"We are in the fight of a lifetime"

[impik]

Will Bunch:



It is no surprise that by mid-2009 I was hearing from the leader of the anti-Obama group the Delaware 9-12 Patriots that the 44th president of the United States "is absolutely not American" while his neighbors were screaming at town hall meetings: "I don't want this flag to change. I want my country back!" These rank-and-file citizens were often echoing what they heard in a 24/7 right-wing media bubble of ratings-driven irresponsibility -- outlandish neo-McCarthyite allegations that Obama had Commies and Maoists working in the West Wing, Glenn Beck's notorious claim that the president has "a deep-seated hatred of white people" and, perhaps more tellingly, of "white culture," and most recently radio's Rush Limbaugh's bizarre charge that Obama is probably the "best anti-American president the country's ever had."
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Which brings us to the present crisis: Mosques in America. It should tell you something that the backlash against Muslims practicing their faith in America is far greater in 2010 than it was in the months immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. That's because the political firestorm with its epicenter in lower Manhattan really has nothing to do with 9/11 or its aftermath, and everything to do with "the Other" the awful forces and fears that have been unleashed in the last couple of years -- fears that craven politicians like Gingrich, Palin and the formerly rational Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota are eager to surf into the White House in 2013. If the Manhattan mosque controversy were really about our 9/11 sensibilities, how does one explain the opposition to other Islamic houses of worship from Tennessee to California to Staten Island?



America, we are in for the bumpy political ride of a lifetime. It will take enormous courage for defenders of two centuries of religious freedom and tolerance toward both religious and economic refugees to stand firm in the face of the kind of raw public anger and emotion that have caused backbone-impaired politicians like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or supposed progressive stalwart Howard Dean to wither in mere days.

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Let's face it: This country has long had its Know-Nothings and its Birchers and its McCarthyites, but it never had gizmos like Fox News or Sarah Palin's Twitter feed to fuel toxic ideas so far so fast. It's time we admit these seemingly disconnected battles over "anchor babies, mosques, and a black man in the Oval Office are all part of the same war against "the Other," and that we are in the fight of a lifetime.



http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/The_Other_and_the_ripping_apart_of_America_2010.html

[BeFree]

1. Good Lord

Making a federal case out of a religious residence is stupid.

Human history is being repeated and this whole issue must be making the founders roll over in their graves.

Religious freedom is what this country is founded upon, and it has worked well. This problem is a minor evolutionary step in progress. IOW, it ain't no big deal, except the repukes have blown it up and thrown the left off-track again.

[Hansel]

2. "Formerly rational Tim Pawlenty"?

Sorry but Timmy was never rational. He just played a rational person on TV, during campaigns. Because he knew how to play "Minnesota Nice".

If Timmy was ever to be president, heaven forbid, he would make Bush look like Ghandi. He is a dictatorial twerp who doesn't understand the word compromise, could care less about anyone without money, and will do absolutely anything for absolute power.

The uninformed outsiders need to really do some research on this piece of work before coming to the conclusion that he was ever rational. He's one scary little man.