouldn’t be the exclusive job of ex-presidents. As Kate has illustrated nicely in recent days, the media must combat the toxicity in our public discourse. If “there will be blood” we know it’ll taint the demagogues, but their enablers will also merit blame.

If this were WWII the Tea Party participants would be charged with Treason. They are clearly against traditional American values of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and civil rights. They are not just disgusting – they are dangerous. …….

http://thefiresidepost.com/2010/04/16/patriotism-in-wwii-versus-today-tea-party-patriotism/

I’ve been wondering that myself.

Newsbusters is right. Violence IS how the Right expresses dissent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Austin_plane_crash
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._assassination
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_church_bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing

If we take away the Right’s ability to bomb, shoot, crash planes into buildings, and generally incite violence against blacks, gays, and “liberals,” then they would be practically mute.

I saw part of it, and some part of that seems commendable. However, it’s pretty naive to think that those in Clinton’s sphere a) really mean what they say, and b) think that the rules they’d apply to others apply to them.
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For instance, if this weren’t Time or another MSM source, they might discuss in more depth the fact that the event took place at the Center for American Progress, a group that has consistently shown little interest in either open or honest debate.

OK, I’ll bite.
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When has someone “in Clinton’s sphere” made death threats against their political opponents?
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And yes, if this were a right-wing website, I’m sure they’d be up in arms about how evil CAP is. Uh, … great point.

Kevin: Don’t you remember Hillary Clinton killed Vince Foster. Bill Clinton was involved in the drug trade in Arkansas and killed people. It was true because Jerry Fallwell had a video telling us about the evil Clintons.
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The far right can never accept a legitimate Democratic president. With the help of Richard Mellon Scaife, the religious right, and a willing press, they attempted to destroy Clinton. Now we have Koch, Fox, Norquist, Army trying to deligitimize Obama. Again, the traditional press plays along by giving publicity to a bogus grassroots group and exagerating their importance.

ROTFLMAO.. boy is the left grasping at straws… lots of luck with that no one is listening for say 20% of the populace which are actually PROGRESSIVES and THOSE are the dangerous ones since they get violent as soon as they don’t get their own way or someone DARES not agree with them… THEY were the violent ones at the GO2 summit, THEY are the name callers and attackers of those who are protesting, THEY are the ones who have two separate sets of what is right and what is wrong.. what the left does is right and what the right does is wrong.. Clinton is a has been, I did vote for him for president however, he wasn’t anything special just the lessor of two evils..

Can you imagine if the 2000 election had turned out the other way?
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If Gore had been the one who losing in the popular vote and only had a 500-vote lead in Florida? If Gore’s campaign had flown in Democratic congressional staffers to shout down the local elections boards? If Gore had been the one who launched a lawsuit that took it to the Supreme Court, where a bare five-justice Democratic majority handed him the election?
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My God, their heads would have literally exploded.
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Obama won by a 9,500,000 margin of victory in the popular vote and a 365-173 landslide in the electoral college, and he’s *still* not legitimate in their eyes.

Alex Altman asserts that it was a “poisonous political climate that sent Timothy McVeigh to the Murrah building.”

Did the alleged, unidentified “poisonous political climate” implant a microchip in McVeigh’s butt that directed McVeigh? Did the alleged, unidentified “poisonous political climate” provide McVeigh with a GPS?

Memo to the useful idiots of the Washington/New York/American press corps: You don’t know what happened today, so you probably should stay away from alleging what happened yesterday, last week, last year, fifteen years ago, a hundred years ago, ….

kevin: You’re making yourself look like an idiot to those who aren’t partisan hacks like you. By “those in Clinton’s circle” I was referring to civility in general, not death threats.
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And, those in Clinton’s circle have constantly made uncivil, unhelpful, and anti-American statements, such as falsely all partiers of being racists and the like. In fact, that’s about all they’re capable of: almost no one in Clinton’s sphere (broadening it now to include l/w bloggers and the like) is capable of engaging the partiers and trying to show how they think they’re wrong.
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As for CAP, if only r/w sites are willing to point out how bogus their studies and statements are, then that’s yet another indictment of how the l/w does things.

kevin: You’re making yourself look like an idiot to those who aren’t partisan hacks like you. By “those in Clinton’s circle” I was referring to civility in general, not death threats.
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Oh, I’m an idiot because you can’t express yourself clearly. Gotcha.
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And, those in Clinton’s circle have constantly made uncivil, unhelpful, and anti-American statements, such as falsely all partiers of being racists and the like.
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Who in Clinton’s circle has called all tea partiers racist? Provide evidence.
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In fact, that’s about all they’re capable of: almost no one in Clinton’s sphere (broadening it now to include l/w bloggers and the like) is capable of engaging the partiers and trying to show how they think they’re wrong.
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Oh, so “Clinton’s sphere” includes everyone from his administration to the most random left-wing blogger? Does that mean I get to attribute statements from the Klan or the Neo Nazis to the Republicans now? That guy who was arrested for making death threats to Sen. Murray — that guilt covers all of you, too?
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As for CAP, if only r/w sites are willing to point out how bogus their studies and statements are, then that’s yet another indictment of how the l/w does things.
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So because right-wing sites say the studies are “bogus” that makes them bogus? Wonderful, uh, “logic” you have there.
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If there’s something specific that CAP has put out that is demonstrably false, provide the evidence. Put up or shut up.

kattest-You seem to want this site to somehow turn right wing. While anything is possible. Its not going to happen. While I have some minor problems with the reporters here. They are not and have never been partisan hacks.

