The return of the vast rightwing conspiracy
Remember the vast rightwing conspiracy? It’s ba-a-a-ck, turning its considerable resources to ruining health care reform and wrecking legislation aimed at curbing climate change.
Despite the insistence of Republican leaders that the tea-party crowd and the town-hall protestors are merely concerned individuals who have spontaneously made the decision to shout and yell threats at public meetings, the protests are, in fact, prodded by networks of conservative activists. Richard Mellon Scaife, a Pittsburg billionaire who is the financial lifeblood of ultra-conservative activism, is a contributor, according to The Washington Post.
That’s not to deny the individual anger or anxiety on display on cable TV. Hardcore conservatives are quite unhappy, some over proposals for health care reform, many others over a wider range of policies and positions they associate with the Obama administration. If conservative voters weren’t already upset by cultural and political changes, they wouldn’t turn out, no matter how much they were urged on by networks of activists.
But urged they are, by old voices with the same old names, like Rush Limbaugh, or familiar conservatives, like former GOP congressman Dick Armey, now associated with a lesser-known outfit called Freedom Works, a conservative Washington-based advocacy group . Freedom Works has been heavily involved in turning out critics at town-hall meetings on health care reform; it’s Web site, urging raucous protests, features a quote from Armey; “If you are going to go ugly, go ugly early,” according to the Post.
In a 1998 TV interview, then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton famously blamed a “vast rightwing conspiracy” for the problems she and her husband faced, especially after his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky.
The controversies that engulfed the First Couple weren’t exclusively the work of political enemies, of course; the Clintons provided some of the raw material. But it’s also true that wealthy rightwingers like Scaife tried their best to spoil Bill Clinton’s presidency.
Now they’re trying to spoil Obama’s. GOP Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) gave away his goal when he declared, last month, “If we are to stop Obama on (health care reform), it would be his Waterloo. It will break him.” Many of his fellow travelers have been more discreet, concealing their deep-seated ideological enmity underneath rhetoric about fiscal responsibility (a concern they rarely showed during the Bush years) or fear of “socialism.”
But ideologues like DeMint and Newt Gingrich have made it pretty clear that they’re not interested in finding the best approach on public policy or in helping Americans cope with skyrocketing health care costs. They just want to win political battles.
Some of the conservatives arrayed against Obama represent corporate interests. Armey’s FreedomWorks, for example, is funded by companies such as Philip Morris, which has fought government regulations on smoking for years now.
A conservative advocacy group called Americans for Prosperity, long known for denying the scientific findings on climate change, has started an offshoot called Patients First to fight health care reform. The Post reports that it receives funding from the Koch Foundation, affliated with a huge Kansas-based oil-and-gas conglomerate called Koch Industries. (Koch owns Georgia Pacific.) The Koch Foundation undoubtedly believes that slowing Obama down on health care reform will help to defeat his energy bill, which aims to curb carbon emissions and would affect Koch’s businesses.
There is nothing unusual about either the efforts of corporatists to protect their interests or the enmity toward government from ultra-conservatives. But there does seem to be something unusual about the raging paranoia and sheer lunacy from some of the protestors, especially those who have found it necessary to carry guns to rallies. If they are not threatening violent opposition, why bring guns?
Their paranoia is clear from their eagerness to believe the loopiest theories about the Obama administration, including the patently false notion that health reform legislation includes “death panels” to decide whether to euthanize the elderly and handicapped. And the Obama protesters are too busy denouncing non-existent tax increases to be persuaded that Obama signed the largest two-year tax cut in U.S. history; it was included in the stimulus bill. They wouldn’t believe that if Limbaugh himself told them. (Don’t worry. He won’t.)
So far, the antics at rallies and town hall meetings have merely produced a little ugliness, like the swastika painted on a sign outside the office of U.S. Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) But it wouldn’t take much for one of these angry gunslingers to do some real damage at a public gathering.
