Reply #14: with all due respect to you and the poster below, ( on edit, now above) if the shoe fits....

[abq e streeter]

The fact is that it's glaringly obvious that there is a large number of rather openly racist elements in the republican party, as well as a fascist mind-set among much of their leadership. And there has not been an attempt on the left to whip up irrational fear and hate that remotely compares to that which the right wing is currently attempting to do. Should we also not call the Ku Klux Klan racists , or Mussolini a fascist just to try to stay 'fair and balanced" ? And for the record, yes, our side is guilty of hyperbole sometimes, and I personally found comparisons of Bush to Hitler to be highly offensive ( as opposed to saying he and his criminal junta had a fascist mentality and/or were attempting to impose fascism). But did any Olbermann listeners or Chomsky readers murder doctors, or worshipers in church? The right wing DOES have a large racist and fascist, and very potentially violent ( and not always just potentially either) element, and we , while being far from perfect, do not. Simple fact.