We’ve been hearing overheated rhetoric from the Left these last ten years… including from members of Congress, presidential candidates, and now the sitting president.
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And we’ve seen violence from the Left, especially but not only at every meeting of the WTO, IMF, or other international organizations. Every four years, at both the Democratic and Republican conventions, if the police do not keep a tight leash on them, the radical leftists would be breaking windows and burning cars.
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Now we’ve got a grass-roots movement of middle-class working people and retirees, and Bill Clinton is concerned about violence.

“We can’t let the debate veer so far into hatred that we lose focus of our common humanity.”
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It’s hard to argue with that sentiment but it makes a poor yardstick by which to measure political speech. Dissent is defensible inasmuch as it is legitimate. The trouble with Republicans’(and other “conservative”) political rhetoric isn’t that it’s hateful – some crimes committed by government might even warrant such feelings – it is that it’s lying slander.
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If you’re going to go all torch-and-pitchfork it needs to be for a valid reason, not because secret socialists Obama, Pelosi and Reid want government to take over the health care system so it can pull the plug on Granny. That makes you a partisan crank (to the degree you fail to inform yourself of the relevant facts) or an outright traitor (to the degree you know it’s a lie). It is the media’s rejection of empirical truth (along with liberal opinion) that has gotten us to our present dysfunctional state, not its acquiescence to hate speech.

I’m not sure what Clinton is worried about, liberals have guns too. The loud mouths in the teabag movement are probably too frightened to try anything, other than flapping their gums and demonstrating their ignorance.

How dare we criticize the democratic party, laments Bill Clinton.Yes, indeed, how dare we NOT raise our voices in protest against the left wing agenda regurgitated by this administration. The will of the people is blatantly ignored, we are force fed the concept of a welfare state and our Constitution is brutally savaged, yet you ask us to stand by, idly and allow this to happen. Guess again, you liberal playboy, it is not going to happen. We ARE going to reclaim our country and there is precious little you and your unicorn loving friends can do about it.

Right.
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It’s not like we saw a nutjob fly a plane into an IRS building and kill an employee.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/02/18/pilot-crashes-texas-building-apparent-anti-irs-suicide/
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It’s not like a guy in Pittsburgh who had become convinced by talk radio that “Obama was coming to take his guns” shot and killed three police officers.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512560,00.html
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It’s not like a guy in Knoxville whose home was filled with books by Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck decided that he needed to kill liberals “who are ruining the country,” and busted into a church and shot two in the congregation and wounded six more.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/Jul/28/church-shooting-police-find-manifesto-suspects-car/
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These are just nice, middle-class people. Sure, they’ve killed government workers and policemen and church goers, but we shouldn’t worry about them at all.
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Jesus, you right wingers live in a world of denial. The fact that some dumbass hippie threw a rock at the WTO demonstration doesn’t mean that it’s the same thing as this mass wave of right-wing hate-fueled violence.

It is a serious matter when lawmakers are receiving multiple death threats over legislation and speakers at these tea rallies are talking about the use of militias and armed force to “take back” the government.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

How dare we criticize the democratic party, laments Bill Clinton.Yes, indeed, how dare we NOT raise our voices in protest against the left wing agenda regurgitated by this administration.
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Uh, no. “In fact, Clinton isn’t trying to smear or silence anybody. He notes in the speech that Tea Party groups can play a positive role as watchdogs monitoring runaway spending.”
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The will of the people is blatantly ignored
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Again, no. You might remember that we had an election in 2008, with health care reform at the center of the Democratic agenda. And the people elected Obama, and Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.
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But if you want a closer measure of “the will of the people,” they like the HCR by a margin of 49%-40%.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-03-23-health-poll-favorable_N.htm
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we are force fed the concept of a welfare state
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Uh, no. Not even a majority of Tea Party protesters are actually against the welfare state:
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Despite the fear that socialism is coming to America, 62% of tea party supporters also support Social Security and Medicare. In fact, nearly half of them either benefit from Social Security or Medicare or have somebody in their immediate family who does. And about one-third are directly beneficiaries at least one of the programs, compared to about one-fifth of the population at large.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/14/us/politics/20100414-tea-party-poll-graphic.html
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We ARE going to reclaim our country and there is precious little you and your unicorn loving friends can do about it.
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That’s an interesting choice of metaphor from someone who thinks and acts like a child and has the most feverish imagination I’ve ever seen.

What “sort of fever” did Terrance Yeakey have, Mr. Clinton?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/valor/

1) The “t”s won’t happen anymore (and that statement is not code for “no more Tea Partiers. The “t”s stood for “test”,) and I figured out another way to accomplish their purpose for me..

2) There has been violence on the “right”, violence on the “left”, violence from those who couldn’t tell their right hand from their left hand, plenty more actions from all corners that some people label as “violence” that falls short of being actual “violence”, but, instead anger taken out on property, and WAY plenty more actions labeled by even more people as “violence” that are merely extremely inconsiderate vocal displays, often intimidating, from people who were venting their feelings of helplessness. No single group label has a monopoly on these behaviors. Let’s stop trying to prove “our” group is right about their ideas because members of the other groups resort to “violence”.
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Let’s not forget that our own American Revolution was violent. Does that prove that its ideas were wrong?

3) A special mention for statements such as:” Progressives . . .are the dangerous ones since they get violent as soon as they don’t get their own way or someone dares not agree with them” ——Outrightly incorrect.

4) I SERIOUSLY doubt that Bill Clinton was not concerned about “violence” from “the left”– I was involved in the ‘timber wars” here in the PNW in the 90’s, and I report to you that Clinton strong-armed enviros to the mat who gave even tacit support to even property commandeering, let alone any real “violence”.
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But even IF it were true that Bill Clinton was not concerned about “violence” whilst a sitting President, why ridicule him for being concerned about it now? Is not the PRESENT and future where we can make a better world? We cannot change the past.

