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
You Distort, We Deride
August 19th, 2009
4:37 pm
I have come to the conclusion that conservatives will always detest liberals and liberals will always detest conservatives; that Republicans are not conservatives and Democrats are not liberals; and that all of us waste inordinate amounts of time protesting things that we ultimately have no control over.
Go home, kiss your spouse, love your kids, and pray to God that we don’t kill each other before someone else does first.
Kevin
August 19th, 2009
5:09 pm
Just to get this straight but Ms. Tucker is talking about the right wing conspiracy which is essentially unlike the more intelligent left wing conspiracy that hounded Mr. Bush in his eight years in office. And does not Mr. Soros significantly finance many left wing causes that would die on the vine otherwise in the same fashion as Mr.Scaife has done. So in the end, what is the point of her column??
I really love your sentance about the “…efforts of corporatists to protect their interests…”.Since most people including Ms. Tucker work for a corporation, I would assume that to some extent our interest are protected as well, correct?
Algonquin J. Calhoun
August 19th, 2009
5:27 pm
Congratulations on bringing out the red neck, illiterate, scumbags Cynthia. They dislike you for the same reason they dislike the President. They don’t complain about the war Bush started or the torture he endorsed or the billions he poured down the drain that is Iraq. They don’t complain about the billions stolen by Halliburton. They don’t demonstrate when it becomes common knowledge that Bush was spying, illegally, upon Americans. They weren’t upset when Bush started handing out fiscal assistance to companies that had engaged in fraud and theft. They, however, raise hell when Obama seeks to make health care affordable and available for all Americans. It’s all orchestrated, which is obvious, and it has a lot to do with his being black. Some of these douche bags are showing up with guns to intimidate others at the meetings. These dregs cast themselves as patriots but they are nothing more than redneck dupes attempting to coerce people by carrying firearms. They should remember that anybody in America can own guns!!
Dave
August 19th, 2009
5:28 pm
ncgreybr – read the bill, you can keep your health insurance until your employer decides it’s cheaper for the government to cover you or the government decides they want to cover you. So much for individual choice. Bottom line, it’s not about healthcare for you guys, it’s about government control of our lives and taking from the producers and giving to the non-producers. It’s not going to happen.
Frontman
August 19th, 2009
5:32 pm
Hey, hypocritebuster:
You would say, then, that Bush was right on the war in Iraq because of all the hate, scorn and vitriol directed at him by those who disagreed with him, right?
I didn’t think so.
Wings For Wheels » Blog Archive » Dear Anonymous Stupid, Crazy Lady
August 19th, 2009
5:41 pm
[...] a few feet away from a gay Jew, and a cranky old one at that. And it doesn’t help that the guy who paid you to do this, perpetual scumbag former congressman Dick Armey, has made several disgusting comments about Frank. [...]
Susan Smith
August 19th, 2009
5:44 pm
It’s surprising (not really) that when someone opposes a Democractic plan or idea, they are labled “right-wing conspiracy” but when the Democrats or left opposed anything,it was democracy inaction. Well no one had influnced me to speak out about this Health Care Plan, I simply read it (have you Cynthia?) and in addition observed what a great job government has done with running Medicare, Social Security and now can’t even pay the car dealers their money.
No one had to influence me, I simply used my brain and common sense, which seems to be way more than you have Cynthia.
hryder
August 19th, 2009
6:19 pm
I am not right wing. However, I have read the arguments and available facts, not selected facts but those verified by reliable researchers, and am OPPOSED to cap and trade and to health care/insurance legislation as proposed by Congress and the ever evolving Big O. Cap and trade proposals would economically ruin the U.S. since most of the rest of the world has rejected what is proposed, and both the problem and solution are extremely iffy on their validity and viability. The health care/insurance proposals are just unbelievable. When the federal government can fix Medicare and Social Security then it is acceptable to me for them to attempt to repair health care. Health insurance is not insurance when all pay the same premium, have identical coverage, and have to be covered regardless of pre-existing conditions. Secondly, there is no way any person who is close to normal should pay for health insurance for those obese nonexercising usually nonworking people who expect everything to be given to them with absolutly no effort on their part since it is their “RIGHT”.
dewstarpath
August 19th, 2009
6:25 pm
- Hypocritebuster is correct about the disproportionate
levels of insults thrown at Mrs. Tucker as opposed to
former President Bush, but not about the “cynicism”
of the opponents. What we are dealing with in this forum
as far as the far-right fringe is concerned is actually
“fanaticism”, where they are so obsessed with their
world view that anything that reflects a philosophically
mirror image is construed as “absolute evil”.