Will the vast rightwing conspiracy own up to its handiwork then?
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187 comments Add your comment
James Torguson
August 19th, 2009
1:51 pm
YES!
Let us ALL (including the writer of this article) call each other names!
That’s the solution to our problems.
Name Calling!
What a great idea!
Tommy Lee Maddox
August 19th, 2009
1:55 pm
The left implodes and Ms. Tucker claims the right wing conspiracy has returned.
Taxes rise; the sun sets in the west; and Ms. Tucker types. Some things are simply predictable.
RW
August 19th, 2009
1:59 pm
Cynthia Tucker-McKinney….I’m SURE it just an oversight on your part..but you failed to mention the ACORN people, SEIU people, and the other Union “thugs” that were brought in on buses to these Town Hall meetings. They actually had video footage of these. Where is your video of the “right wing conspirators” being brought in? ….Hmmmmm???
Azazel
August 19th, 2009
1:59 pm
Jimbo:
I agree with you. The government should provide for a minimal, albeit adequate, level of health for its citizens — note that I make a distinction between health and health care; health is a state of being in the classical sense, and health care represents those activities that support health or provide remediation to a healthy state.
There are many reasons why government should provide a minimal state of health for its citizens, both implicitly and explicitly. Explicit activities include infectious disease surveillance and control, immunization requirements, water and air quality and food inspections. Implicit activities may be more subtle, such as, health education, providing safety nets for the poor and aged so they do not spread disease or lie wasting in the streets and assuring providers adhere to best practice standards. And so on.
The government should not be in the health care business as a provider, but government should assure that adequate, high quality health care is available to all citizens and help pay for the care of those in need.
Nor, should the government allow the health status and health care of its citizens to become a commodity with a price tag.
Today’s Tidbits
August 19th, 2009
2:02 pm
[...] The return of the vast rightwing conspiracy However liberals protesting policies they don’t approve of is admirable, and supports human rights, conservatives doing the exact same thing is a ‘right-wing conspiracy’. [...]
jeff
August 19th, 2009
2:04 pm
I couldn’t agree more with Mike. When George Soros and Michael Moore donate money to liberal causes or make movies supporting them, its called liberal activism. When Conservatives speak out em masse about an issue and individuals help organize a unified voice about a subject, it becomes a right-wing conspiracy.
When will The Party of Diversity, as the Democrats like to think of themselves, start entertaining diverse ideas?
jconservative
August 19th, 2009
2:09 pm
Randyinathens August 19th, 2009 1:25 pm
“This is the part every single Republican and Libertarian should seize upon.”
This is from the Declaration of Independence. It is not from the Constitution.
Jimbo & Azazel gave you correct Constitutional references. Actually, you just need to read the Constitution. Chief Justice Roberts recommends that every citizen read the Constitution at least one a year.
Marty
August 19th, 2009
2:10 pm
I am sorry that life so befuddles you that a conspiracy is your preferred way of seeing things. Perhaps if you’d learned about individual responsibility and not insisting that others do things for you you’d be more inclined to look at the facts of the case and less inclined to see a powerful “they” stepping all over pitiful, powerless “you.”
Grow up.
Rita
August 19th, 2009
2:13 pm
No, health care is not mentioned in the Constitution. It doesn’t specifically address a lot of things we don’t seem to have issues with under “provide for the general welfare” and “ensure domestic tranquility”, like providing health care for wounded veterans. But according to the Constitutional argument, veterans who chose to serve their country knew they might get blown up, so screw those freeloading soldier amputees! RiA doesn’t want to “pay for healthcare for ANYBODY”. So, Wounded American Veteran, Randyinathens says to quit yer whining and get off his dime.
Dunwoody Mike
August 19th, 2009
2:16 pm
Randyinathens,
Ever heard of a little thing called “human compassion”? It’s this thing that makes you care about other people that are beyond your backyard, and wish for them to have the same oppurtunities that you and I have had.