5) I agree that the “lying slander” is what makes the political rhetoric poisonous, but the hateful deliveries in the public discourse of that rhetoric that makes the public discourse hard to effectively sort out the slander from the truth.

6) To interpret Bill Clinton as having said that criticism of the Democratic party is out of order — is simply a gross misconstruction of Clinton’s message. In fact, it flies in the face of what he was quoted as saying.

I think that shepherdwong made the most important point on this thread. I’m far less concerned about random acts of violence by deranged individuals than I am about latrge numbers of people who believe things that are simply not even close to being true.

I’m a big fan of free speech but todays press is doing an absulutely sh!^^y job of informing the public due to their insistence on maintaining the illusion that there are ‘two sides’to every story.

“If you’re going to go all torch-and-pitchfork it needs to be for a valid reason, not because secret socialists Obama, Pelosi and Reid want government to take over the health care system so it can pull the plug on Granny.”
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First off, “go all torch-and-pitchfork” sounds like a line out of Buffy the VS (which is a compliment in my book).
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Digby, who actually watched some of the TP coverage mentioned a woman holding a sign that said:
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“You cannot help the people by destroying the rich.”
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Which inspires me to once again break out the Taibbi:
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“The reason the winger crowd can’t find a way to be coherently angry right now is because this country has no healthy avenues for genuine populist outrage. It never has. The setup always goes the other way: when the excesses of business interests and their political proteges in Washington leave the regular guy broke and screwed, the response is always for the lower and middle classes to split down the middle and find reasons to get pissed off not at their greedy bosses but at each other. That’s why even people like Beck’s audience, who I’d wager are mostly lower-income people, can’t imagine themselves protesting against the Wall Street barons who in actuality are the ones who f@cked them over. Beck pointedly compared the AIG protesters to Bolsheviks: “[The Communists] basically said ‘Eat the rich, they did this to you, get ‘em, kill ‘em!’” He then said the AIG and G20 protesters were identical: “It’s a different style, but the sentiments are exactly the same: Find ‘em, get ‘em, kill ‘em!’” Beck has an audience that’s been trained that the rich are not appropriate targets for anger, unless of course they’re Hollywood liberals, or George Soros, or in some other way linked to some acceptable class of villain, to liberals, immigrants, atheists, etc. — Ted Turner, say, married to Jane Fonda.
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“But actual rich people can’t ever be the target. It’s a classic peasant mentality: going into fits of groveling and bowing whenever the master’s carriage rides by, then fuming against the Turks in Crimea or the Jews in the Pale or whoever after spending fifteen hard hours in the fields. You know you’re a peasant when you worship the very people who are right now, this minute, conning you and taking your shit. Whatever the master does, you’re on board. When you get frisky, he sticks a big cross in the middle of your village, and you spend the rest of your life praying to it with big googly eyes. Or he puts out newspapers full of innuendo about this or that faraway group and you immediately salute and rush off to join the hate squad. A good peasant is loyal, simpleminded, and full of misdirected anger. And that’s what we’ve got now, a lot of misdirected anger searching around for a non-target to mis-punish… can’t be mad at AIG, can’t be mad at Citi or Goldman Sachs. The real villains have to be the anti-AIG protesters! After all, those people earned those bonuses! If ever there was a textbook case of peasant thinking, it’s struggling middle-class Americans burned up in defense of taxpayer-funded bonuses to millionaires. It’s really weird stuff. And bound to get weirder, I imagine, as this crisis gets worse and more complicated.”

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

“If you’re going to go all torch-and-pitchfork it needs to be for a valid reason, not because secret socialists Obama, Pelosi and Reid want government to take over the health care system so it can pull the plug on Granny.”
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First off, “go all torch-and-pitchfork” sounds like a line out of Buffy the VS (which is a compliment in my book).
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Digby, who actually watched some of the TP coverage, mentioned a woman holding a sign that said:
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“You cannot help the people by destroying the rich.”
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Which inspires me to once again break out the Taibbi:
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“Beck has an audience that’s been trained that the rich are not appropriate targets for anger, unless of course they’re Hollywood liberals, or George Soros, or in some other way linked to some acceptable class of villain, to liberals, immigrants, atheists, etc. — Ted Turner, say, married to Jane Fonda.
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“But actual rich people can’t ever be the target. It’s a classic peasant mentality: going into fits of groveling and bowing whenever the master’s carriage rides by, then fuming against the Turks in Crimea or the Jews in the Pale or whoever after spending fifteen hard hours in the fields. You know you’re a peasant when you worship the very people who are right now, this minute, conning you and taking your sh!t. Whatever the master does, you’re on board…. A good peasant is loyal, simpleminded, and full of misdirected anger.”

Gunny,
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I don’t know about the pros, but the commentariat seems to be slowly trending rightward.

You know, I wish one of the TIME reporters would engage us on the topic of equivalency–false or otherwise–in the media.
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I understand the benefits of multiple points of view, just as I understand the dangers of having only one point of view. But what we’re getting is “he said/she said” reporting, or stenography (“Senator A said this, and Senator Z had this to say in response”) without evaluation.
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I know columnists often supposedly provide commentary and insight, except that many of them are now hired or fired because of their political positions (Thiessen, Froomkin). I understand hiring and firing reporters because of incompetence, or poor writing, or outright fabrication. Except it seems that what gets you fired these days is political views. So columnists’commentary and insight, at least at major news organizations like the Washington Post, are now pre-screened for political content, and so instead of stenography we get propaganda.
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So what do actual journalists think about all this? Anybody at TIME willing to engage the commentariat on this topic?

