The Battle On The Right: Fact vs. Fear

[Lasher]

June 13, 2008

There is an informative article in Pajamas Media today by Rick Moran. It is informative in 2 ways. First, it brings out some polling data that sheds light on major issues of the campaign. You remember issues, trivial things like the war in Iraq, the economy, and national health care.

The second enlightening thing about this article is not in the article itself, but in the comments posted by those who read it. Pajamas Media is a decidedly conservative web site and Rick Moran is unquestionably a conservative, as the name of his own web site, Right Wing Nut House, will attest. But Mr. Moran is a realistic conservative who can read the tea leaves and draw his own conclusions.

Here are some of the things Moran points out as reasons John McCain could be headed for a big loss in November:

"More than 80% of the nation believes the country is headed in the wrong direction. Think about that for a moment. Is there anything else in the history of the United States where 80% of the people agreed about anything?"

"Americans who name the economy as the number one issue favor Obama over McCain by an astonishing 59% to 33%."

"Voters who named health care as the number one issue favored Obama 57%-35%."

<snip>

All sound, solid reasons backed up by factual evidence, right? To reasonable, rational people yes, but here is a sampling of the responses posted by readers:

"The possibility of a terrorist attack within the US exists but the
chances are very low. Those who would do such a thing have a great friend in Obama."

"The moderate blue collar union Hillary supporter types won’t vote for the idiotic, anti-America, divisive, naive, unqualified B Hussein Obama."

"Yes, but perhaps half of those 80% think the country is headed in the wrong direction because of the treasonous liberals and media."

<snip>

I could go on but you get the idea. There are both sides of the argument clearly defined. On one side are thinking, rational people making conclusions based on facts and reality. On the other side there are reactions based on fear, lies, smear tactics, and hatred. My only hope is that the sane people outnumber those bordering on insanity.

http://www.chron.com/commons/persona.html?newspaperUserId=desperado&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3AdesperadoPost%3Afaba4bb9-b0cc-4e66-b69a-1f676744cdec

[ingac70]

1. The insane outnumber the sane...

and believe me, Mr. Moran has his insane moments. He's toned himself down in the last year or so.

[Lasher]

2. I'm no fan of Moran's

But I thought this article did a good job of providing some perspective on the slander that has for some time been a significant part of the right wing genre.

Moran. What a memorable name.