Wonder Why Right-Wing Nuts Are Shooting People?

We offer Exhibits A and B.

Here's grifting crackpot Glenn "Boo Hoo" Beck, further descending into madness and stoking the gun-fondlers:

On his radio broadcast today [Friday], Glenn Beck warned that too many crises are piling up all at the same time which will cause the press to finally turn on President Obama. That, in turn, will cause Obama to finally snap and start rounding up conservatives and putting them into camps.  (our emphasis)

 Then there's fellow madman Alex "A Ton of Bricks Short of a Load" Jones on his hate-radio show:

Conspiracy nut Alex Jones has been opining that the Obama administration has been hot on the heels of the Tea Party movement and will use tanks, drones and everything else to mount an attack on them. After the Las Vegas shooting, Jones said he was convinced that Harry Reid and others planted a false flag operation against him and other gun nuts because - freedom.  (our emphasis)

You can guess where we'd like to plant a flag - false or otherwise - in both Beck and Jones, right? We sense both Beck and Jones are engaging in a little paranoid would-be self-inoculation from the prospect of their being shut down by the Obama Administration (ah, we can only dream) for their seditionist rantings.

These are only two of the most prominent lunatics spouting crackpot conspiracies that feed the paranoia contributing to the acts of violence we've been experiencing.  (The Las Vegas domestic terrorists "liked" Alex Jones, among other cretins, on their Facebook page.)  Unfortunately, for every Beck or Jones, there are dozens of others broadcasting toxic messages to their low-information, paranoid audiences.

In these instances, there's a clinical level of paranoia.  If they were only expressing their delusions to the voices in their heads, it would be of no consequence to the rest of us.  But, they're not, and that is of consequence to the rest of us.

Violent Wingnut Linked to Beck

Although the Beltway media has virtually ignored hate media's instigation of violence on the teabagger right, Think Progress reports that wingnut Charles Wilson, a man charged with threats against Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), was apparently inspired by Boo Hoo the Hoot Beck. According to court documents, Wilson's family said he "came under the spell" of Boo Hoo's unhinged paranoid rants against health insurance reform legislation:

"He became basically housebound due to illness and his small world became even smaller. His brother got him a computer and he was able to stay connected with family. And he watched television and found Glenn Beck… I understand how his fears were grown and fostered by Mr. Beck’s persuasive personality."

To say demagogues like Boo Hoo, Limpballs, and others in hate media are responsible for inciting violence is taboo among the Beltway media poobahs, who are courageous when ferreting out waste in government programs aiding the poor, but terrified of the reactionary bully who threatens to punch him. And if another Oklahoma City occurs, they will spend hours of airtime "analyzing" the root causes and conclude that Obama should have compromised more.

"There Will Be Blood On Many Hands"

As we noted below in "Wingnut Violence, Cont'd.", unstable right-wingers are more than willing to use violence against anyone that's been deemed a "progressive," "liberal," "Islamosocialist," "Democommie," [fill-in-the-blank crackpot epithet]. Now one of the targets is pushing back hard.

Drummond Pike, CEO of the Tides Foundation, a favorite bugaboo of demagogue Boo Hoo the Hoot Beck, has written a letter to 10 of Boo Hoo's corporate advertisers asking them to remove their advertising from the Fox "News" Nutwork. This follows the arrest this summer of Byron Williams, an avid listener of Boo Hoo's, who was on his way to San Francisco to kill as many Tides Foundation staff (and ACLUers, if possible) as he could. If there's one passage in Pike's letter that should get the corporate heads' attention it's this:

"No one, left, right or center, wants to see another Oklahoma City... The next 'assassin' may succeed, and if so, there will be blood on many hands."

Boo Hoo has already lost over 100 advertisers because of his incendiary rhetoric. Let's see if this effort causes a few more to drop this dangerous moron.

(Image: Boo Hoo, emphasizing our point)

Quote of the Day

"'I do enjoy Glenn Beck,' Williams also says, 'and the reason why I enjoy that is because... no other channel will speak about the same things that he's talking about, and if you go and investigate those things you'll find out that they're true.' Unfortunately for Beck, this satisfied viewer currently resides at the Santa Rita Jail near Oakland and stands accused of a freeway shootout with police. Williams pleaded not guilty to four counts of attempted murder of a police officer. But according to court documents, he said he had been on a mission to kill people at the liberal Tides Foundation, which happens to be a favorite Beck target." -- Kaplan Daily's Dana Milbank, referring to shooter Byron Williams and his favorite TV personality. The mainstream media largely thinks this kind of thing will go away on its own, and that Beck's just an "entertainer." There are other Byron Williamses out there waiting for their opportunity, waiting for the word from Beck.