“We can’t let the debate veer so far into hatred that we lose focus of our common humanity.”

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You mean like this Mr ex-President Clinton?
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ALF – “In 1993 the Departments of Justice and Agriculture issued a report to Congress on the “effects of terrorism on enterprises which use animals,” naming ALF as the most significant “radical fringe” animal rights group in the United States. The report stated that between 1979 and 1993, more than 300 incidents of break-ins, vandalism, arson and thefts had been committed in the name of animal rights nationwide. After some ALF members set a fire causing $3.5 million in damages at a veterinary lab in California in 1987, the FBI officially added ALF to its list of domestic terrorist organizations. According to the FBI, between 1995 and 2005 ALF committed some 700 criminal acts.

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http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7215
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Or, these…
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“John Lewis, the FBI’s deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, said animal and environmental rights extremists have claimed credit for more than 1,200 criminal incidents since 1990. The FBI has 150 pending investigations associated with animal rights or eco-terrorist activities, and ATF officials say they have opened 58 investigations in the past six years related to violence attributed to the ELF and ALF.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/05/19/domestic.terrorism/index.html
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Or this individual…
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“Aspen, Colo. — A onetime resident of this city who had been bitter over its transformation into a playground for the rich left four gift-wrapped bombs downtown in a bank-robbery attempt, turning New Year’s Eve celebrations into a mass evacuation, police said Thursday.
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The dangerous bombs were made of gasoline and cell phone parts and came with notes warning of “mass death.” The 72-year-old man suspected of placing them in two banks and in an alleyway on Wednesday shot and killed himself a short time later, police said.
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James Chester Blanning said, “Do not f*** with us or there will be mass death like we have all been part of over in that f***ing quicksand trap that Rove and Chaney’s monkey Bush put us into where so many of our soul mates and brothers died very horrible deaths.”

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http://blogwonks.com/2009/01/01/aspen-bomber-was-a-liberal/
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Or this oldie but goodie…
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Weathermen Underground: “They claimed to be involved with 25 bombings, they intended to kill members of the military, and in 2001 Bill Ayers said, “I don’t regret setting bombs; I feel we didn’t do enough.”

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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8630.html
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I’m sorry, how many extremists have been close personal friends and political backers of recent Republican / Conservative Presidents?
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No Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the attempt of Liberals to make the vast majority of Tea Party Movement participants out to be nothing more than “extremists” like Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh was deplorable, disgusting and a delinquent. Someone that should have been put to death for his actions. But, for the Media and Liberals to even make the connection that Tea Party Movement participants are anything like McVeigh is a blantant political attack.
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Bill Clinton is a liberal. He is a founding member of the current liberal / progressive wing of the Democrat Party. He, just like Nancy Pelosi, are attempting to marginalize the Tea Party Movement. They are scared. And, when people are scared….
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“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Nicely done.

What an impressive list!
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Let’s add up how many people were killed by all these dangerous liberals … Uh, none? None?
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Well, that completely excuses the IRS worker, the three Pittsburgh police officers, and the two Knoxville churchgoers who were all gunned down by right wing nuts in the last year.
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Not to mention the guy who shot a security guard at the Holocaust museum, fueled on by right-wing anti-semitism, and the guy who shot abortion doctor George Tiller, spurred on by Operation Rescue.
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All of those murders don’t matter, because some left-wing fringe animal rights group committed “criminal acts.”
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Bravo, moron. Bravo.

Oh you want dead people that liberals have killed?
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How about these?
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“The liberal extremist Theodore Kaczynski killed three people and injured twenty-three during an eighteen-year period in the 1980s and 1990s. The Unabomber—as Kaczynski is called—sent bombs through the mail to people he considered enemies of the Earth.”