The beginning of the Declaration of Independence
states that “we hold these truths to be self-evident”,
which is an axiomatic principle of objectivity, referring
to the belief that “all men are created equal”. An
opposing viewpoint can be, in certain instances, as
important as yours. Without that view, you would have
nothing to weigh your view against. What is obvious
from the comments by the fringe is that their views
are not rooted in “opinions”, but erroneous “facts”.
President Obama never has been, and never will be,
a part of the Nazi socalist regime, because it was
dismantled by the allies in WWII. Nor will healthcare
reform give birth to a socialist order in the US,
because such an event would require major military
and paramilitary action, such as the Bolsheviks
(”majority”) seizing state power over the Mensheviks
(”minority”) in November of 1917. No such condition
exists, except in the minds of birthers and other
conspiracy theorists (and I use that term loosely).
The fringe are no more the arbiters of freedom and
democracy any more than a pack of pit bulls are
the animals of choice for farming and agriculture
production. Either we cut our losses and drop the
dead weight of political discourse, or we run the
risk losing our bearings trying to navigate in a
sea of bigotry and stupidity.
dewstarpath
August 19th, 2009
6:48 pm
CORRECTION: “- reflects a philosophically different image -”.
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
August 19th, 2009
6:57 pm
Here we have a callow, inexperienced President who reads Soros’ talking points from a teleprompter. His reading is so much by wrote with brainwaves that are, in effect, nil that he once thanked himself at a Rose Garden.
Perhaps, rather than any sinister conspiracy, people are just angry at the audacity of a dope who would claim that: a) no increased spending; plus b) huge medicaid cuts; plus c) 46 million new patients; plus: d) adminstration by the sme government that could not smmothly run a used car giveaway program is a recipe for success.
Sorry Cindy people have a right to be mad and reject Obama-care.
electrician
August 19th, 2009
7:00 pm
step away from the bong
electrician
August 19th, 2009
7:00 pm
dewstar..so many words so little said
Jason
August 19th, 2009
7:02 pm
Cynthia Tucker and the AJC is pathetic.
Chris Salzmann
August 19th, 2009
7:25 pm
Smoltzie August 19th, 2009 3:55 pm SAID:
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.
CHRIS SAYS: Flustered? ROFLMAO. Sorry dude, but there’s one thing that separates us from the (most) of the animal kingdom. It’s called compassion. Pity that you don’t understand that. BTW, unlike your namesake, why don’t you retire gracefully now? Your “only the fit survive” argument went the way of the dodo bird a long time ago. We’ve evolved since then………..you know what happens when you don’t evolve, right?
Chris Salzmann
August 19th, 2009
7:25 pm
Jason August 19th, 2009 7:02 pm SAID: Cynthia Tucker and the AJC is pathetic.
CHRIS SAYS: So why are you here then???
atlas shrugging
August 19th, 2009
7:32 pm
Sooooo when the Unions, like the Government Motors Union, and Acorn show up to disrupt that not associated with the Demwitocrats? You make Boooookman look like a moderate. To more important thing, NASCAR…has OBOZO no shame….he would suck up to any group for a vote…
Ayn Rand was right
August 19th, 2009
7:34 pm
“Promote domestic tranquility and promote general welfare seem justification enough for health and health care for all.”
General welfare is the welfare of our country, which provides us with the ability to pursue happiness. By stealing money at the expense of liberty and justice, and giving it to those who do not produce, the general welfare of our country will decline. There will be less who will provide and more who must be supported. Welfare is a product of the 20th Century, and it is destroying the general welfare of this country.
