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A recent Paul Krugman column titled “Right-wing paranoia getting out of hand” has outraged wingnuts. It is doubtful this surprises anyone since wingnuttery outrage is the norm rather than the exception. The sad reality is that their outrage is usually misplaced.

A recent example of misplaced outrage was the absolutely over-the-top reaction to the announcement that President Obama planned on addressing students on the first day of school. The fact that other presidents have done the same meant nothing to the outraged Teabaggers. So what if St. Reagan did the same and made it into a political speech? That is certainly different than a black Muslim president who has an interest in education giving a speech to students.

We are all familiar with Sarah Reagan’s Palin’s “death panels” and the silliness that ensued from that claim. Her latest is the false claim that the words “In God we trust” are not on the new presidential dollar coins. As usual, she doesn’t know what she is talking about. The words are there. They’ve been moved to the edge. And guess whose watch that happened on – that’s right, under G. W. Bush. Somehow, it is still proof of the Muslim secularist agenda to remove God from public view. It’s all Obama’s fault.

Then there is the whole “executive orders” fantasy controversy. There is a list of executive orders floating around the ‘Net that could be used by a President to take over various aspects of the government during a declared national emergency. As far as the Right-wing is concerned, these executive orders prove that Obama is secretly plotting to become a dictator like Hugo Chavez. What they don’t tell you is that these EOs were written decades ago. It is strange that these people weren’t concerned about those EOs until a black Muslim became president.

The sad fact is that there is nothing President Obama can do to win over the far-right. It wouldn’t matter if he cured cancer or single-handedly tracked down and captured Osama bin Laden.

The core wingnut belief can be found in this comment I found in the comment thread for the Krugman column.

Joanne

October 25th, 2009 | 1:24 pm | #18

Obama has an evil and ulterior motive behind everything he does.

Open Thread – What’s your favorite faux outrage from the Right?


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 65 Comments

65 comments

  4. HappyinVT

    foreigners:

    TAMPA – A Marine reservist armed with a tire iron beat and chased a man he thought was an Arab terrorist and even called 911 to say he was detaining the man, police said.

    But the man he assaulted was actually a Greek Orthodox priest visiting from overseas who spoke limited English, police said.

    That’s why police arrested reservist Jasen D. Bruce on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

    Police said they’re also investigating whether Bruce, 28, committed a hate crime.  http://www.tampabay.com/news/p…  

  6. hubiestubert

    and it has been championed by folks on the Right and the Left, depending on who was in control of the White House at the time. Much like how signing statements will, I suspect, become an issue if the President uses them.

    What I have found interesting the last week, is the odd disconnect within so many sources about what the President was supposed to do. With Veterans Day coming up, the Anniversary of Fall of the Berlin Wall, with the Fort Hood shooting, Health Care coming through Congress, the Middle East, troop levels in Afghanistan, and now Korea with a shooting incident, the criticism comes no matter what is done.

    Not moving fast enough to decide on troop levels. Not supporting Israel enough. Not attacking Iran enough. Not intervening in the Afghan election. Not going to Berlin. Showing off too much in Berlin. Not coming to Fort Hood fast enough. Not responding to the storm that didn’t come fast enough. Not getting H1N1 out fast enough. Not caring if people are scared of the vaccine. Not being hard enough. Being too hard on Israel. Not caring. Too caring. Not powerful enough to affect an election. A referendum on his Presidency with the loss of Gubernatorial seats, but not a referendum on his ability to deliver Congressional seats, because these elections just don’t matter…

    It goes along with the Socialist-Communist-Fascist-Seekrit Muslim dichotomy that doesn’t gel, because it’s just noise. It is outrage for outrage’s sake. And it doesn’t gel, because it has no legs.

    And it worries me, because there are things that we should be looking at. We should worry about a continuation of some policies. We should look at how we are addressing regulation. We should NOT be loving everything about the President or our Congress, and sadly, what the Wing Nut Brigade has done, is tossed aside any semblance of credible criticism, and because of this vast, dull, and sour roar behind EVERY action, there is the danger that genuine voices of criticism will be lost in that noise.

  8. Hollede

    Ah, so many choices, it is hard to remember all of them. Perhaps my favorite faux outrage is that Obama is a socialist. Why? Because I wish he was.

  9. creamer

     As one who generaly ask others to treat religion with respect I always cringe when Robertson is being quoted. As conflicted as I am with religion/Christianity etc, I have to say the God Robertson would have you believe he represents/speaks for I do not recognize. The saddest thing to me is, that this Sunday, thousands of Pastors will have the opportunity to refute him, but they will be silent.

    I would not break bread with Pat Robertson.

    I just caught some of Rush going on about Islamic terrorist 13- Fort Hood 0. Not only would I not break bread with Rush, I would have to repress the urge to hurt him.

  11. HappyinVT

    Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views made him a TV lightning rod, plans to announce Wednesday that he is leaving the network, two network employees said.

    A CNN executive confirmed that Mr. Dobbs will announce his resignation plans on his 7 p.m. program. His resignation is effective immediately; tonight’s program will be his last on CNN. His contract was not set to expire until the end of 2011.

    http://mediadecoder.blogs.nyti…

    Dobbs did meet with Fox’s Roger Ailes and is thought to be looking at jumping to Fox Busniess News.  Any channel with Fox in the title should be a good fit for Mr. Dobbs who I used to like back when he hosted Moneyline.

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