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http://www.enotes.com/extremist-groups-article
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I suppose the following lists of attempts and actual murders by liberal extremists do not count either?
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1969
June 18-22 – Students for a Democratic Society SDS National Convention held in Chicago, Illinois. Publication of “Weatherman” founding statement. Members seize control of SDS National Office.[1][2]
July – Members Bernardine Dohrn, Eleanor Raskin,[3] Dianne Donghi[4] , Peter Clapp, David Millstone and Diana Oughton[5] travel to Cuba and meet representatives of the North Vietnamese and Cuban governments.
August – Weatherman member Linda Sue Evans travels to North Vietnam. Weatherman activists meet in Cleveland, Ohio, in preparation for “Days of Rage” protests scheduled for October, 1969 in Chicago.
September 3 – Female members converge on South Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they run through the school shouting anti-war slogans and distributing literature promoting the “National Action.” The term “Pittsburgh 26″ refers to the 26 women arrested in connection with this incident.[2]
September 24 – A group of members confront Chicago Police during a demonstration supporting the “National Action,” and protesting the commencement of the Chicago Eight trial stemming from the 1968 Democratic National Convention.[6]
October 5 – The Haymarket Police Statue in Chicago is bombed; Weathermen later claim credit for the bombing in their book, Prairie Fire.[6]
October 8-11 – The “Days of Rage” riots occur in Chicago, damaging a large amount of property. 287 Weatherman members are arrested, some become fugitives when they fail to appear for trial in connection with their arrests.[2][6]
November 8th – Sniper attack on Cambridge Police Station, two shoots were fired and two Weathermen James Kilpatrick and James Reaves were indicted and then subsequently released when a witness recanted his testimony.[7]
November-December – Karen Ashley and Phoebe Hirsch were among the few Weatherman members to join the first contingent of the Venceremos Brigade (VB) that departs for Cuba to harvest sugar cane.
December 6 – Bombing of several Chicago police cars parked in a precinct parking lot at 3600 North Halsted Street, Chicago. The WUO claims responsibility in Prairie Fire, stating it is a protest of the fatal police shooting of Illinois Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark on December 4, 1969.
December 27-30 – Weathermen hold a “War Council” in Flint, Michigan, where plans are finalized to change into an underground organization that will commit strategic acts of sabotage against the government. Thereafter they are called “Weather Underground Organization” (WUO).[2][8]
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1970
January – Silas and Judith Bissell placed a home-made bomb under the steps of the R.O.T.C. building. The bomb was made from an electric blasting cap, an alarm clock, a battery and a plastic bag filled with gasoline and explosives.[9]
February – The WUO closes the SDS National Office in Chicago, concluding the major campus-based organization of the 1960s. The first contingent of the VB returns from Cuba and the second contingent departs. By mid-February the bulk of the leading WUO members go underground.
February 16: A bomb is detonated at the Golden Gate Park branch of the San Francisco Police Department, killing one officer and injuring a number of other policemen (one seriously). No organization claims credit for either bombing. (See San Francisco Police Department Park Station bombing.)
On February 21, the house of Judge Murtagh, who presides over the Panther 21 trial, is fire-bombed by a WUO cell in New York City.[2][10] The same night, molotov cocktails were thrown at a police car in Manhattan and two military recruiting stations in Brooklyn.[11]
March – Warrants are issued for several WUO members, who become federal fugitives when they fail to appear for trial in Chicago.
March 6 – WUO members Theodore Gold, Diana Oughton, and Terry Robbins are killed in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion,[2][8] when a nailbomb they were constructing detonates. The bomb was intended to be planted at a non-commissioned officer’s dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
March 30 – Chicago police discover a WUO “bomb factory” on Chicago’s north side.
April 1 – Based on a tip Chicago Police find 59 sticks of dynamite, ammunition, and nitro glyerine in an apartment traced to WUO members.[12] The discover of the WUO weapons cache ends WUO activity in this city.
April 2 – A federal grand jury in Chicago returns a number of indictments charging WUO members with violation of federal anti-riot laws.[8] Also, a number of additional federal warrants charging “unlawful flight to avoid prosecution” are returned in Chicago based on the failure of WUO members to appear for trial in local cases. (The Anti-riot Law charges were later dropped in January, 1974.)
April 15 – The FBI arrests WUO members Linda Sue Evans and Dianne Donghi in New York[8] with the help of WUO infiltrator, Larry Grathwohl.[2]
May 10 – The National Guard Association building in Washington, D.C. is bombed.[13]
May 21 – The WUO releases its “Declaration of a State of War” communique[13][14] under Bernardine Dohrn’s name.
June 6 – In a letter, the WUO claims credit for bombing of the San Francisco Hall of Justice, although no explosion has occurred. Months later, workmen locate an unexploded bomb.[citation needed]
June 9 – The New York City Police headquarters is bombed by Jane Alpert and accomplices. Weathermen state this is in response to “police repression.”[13][14] The bomb made with ten sticks of dynamite exploded in the NYC Police Headquarters. The explosion was preceded by a warning about six minutes prior to the detonation and subsequently by a WUO claim of responsibility.[15]
July 23 – A federal grand jury in Detroit, Michigan, returns indictments against thirteen WUO members and former WUO members charging violations of various explosives and firearms laws.[13][14] (These indictments were later dropped in October, 1973.)
July 25 – The United States Army base at The Presidio in San Francisco is bombed on the 11th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution[13]. [NYT, 7/27/70] On the same day, a branch of the Bank of America is bombed in New York.[14]
July 28 – Bank of America HQ in NYC is bombed around 3:50 AM. WUO claims responsibility.[16]
September 15 – The WUO helps Dr. Timothy Leary escape from the California Men’s Colony prison.[17]
October 8 – Bombing of Marin County courthouse. WUO states this is in retaliation for the killings of Jonathan Jackson[18], William Christmas, and James McClain[note 1] [NYT, 8/10/70] WUO also dedicates the bombing to political activist, Angela Davis.[18] In a separate communique, they issue a message to peace activist, Daniel Berrigan after he is captured by the FBI.[18]
October 10 – A Queens traffic-court building is bombed. WUO claims this is to express support for the New York prison riots. [NYT, 10/10/70, p. 12]
October 11 – A Courthouse in Long Island City, NY is bombed. An estimated 8 to 10 sticks of dynamite are used. A warning was given around 10 min. prior to the 1:23 AM blast by the WUO.[19]
October 12 – Around October 12 eight bomb explosions occur, Five in Rochester New York, Two in NYC, and One in Orlando FL. Despite WUO bomb warnings three persons are injured.[20]
October 14 – The Harvard Center for International Affairs is bombed by The Proud Eagle Tribe of Weather (later renamed the Women’s Brigade of the Weather Underground).[18] WUO claims this is to protest the war in Vietnam. [NYT, 10/14/70, p. 30] The bombing was in reaction to Angela Davis’arrest and was the first action undertaken by an all-women’s unit of WUO.[17][18]
October – Bernardine Dohrn, Katherine Ann Power, and Susan Edith Saxe were put on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List[21]
December – Fugitive WUO member Caroline Tanker, who fled the country for Cuba, is arrested by the FBI in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
December 5th – Five Weatherman are captured for trying to bomb First National City Bank of NY and other buildings on the anniversary of the death of Fred Hampton. These individuals subsequently plead guilty.[22]