It’s something you may want to look into.
And as for the Constitution, it also allowed for slavery, and for slave states to count slaves as 3/5 of a human being. Using your logic, we should go back to that. After all, it’s in the Constitution, right?
ADL
August 19th, 2009
2:17 pm
The return (did it ever leave?) of left wing paranoia.
To all the Auburn people: Are you more embarrassed by Cynthia Tucker(alumni) or Robert Gibbs (grew up there)?
Randall G.
August 19th, 2009
2:18 pm
Okay, to sum up today’s lesson:
Cynthia Tucker = The Village Idiot
Class dismissed.
Chris Salzmann
August 19th, 2009
2:18 pm
Pat Phelps August 19th, 2009 12:43 pm SAID:
Chris, Yes the government runs Medicare and has bankrupted the program. Social Security is all but bankrupt and probably will not be around when I retire. The United States Senate could not even run their own cafeteria without screwing it up and bankrupting it. So explain to me how the government will pay for and administer a trillion dollar program without bankrupting it?
CHRIS SAYS:
Actually, Medicare is a very well run program (ask anyone over 65) and isn’t going bankrupt because how its run. Its going bankrupt because of how it was set up and financed. All health insurance plans are based on the 80-20 principle i.e. 80% pay for the 20% who use the system. Since Medicare is set up for older folks, that ratio doesn’t apply. That’s why the system is going bankrupt, not because its badly run. The solution: Open it up to younger folks, based on income with higher income families being allowed to opt for private health insurance.
Pat Phelps August 19th, 2009 12:43 pm SAID:
The father of moderm day socialism said, “from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs.” How is this program different than that quote from Karl Marx?
CHRIS SAYS: You tell me. What does ability have to do with getting government subsidized health insurance? Right now, if you’re younger and self employed, your ABILITY to get health insurance is based on your ABILITY to pay an outrageous amount of money for it. And if you NEED it because you’re sick, God help you because no private insurance plan will cover your pre-existing conditions (that includes pregnancy).
ben quiet
August 19th, 2009
2:19 pm
next time we vote you are going to see a sure enough conspiracy!
clrp
August 19th, 2009
2:20 pm
I do not know where you get that people in the UK and Canada like there health care benifets they hate them. I talk to people from both places almost everyday and the stories they tell are heart breaking. They have to wait for ever to see doctors and to have operations that people die waiting. Is that what we want in this country (I think not).
Chris Salzmann
August 19th, 2009
2:23 pm
Randyinathens August 19th, 2009 1:14 pm SAID:
All of liberals on here take 2 minutes to look the constitution up online, I’m sure it’s there. Then copy and paste onto this blog exactly where it says it is the responsibility of government to take tax dollars from my paycheck and pay for healthcare for ANYBODY. Legal residents, illegal aliens, temporary residents, high income earners, low income earners, A N Y B O D Y !!!!!! It is not there.
CHRIS SAYS: In fact, the legislation specifically states that “undocumented aliens” will not be eligible for credits to help them buy health insurance, in Section 246 on page 143.
BTW, the Constitution allows taxation. it also allows slavery.
Smoltzie
August 19th, 2009
2:42 pm
Chris – four words… “Survival of the fittest”.
Smoltzie
August 19th, 2009
2:48 pm
The weak bring down the whole Pride. The weak, whether it be poor health, poor finances or poor intelligence – WEAKEN the rest of us.
Sunshine and Thunder
August 19th, 2009
2:51 pm
Cynthia can write all about Richard Schiafe funding right wing causes but ignore left nuts such as George Soros funding left wing causes. She worries about people bringing guns to townhall meetings but ignores the fact that people have a much higher likelihood of dying in the cars they drive to the meetings. She points out that Phillip Morris funds Dick Armey’s group as if she expects PM to fund something that is not in PM’s interest.
She claims tax increases are non existent. But ignores the fact that democrats are spending money like drunken drunks.
