Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Treason From The Right

Remember after the Iraq war started how right wing pundits like O'Reilly and Beck and Hannity would use the term "traitor" to describe anybody who criticized the Bush Administration during times of war? Ah, how an election can change things. We are still fighting those same two wars, but the Wingnut Trifecta now thinks it is perfectly acceptable to criticize the new President. Their hypocricy is nothing new, naturally. I just wonder if they ever watch clips of their own pronouncements.

I would be glad to just chalk it up to media whores looking to incite their mouth-breathing followers, but the rhetoric is starting to get dangerous. These pundits have got to understand the effect they are having on the fringe elements. I was hoping that Beck would tone down his rhetoric after Richard Andrew Poplawski, the man who killed 3 cops in Pittsburg. Recall he was an avid follower of Beck's show, and even posted a Beck video on the Aryan Nation web site. But Beck just shook that off and kept shoveling coal in the crazy train. Nightly he and Hannity admonish their followers that the Office of Homeland Security is labeling them a threat and wants to take away their guns. Beck et al have broken no laws, but I don't know how they can sleep knowing that gun nuts are killing cops because of the incendiary rhetoric.

If these pundits continue in the direction they are headed, I expect laws may soon be broken. First Glen Beck and now Sean Hannity have started to talk about revolt and revolution. It's hard to get a definitive statement from either of them. Hannity is slippery and Beck is insane. But they have to keep upping the ante each show.

They would be well advised to review US Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 115, Section 2385: Advocating Overthrow of Government. The first paragraph starts: "Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence..." That sure sounds like what Hannity and Beck are alluding to.

It's time to stop this nonsense. It would be funny were it not for three dead cops. These guys have no shame. I expect the government is handling this with kid gloves. In the land of freedom, you don't want to see the government arresting journalists (and, in the case of Fox's Three Stooges, I use that term VERY loosely). But you cannot have pundits advocating the overthrow of the legally elected government. I suspect the Secret Service is watching these guys very closely. Personally, I would love to see all three in handcuffs.






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