December 11th – Vivian Bogart and Patricia Mclean from the WUO are arrested after throwing an incendiary bomb at the Royal National Bank in NYC around 1:30 AM.[23]
December 16 – Fugitive WUO member Judith Alice Clark is arrested on the Days of Rage indictments by the FBI in New York.[18
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1971
March 1 - The United States Capitol is bombed. WUO states this is to protest the invasion of Laos. President Richard M. Nixon denounces the bombing as a "shocking act of violence that will outrage all Americans." [NYT, 3/2/71]
April – FBI agents discover what is dubbed “Pine Street Bomb Factory”, an abandoned apartment utilized by WUO in San Francisco, California.
August 30 – Bombings of the Office of California Prisonsin Sacramento and San Francisco, allegedly in retaliation for the killing of George Jackson. [LAT, 8/29/71][24][25]
September 17 – The New York Department of Corrections in Albany, New York is bombed, as per WUO to protest the killing of 29 inmates at Attica State Penitentiary. [NYT, 9/18/71][26]
October 15 – The bombing of William Bundy’s office in the MIT research center. [NYT, 10/16/71]
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1972
May 19 – Bombing of The Pentagon, “in retaliation for the U.S. bombing raid in Hanoi.” The date was chosen for it being Ho Chi Minh’s birthday. [NYT, 5/19/72][26]
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1973
May 18 – The bombing of the 103rd Police Precinct in New York. WUO states this is in response to the killing of 10-year-old black youth Clifford Glover by police.[27][note 2]
September 19 – A WUO member is arrested by the FBI in New York. Released on bond, this member again submerges into the underground.
September 28 – The ITT headquarters in New York and Rome, Italy are bombed. WUO states this is in response to ITT’s alleged role in the Chilean coup earlier that month. [NYT, 9/28/73]
Around October, 1973 the Government requested dropping charges against most of the WUO members. The requests cited a recent decision by the Supreme Court that barred electronic surveillance without a court order. This decision could hamper prosecution of the WUO cases. In addition, the government did not want to reveal foreign intelligence secrets that the court has ordered disclosed.[28]
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1974
March 6 – Bombing of the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare offices in San Francisco. WUO states this is to protest alleged sterilization of poor women. In the accompanying communiqué, the Women’s Brigade argues for “the need for women to take control of daycare, healthcare, birth control and other aspects of women’s daily lives.”
May 31 – The Office of the California Attorney General is bombed. WUO states this is in response to the killing of six members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.
June 17 – Gulf Oil’s Pittsburgh headquarters is bombed. WUO states this is to protest the company’s actions in Angola, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
July – The WUO releases the book Prairie Fire, in which they indicate the need for a unified Communist Party. They encourage the creation of study groups to discuss their ideology, and continue to stress the need for violent acts. The book also admits WUO responsibility of several actions from previous years. The Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) arises from the teachings in this book and is organized by many former WUO members.
September 11 – Bombing of Anaconda Corporation (part of the Rockefeller Corporation). WUO states this is in retribution for Anaconda’s alleged involvement in the Chilean coup the previous year.[29]
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1975
January 29 – Bombing of the State Department; WUO states this is in response to escalation in Vietnam. (AP. “State Department Rattled by Blast,” The Daily Times-News, January 29, 1975, p. 1)[30]
January 23 – Offices of Dept. of Defense in Oakland are bombed. In a statement released to the press, Weather expressed solidarity with the Vietnamese still fighting against the Thieu regime in Vietnam. [31]
Spring – WUO publishes “Politics in Command,” which is its new political-military strategy. It furthers the line of building a legal, above-ground organization and begins to minimize the armed struggle role.[30]
March – The WUO releases its first edition of a new magazine entitled Osawatomie.[32]
June 16 – Weathermen bomb a Banco de Ponce (a Puerto Rican bank) in New York, WUO states this is in solidarity with striking Puerto Rican cement workers.[30][32]
July – More than a thousand women attend the Socialist Feminist Conference at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH in which WUO supporters attempt to play a major role.[30]
July 11-13 – The Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) holds its first national convention during which time they go through the formality of creating a new organization.[32]
September – Bombing of the Kennecott Corporation; WUO states this is in retribution for Kennecott’s alleged involvement in the Chilean coup two years prior.[32][33]
.
1976
1976-1981 the Weather Underground slowly disbands, many members turning themselves in after taking advantage of the Federal Government dropping most charges in 1973 (illegal wiretaps and intelligence sources & methods issues) and of President Jimmy Carter’s amnesty for draft dodgers.
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1977
February – The first issue of Prairie Fire Organizing Committee’s magazine, Breakthrough, is published.[34]
Spring – The John Brown Book Club compiles articles critical of the old WUO leadership and subsequent split in a pamphlet entitled: The Split of the Weather Underground Organization: Struggling against White and Male Supremacy.[34]
November – Five WUO members are arrested on conspiracy to bomb California State Senator, John Brigg’s offices. It is later revealed that the Revolutionary Committee and PFOC had been infiltrated, and the arrests were the results of the infiltration. From this point on, some authors argue that the Weather Underground Organization ceases to exist.[34]
.
1980
July – Former WUO member, Cathy Wilkerson surfaces in New York City and is charged with possession of explosives arising from the 1970 townhouse explosion. She is sentenced to 3 years in prison.[35]
December 3 – Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers turn themselves in. Charges against Ayers are dropped in 1973 (illegal wire taps & foreign intelligence sources and methods). Dohrn is placed on probation. It was discovered that the FBI had discussed a plan to kidnap her nephew, amongst other controversial schemes.[36]
.
1981
October 20 – Brinks robbery in which WUO members Kathy Boudin, Sam Brown, Judy Clark and David Gilbert and the Black Liberation Army stole over $1.6 million from a Brinks armored car at the Nanuet Mall, near Nyack, New York on October 20, 1981. The robbers were stopped by police later that day and engaged them in a shootout, killing two police officers and one Brinks guard[36] as well as wounding several others.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground_(organization)
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Now one could argue that liberal extremists are perhaps more stupid or less competent in their attempts. But, actual attempts by liberals far and above out-number those of conservative extremists.
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And to add to the recent mix, the IRS Plane crasher, did not declare himself a Republican or Conservative as you lay claim. In fact it still has not been determined as to what his party affiliation was or how he voted.
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Read his “manifesto” in the below link. If anything, he was alighned more with liberals in his rantings.
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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/02/18/raw-data-joseph-stack-suicide-manifesto/
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Other than the far left liberal extremist site, Think Progress’opinion, you cannot find anywhere on the internet any definitive proof of Stack’s political leanings.