Shawny
August 19th, 2009
2:55 pm
Conservatives teach a person to fish. Liberals take the fish away and give it to someone that refuses to fish.
gatorman770
August 19th, 2009
2:58 pm
Conrade Cynthia you continue to support Ann Coulter’s contention “the the symbol for the Democratic Party shouldn’t be a donkey, it should be two sets of standards” (from Ann’s “How to Talk To a Liberal[if you must}”). You believe that independent and conservative groups have no right to speak out against the socialist agenda of the liberal Obamamites, but all during the 8 years of the Bush Administrations, radical liberal community organizers and groups like Obama, ACORN, Move-on, UAW, NEA, etc. and the national biased media (ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NYT, etc.)used all the same tactics.
AFSOC Shirt
August 19th, 2009
3:15 pm
Cynthia, (or anyone taking her side)please explain the difference between Richard Mellon Scaife and George Soros. How about between Feedom Works and MoveOn.org? If one’s bad, they’re all bad. If one’s OK, there all OK. You can’t pick and choose.
ck hall
August 19th, 2009
3:19 pm
If I saw ACORN thugs outside trying to prevent me from voting I might also carry a gun to be ready for them. As you know this was the case during the Presidential election last November..
How absurd Ms Tucker’s arguments are–as usual–She is a Black racist who is so far left she writes in circles! If she is a Pulitzer Prize winner she must simply be a token for that award..
Not Scared
August 19th, 2009
3:19 pm
“The return of the vast rightwing conspiracy” has caused me not to renew my subscription to this newspaper. With it’s biased reporting, it isn’t good enough to line my dog’s indoor pen.
I once saw Cynthia on ABC’s This Week on Sunday morning and spent the next week cleaning my set due to all the bs that was spewed from her mouth.
Too bad that Cynthia doesn’t run the finances there because then we all could get a paper for nothing by sending the bill to the top 1% to pay for us.
As for healthcare and life, survival of the fittest, baby. The strong, willing, and able will survive. I expect to take care of my business with my resources and you should be prepared to do the same.
Bud Wiser
August 19th, 2009
3:22 pm
Obama in the future will most assuredly be credited with two major things:
1. He presided over the beginning of the end of the Democrat Party with the arrogance, greed, and stupidity that is being displayed all throughout Congress and DC right now over these massive “I haven’t read the bills…” programs that are killing American jobs, finances, and families;
2. Obama is laying such a groundwork to the fact that after what he has displayedin leadership skills, there will never be another black man or woman to see the inside of the White House in this century, except in the catering or house cleaning services.
Black conservative man in the ATL
August 19th, 2009
3:22 pm
Cynthia Tucker or Cynthia McKinney? I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference by their thought processes. Cynthia Tucker is easy on the eyes even though I totally disagree with her description of conservatives. So dissent is only okay for liberals when a Republican is an office? The Obama tax cut that you refer to is a whole $12 extra in my pay checks. I guess I can go back for my MBA with that.
Ladysable
August 19th, 2009
3:24 pm
Regarding guns being brought to the town hall meetings…….Were there no fear of the Acorn or SEIC thugs (sent by Obama) beating up protestors, perhaps people would feel the need to bring guns. Afterall, it was a black man that they beat up initially!
Chris Salzmann
August 19th, 2009
3:26 pm
Smoltzie August 19th, 2009 2:42 pm SAID: Chris – four words… “Survival of the fittest”.
Smoltzie August 19th, 2009 2:48 pm SAID: The weak bring down the whole Pride. The weak, whether it be poor health, poor finances or poor intelligence – WEAKEN the rest of us.
CHRIS SAYS: That’s called the Law of the Jungle. Last I checked, we live in civilization. If you want to live in a jungle, then MOVE THERE.
Ladysable
August 19th, 2009
3:30 pm
Correction – perhaps they wouldn’t feel the need to bring guns.