Of Useful Idiots... and Just Plain Idiots

We have two articles to recommend for your Sunday morning edification:

Dana Milbank on Perfesser "Boo Hoot the Hoot" Beck's manufacturing "history" to conform to his crackpot worldview; * and

Frank Rich on Christine "No Dildos" O'Donnell's role as useful idiot to establishment Rethuglicans and their billionaire backers.

(Question to Hackwhackers readers: Is it just us or do you feel like you lose a few million brain cells as a result of reading about the Becks and O'Donnells of the world?)

*UPDATE: You must see this Glenn Beck meets Donald Duck cartoon before it disappears off the internet tubes!! Laff riot! (via Yglesias)

Quote of the Day

"Consider Beck's claim that his speech marks "America" turning "back" to God, and the exhortation that we turn "back" to what made us great. The unbearably obvious implication of these quotes, and of the title of the rally itself, is that someone or something has tarnished our honor and turned America away from God and American greatness -- presumably two sides of the same coin."-- Greg Sargent, blogging at the Kaplan Daily site. He's picked up on key -- and loaded -- theme words that both Boo Hoo and Winky are pushing: turning back, returning, restoring, etc. What these radical right-wingers are yearning for is a return to the '50s, or earlier, when corporate deregulation, white supremacy and other fetishes of the right were accepted. No we won't.

The Nightmare That Is Boo Hoo's "Dream"

Megalomaniac gasbag and Goldline shill Glenn "Boo Hoo the Hoot" Beck is appearing before his thousands, make that millions of sheeple at the Lincoln Memorial right now, accompanied by his distaff partner in ignorant hatemongering, Winky You Betcha. Putting Boo Hoo's ego trip in perspective this morning are Bob Herbert and Charles Blow.

In viewing the spectacle of Boo Hoo attempting to wrap himself in the glory of the civil rights movement, and being taken seriously by the "18%-ers", one is reminded of H.L Mencken's observation that nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people - at least this portion of it.

Voices In His Head

Dana "The Dick Whisperer" Milbank seems to be gradually smelling the noxious tea brewing on the far right. In his column today, he focuses on the calls to violence that are now becoming routine on Boo Hoo the Hoot Beck's televised psychotic episodes. The latest involves Boo Hoo's obsession with an obscure foundation, the Tides Foundation. In his fevered imagination Boo Hoo believes the Tides Foundation is a massive conspiracy out to destroy capitalism. One individual apparently took Boo Hoo's rant seriously enough that he packed up his car with weapons and headed out to shoot up the Tides Foundation headquarters and the ACLU for good measure. Fortunately, he was intercepted before he could carry out the mass murder. Unfortunately, two police officers were wounded in apprehending him.

With the mainstream media largely silent in the face of extreme rhetoric on the far right, the wingnuts are emboldened each time they push the violent language envelope and don't face repercussions. The next time we may not be so lucky, as a deranged individual who's been tuned into Beck, Limpalls or other hate merchants carries out his "mission" from them.

(image: courtesy Driftglass)

"Fearmonger in Chief"

There's a tendency to dismiss the rhetoric of far-right buffoons like Pills Limpalls, Bill O'Liely, and Manatee Hannity as transparent nonsense. Yes, they are faithfully followed by extreme wingers, but most sane people find them to be a bad joke. However, in the case of the deranged Fux host Boo Hoo Beck, his particularly extremist message may trigger acts of violence from the far right, according to a new report.

In the report by the Anti-Defamation League, Boo Hoo is singled out as the "fearmonger in chief" driving anti-Government and anti-Obama rage among the most unhinged in our society through the wildest conspiracy theories, comparisons of the President with Hitler, and a steady stream of falsehoods and misinformation. As the report states:

"Ultimately, this anti-government anger, if it continues to grow in intensity and scope, may result in an increase in anti-government extremists and a potential for a rise of violent anti-government acts."

Let's hope there's never another Oklahoma City-type act of domestic violence, but should that awful crime be repeated, we know who provided the matches.