I suppose the following lists of attempts and actual murders by liberal extremists do not count either?
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Did you even read that list before cutting and pasting it here, you f*cking moron?
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There is one — one, count it, one — murder on that long long list, and it’s for a crime that was never attributed to anyone.
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For the record, the Weather Underground were terrorists. They deserved what they got, in terms of blowing themselves up and getting arrested. You’ll get no argument from me.
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You know why? Because unlike you, I’m not so blinded by partisan rage that I can’t condemn acts of violence and extremism.
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It’d be great if you stopped railing against a group of extremists who did things forty years ago, and started taking on extremists who are killing cops, killing federal workers, killing churchgoers, and making death threats against senators and congressmen today as well.
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Until you do, kindly shut the f*ck up about the Weathermen. Today’s Weathermen are all on your side.

jbaustian @ 20.1~
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I am disappointed to see you cheer on newfreedomblog.
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I must tell you that, to me, that raises the image for me that you may either be not as good of a critical thinker as you have appeared to be, or else your world view may be more like what patricksartor accuses you of sometimes in unkind terms — something I was going to try again to discourage him from doing as he did again recently in his “Stargazing” 23.6 post (calling you a “snob, if . . .”), but now I cannot bring myself to do that.
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nfb’s 20.3, to me (and only barely and slightly incorrectly rebutted by 20.4) substantiates my previously-come-to conclusion of nfb’s “anything to defend an ideological stance, including trying to overwhelm ‘em with BS irrelevant to my thesis” #20, itself, which you cheered, was but an abstract of that BS, and perhaps fooled you into thinking it briefed an underlying coherent treatise? Perhaps you are so new to this site that you have not yet seen how nfb posts? Name-calling ‘R Us. If you support nfb, you are free-game for the more intellectually-contexted name-calling by patricksartor.
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If you are going to continue to back nfb, I shall bid you adieu, with both a feeling of another missed opportunity to work on common ground with prima facie philosophically different folks, and also with a sense of relief that I won’t be risking wasting my time.
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please let me know. I was about to respond to your AWG post, but that is now at least on temporary hold.

jbaustian @ 20.1~
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my apologies to shakespeare, I posted my response to jbaustian under Shakespeare in GA’s #19
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jb, please find it @19.1

speare, baby~
,
this is my real response to your #19
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The topic you bring up interests me. I would like to see responses from Time.com bloggers. I wager 2 posts that there will be none, however. But, taking a page from certain financial giants, I’ll also wager 2 posts that if any of them respond, it will be gutless, because jobs are hard to come by these days, unless you are a member of the 10s-of-millions-in-stock-options club.

Bill Clinton is a liberal. He is a founding member of the current liberal / progressive wing of the Democrat Party.
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Um, no.
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Bill Clinton is not a liberal, unless you count anyone to the left of the current right-wing GOP a liberal.
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Clinton is a New Democrat. They are not liberal but centrist, although farther to the left than the GOP. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrats#Bill_Clinton_as_a_New_Democrat.
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This isn’t hair splitting, NFB. Clinton is not liberal in the way you believe Nancy Pelosi to be liberal.
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But it doesn’t matter to you because all you seem to be interested in here is painting anyone to the left of Lindsey Graham as a Code Pink liberal.

When Clinton was in power, I agree that the far Right was vile and vicious. Their antics led his wife to declare on national TV that there was a “Vast Right wing Conspiracy” against her husband.

In Obama’s case, I think the outcry is far more vitriolic. It is worsened by the Tea party movement which now claims that it is an Independent group of people who want less tax etc.

The Tea party membership is almost lily white.
Their members are almost all active Republicans. Their attacks against the president are venomous and tacitly encouraged by the Republican leadership. The consequences of encouraging this violent rhetoric is horrifying!

Their violent and vicious attacks against the President and their unending disdain for the democratic process makes these people appear to be nut jobs who have no clear purpose other than to continue in the manner of the “Party of No”. Oppose Obama no matter what.

Despite free speech etc. I think that there has to be some effort to curtail the lengths to which these folks are going in the witch hunt of our first African American President.

This country was built on racial discord and disunity. The election of an African American president was hailed by many as a new era in racial relations.

We can now state beyond a modicum of doubt that this so called era of “post racial politics” is trash. It does not exist.
Racism has shown its underwear in the Tea party racist rhetoric.

The personal attacks against Obama and blanket remarks by those Tea partiers which tend to imply that Black people are the beneficiaries of ALL the Presidents initiative add fire to the evident racist undertone of the entire movement.