Pat Phelps
August 19th, 2009
3:33 pm
thanks Chris…Thanks, but I’ll take care of myself. I expect everyone else to do the same and not ask for a hand out from me.
Not Scared
August 19th, 2009
3:33 pm
Chris – If you want to live in a commune, you MOVE THERE. Don’t ask me to pay for others blindly.
Chris Salzmann
August 19th, 2009
3:37 pm
Smoltzie August 19th, 2009 2:48 pm SAID: The weak bring down the whole Pride. The weak, whether it be poor health, poor finances or poor intelligence – WEAKEN the rest of us.
CHRIS SAYS: Interestingly, that was Hitler’s Nazi philosophy too when the Nazis killed countless of mentally and physically disabled people in hospitals and institutions. So, when did you join the Nazi Party? Make sure to polish those storm trooper boots nicely before you goose step your way down to your local chapter.
Chris Salzmann
August 19th, 2009
3:39 pm
Not Scared August 19th, 2009 3:33 pm SAID: Chris – If you want to live in a commune, you MOVE THERE. Don’t ask me to pay for others blindly.
CHRIS SAYS: Two Words: Majority Rule. They vote for it, you pay for it.
Chris Salzmann
August 19th, 2009
3:42 pm
Pat Phelps August 19th, 2009 3:33 pm SAYS: thanks Chris…Thanks, but I’ll take care of myself. I expect everyone else to do the same and not ask for a hand out from me.
CHRIS SAYS: Fine. Two Words (again): Majority Rule. They vote for it, you pay for it. If you want to call taxes a hand-out, fine. BTW, set an example for everyone and don’t apply for Medicare when you retire. Show everyone that you’re putting your money where your mouth is. After all, under your definition: Medicare is government run socialism.
R Cagle
August 19th, 2009
3:48 pm
The ultimate organizer is in the White House and you are lamenting the PEOPLE coming together to protest his policies. I used to think you had some original thinking once in awhile, Cynthia, but sadly it appears you have decided to dumb yourself down to the Jay Bookman level.
Smoltzie
August 19th, 2009
3:50 pm
Chris, I know you you’re too young to know this, but way back, when people were settling this land – it was survival of the fittest. If you think about it, it wasn’t that long ago. People living out on the frontier – civilization as you call it, had to gather wood all year long to survive the harsh winters. If they did not gather enough, there was a very good possibility they would freeze to death. People couldn’t be lazy, they had to be strong to survive.
Fast forward to today. Now the lazy people call up Obama and yell “Pay my heat bill B$%#h! AND HE DOES!!!
It get’s too hot here in Atlanta and people are crying for free FANS. News flash for you all. It’s been hot here in HotLanta FOR YEARS. This is not a one time occurence.
People that need assistance and taken care of all the time WEAKEN OUR NATION.
Not Scared
August 19th, 2009
3:51 pm
No Chris, I won’t. Tax Cheat Tim has shown the way.
Actually, I don’t think they will pass it.
Smoltzie
August 19th, 2009
3:55 pm
Chris. You are losing the argument and you’re getting flustered. I never said KILL anyone. I said, ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE. The weak die on their own.
SQ
August 19th, 2009
3:56 pm
Cynthia you’re dead on once again! I’m always amazed how a white, male, RINO (unless the GOP goes back to it’s roots) can agree with all you write. Keep it up and thanks for letting me feel somewhat sane when it’s obvious how special interest controls the masses and they don’t even know it. Reminds me of when southerners where duped into fighting for plantation owners rights…
Not Scared
August 19th, 2009
3:56 pm
Since I wasn’t of voting age when Medicare was established and didn’t have a say, unlike now, in paying into it, I will take Medicare and use a supplemental policy. Under Obamacare, I wouldn’t be able to do that.
As for Medicare, I have to apply. I wouldn’t want someone LESS deserving to use MY money.
Jimbo
August 19th, 2009
4:03 pm
Azazel,
I think you have the truth of it.
Not Scared
August 19th, 2009
4:05 pm
SQ, actually the majority of Southerners were fighting for state’s rights vs. expanding the Federal government’s authority. It doesn’t sound like such a bad idea now – state’s rights
The only people that were duped were done so by Honest Abe and the Emancipation Proclamation. It wasn’t as if the North were leaders in equality either. It took another 100+ years for any real progress on racial equality.
SQ
August 19th, 2009
4:05 pm
The GOP mantra “the best government is the worst government” to rid the US of gov’t programs and make it look bad is in full effect. The GOP wants to use contract labor so they can form partnerships (like Blackwater and Haliburton) but it’s proven that dedicated gov’t employees and armed servicemen are more dedicated and loyal (they just don’t donate vast sums to GOP campaigns). Look how badly the GOP governs and bankrupts the US so the Dems can’t rebuild the programs that work with real Americans who are proud to be gov’t employees.
SQ
August 19th, 2009
4:13 pm
Not Scared, only if Abe wasn’t assassinated by a fighter for states rights maybe then could racial equality been achieved quicker…but who are we kidding? Change is always slow, especially civil rights and it needed to be championed by those that needed them most. Otherwise it’s someone else’s cause that’s been fought for. Like Tavis Smiley’s story of late with a black leader that met with FDR in the 30’s and gave him a list of demands for blacks, and FDR said he’d do it only if he made him. ie go rally the troops and force him make the changes he already wanted to do.
Azazel
August 19th, 2009
4:16 pm
So, what have I learned from this feed? In summary:
1) it appears wrong to call this country the United States; if this series of posts is representative, this country appears to be composed of, mostly (with a few exceptions), selfish “individuals” who have no appreciation for socialization and no notion of how civilizations prosper, and who would deny those less fortunate than they any positive consideration;
2) it is certainly not a Christian nation where we would attempt to love our enemies as ourselves, do unto others as we would have others do unto us and that which we do or allow to be done to the lesser of us we do to ourselves.
and, finally, 3) the social benefits enjoyed today have made people fat, silly, barbarous and cruel.
Also, there appears to be gross ignorance of National Socialism.
Bromack
August 19th, 2009
4:19 pm
I approve of this statement.
“liberals protesting policies they don’t approve of is admirable, conservatives doing the exact same thing is a “right-wing conspiracy”.”
And just think…. Saul Alinsky designed some of the tactics used at the townhall meetings…Now that Obama is “El Presidente or the man,” he must be feeling a lot different now that the shoe is on the other foot.
Pat Phelps
August 19th, 2009
4:21 pm
Chris…I am going to put my money were my mouth is. I paid it in, I expect it back when I retire. I didn’t ask to have my money with held. Taxes and social programs are a by product of you idiot liberials. It is done without my consent or my approval. So because it was taken without my approval I am asking for it back. Talk to the people that don’t pay a dime into the system yet expect to be taken care of.
I’d like to see your charitable contributions. I’m sure there are none like the rest of your liberial buddies. You want to talk big but do you walk the walk. The VP of the US, the second most powerful man in the Democratic Party had charitable contributions only in the hundreds of dollars last year. You guys run your mouths about being compassionate, but when it comes to your money you don’t do crap.
Bromack
August 19th, 2009
4:23 pm
Enter your comments here
Anthony
August 19th, 2009
4:23 pm
Hard to tell if Tucker is simply looking into a mirror and can’t clearly identify George Soros, Moveon.Org, Obama’s PAC, the DNC and other left leaning groups that seem to get a pass as grass-roots artivists standing around her as she attempts to describe the conservative reflection. What a hypocrite.
hypocritebuster
August 19th, 2009
4:29 pm
How do I know Tucker is right on? By the viciousness and cynicism of the people on this blog who disagree with her. It’s not sufficient to offer factual arguments to refute her; you must call her names, insult her and otherwise spread bile. Yes, Cynthia, you must be dead right.