If the Tea partiers want to get credibility, they need to be more directed in their dissension.
They need to take into account the boiling and real racial tensions which exist in ALL facets of American life.

It was not until the 60′s that Black Americans started enjoying some of the so called “All men created equal” part of the Lincoln declaration.

The anger and hostility of the Republican base aka Tea partiers is a reminder of the smoldering issues that exist beneath all the well dressed kumbayaa “racism is not a big issue”, nonsense. Lily white folk attacking a Black President in such a vile violent manner look like a modern day LYNCH MOB.

The rhetoric of these anti-Obama, anti government movement which advocates violence should be stopped.
If something is not done to rein in these charlatans, they will cause grievous harm to many and continue to set this country back in race relations.

LM
http://bestrongbehappy.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/women-implant-in-yourself-the-ideals-you-cherish/

You forgot about that guy who went into the Holocaust museum and killed a guard.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/10/museum.shooting/index.html

Post something relevant instead of copy pasta from the 70′s, NFB.

Everything from before the year 2000 is no longer relevant to your argument about today’s liberals, especially when discussing political terrorism and you know this.

You are an intellectually dishonest ignoramus. GTFO.

Bill Clinton is a fine one to talk now. I listened to his speech after the incident 15 years ago; his Presidency was shaky from the scandals and the Media was predicting a one term certainty.

He used the occasion to bolster his fading popularity as much as he is using the same tactics now. Moral of the story: don’t trust a politician.

Before you criticize me on this one I suggest that you find his 1995 speech and read it, then make up your own mind.

not sure what you mean
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No, I don’t mean I am not certain about your point that BC’s Presidency was shaking 15 years ago. I get that.
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I also get that the media was wrong then, because most voters cared more about the economy than Presidential infidelity. And they certainly did not care enough about Presidents lying about infidelity to throw the bums out, or they would have and certainly would have thrown out W for lying about issues of even greater concern to Presidential responsibility.
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I also get thta he used the speech you reference toi try to bolster his credibility, because he wanted to remain President. But he already has all the goodies from having been President — what does he need to bolster his politcial credibiltiy for now?
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I don’t trust politicians unless I know them well personally. But trusitng Bill Clinton or not (I don’t) has nothing to do with being glad that he made the point that “We can’t let the debate veer so far into hatred that we lose focus of our common humanity.”
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If the dictator of North Korea said tomorrow that he was denouncing hatred and oppression, I sure would not let down my guard, but I sure would say that was a good message.

“Post something relevant instead of copy pasta from the 70′s, NFB.”

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scrimbag:
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I did post something relevant. You are just too closed minded to see the truth. Those in the late 60′s and early 70′s who were domestic terrorists have never been brought to justice. Instead they have assimiliated into our Universities and our own Government now. Bill Ayers is a so-called Professor in Chicago. Bernadine Dohrn his wife is now an Associate Professor at Northwestern University, and the Director of a Children’s and Family Justice Center. .
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Jeff Jones is currently an Environmental Activist and consultant to the DNCC in Upstate New York.
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Mark William Rudd is a political organizer, mathematics instructor, and anti-war activist.
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Along with her partner, Eve Goldberg, Evans travels around the United States advocating for lesbian and female inmates’rights. Evans is involved with the activist organization the Center for Third World Organizing.
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Robert Roth is a high school Social Studies teacher and community activist. He can be seen in the groundbreaking film It’s Elementary, which focuses on teaching gay issues in schools. Roth has also worked closely with Bill Clinton in the Haiti Relief Fund and the UN.
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And the list goes on and on for former SDS members.
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No, this is still very relevant. Relevant to the point that most if not all of these former Weathermen Underground scumbags are now revered by the liberals in our country. They have never denounced their actions or prior affiliations. They have simply gone back underground and work their subversive actions in a more “accepted” manner. They are now teaching the next generation of SDS and potential Weathermen Underground terrorists.

True. Too True.
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My guess, anyway.-+

I feel sorry for all of the leftists. With the Socialist Obama and his hacks in the Senate and House ( Reid and Peloser) Their moment of glory is not working out so well for them. Too bad.

Let’s start doing what good liberals do. OOOO! He’s a racist. OOOO! They are homophobes, OOOO That’s sedition. Call people names to discredit them.

You are all fools. The greatest political opportunity in 200 years SQUANDERED by fools. Keep shouting names until you lose your voices. Then we can enjoy the peace and quiet after November.

I feel sorry for all the “rightests”. With the Neo-Conservative, alchohol and cocaine brain-cell compromised Bush and the war-profiteering Cheney and all their hacks in the White House and Congress, they squandered their opportunity make this country fiscally conservative and Constitutionally integral. Instead they stuffed the Supreme Court with activist judges, they discouraged participatory democracy via tightly scripted and “conservative cheerleader only” press conferences, they championed an immigration bill so biased towards non-citizens and criminals and other other American principles that even Boehner called it a “piece of sht!”, etc. Talk about “fools.”
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It remains to be seen if our current crop of managers is really “squandering” their opportunity. It sure seems like it to a lot of us, but politics is a convoluted and nasty chess-game, and even if you are in the “know”, you never do see all the pieces. Neither you nor I see but, at most, 1% of them, so we will just have to watch and see how it all turns out. Because, in chess, it is not how the board looks at any given moment that really tells the story, it is how it looks at the last move.
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I don’t know if you are a “rightest” or not, but, if the shoe fits, wear it.
Luckily for me, I am neither “right” nor “left”.

NFB,

I did not see this among your list.

http://www.odmp.org/officer/7835-trooper-philip-joseph-lamonaco

Isn’t Angela Davis still in the worker’s paradise…CUBA?