On another note, Medicare is indeed a well run system for the users and not too bad for doctors. Medicaid is a completely different story. Change the system, create a universal Medicaid system with a pretty name and see how many doctors retire. Another opportunity for the providers to cease providing for those that do not contribute.
If you insist on taking money from me at gun point, I have no ability to do other than comply. I do however retain the ability to limit how much I have for you to take. By allowing (or the fear that it will be allowed shortly) the government to distribute based on need as to their identification of need, those that currently depend on the kindness of others (churches, food banks, shelters, children’s hospitals), will lose. Those that best know how to work the system, will benefit regardless of actual need.
Reggie Jackson
August 19th, 2009
7:57 pm
Looks like Chris got his a$$ spanked. LOL!
Azazel
August 19th, 2009
8:18 pm
Ayn Rand was right:
Your arguments are precisely those used by the 3rd Reich to justify euthanasia of those who did not contribute (e.g., the infirm, mentally handicapped, or others who could be disposed of). Moreover, the Nazis produced many propaganda films illustrating how “those who do not contribute” would, eventually, outnumber “those who do contribute” as a means to assure public approval of social cleansing. ( read — “Racial Hygiene” and “The Nazi War on Cancer”, by Proctor; see– The Architecture of Doom, by Cohen). Proctor’s “The Nazi War on Cancer” outlines the ultimate managed care system.
Pat Phelps
August 19th, 2009
8:20 pm
Algonquin J Calhoun – get over yourself. Not everything is about being black. That argument is old and tired. I voted for Dylan Glenn and Herman Cain, last time I checked they were both black men. The difference is I agree with their ideas. I don’t agree with Barak Obama about anything.
The simple fact is, I shouldn’t have to fund someone’s health care and I shouldn’t be forced by the government to take their health care. Being an American does not make you entitled to be taken care of by a out of control government.
Patrick Gudaitis
August 19th, 2009
8:43 pm
Cynthia forgets the left wing “Cabal” against George W. Bush What was said about Bill Clinton and now about Barack Obama, pales in comparison. What America is seeing is a national revolt against a government that has empowered itself against the will of the people. They are rebelling against a class of elitists who hold themselves above their fellow man. The second battle against King George has begun. In the words of Thomas Paine, ” Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.” All their movement needs is one honest man.
Ayn Rand was right
August 19th, 2009
8:55 pm
Azazel – I am not suggesting the extermination of anything except a temporary plan to fill someone coffers. I will happily become a non-producer if it is my best interest to do so. Not everyone is a Nazi who happens to believe that what they earn they should distribute as they see fit.
Speaking of the Nazi’s, you may want to compare some of today’s Liberal rhetoric with the early days of the Third Reich. You may be very surprised at how it all began.
Azazel
August 19th, 2009
9:33 pm
Ayn Rand was right:
Thank you for clarifying. I was not suggesting that you are a Nazi at all.
I agree with you that we should be able to distribute earnings as we see fit, and that those who work the system best, reap the greatest rewards.
So, how is it that we support the “commons” — that which belongs to the public?
You are also quite correct about the rise of National Socialism and similarities to neo-liberal discourse, but I am not sure there is a real comparison other than rhetoric. Each has a “vision” of the ideal state — Nazis were exclusive, whereas liberals are, mainly, inclusive.
My greatest fear is living in a society patterned after the old film “Things to Come” with Raymond Massey, from the short by H.G. Wells. This film illustrates the extrema of liberal totalitarianism.
electrician
August 19th, 2009
9:35 pm
chris@7:25 I’m not cynthias biggest fan either,BUT I do have a subscription to the AJC, any of y’all got one? they employ georgians and they need your help.
Pat Phelps
August 19th, 2009
10:06 pm
electrician…I’ll make a deal with you. If the AJC endorses a conservative for anything this next election cycle, be it for dog catcher or peanut czar, I will renew my subscription.
Don’t think I have to worry about that with this Liberial bias rag.
electrician
August 19th, 2009
10:23 pm
Pat..not likely to happen,a lot of people in the paper biz make their living with tool boxes,machinist,plumbers,ELECTRICIANs, as well as a bunch of folks that spend their days covered in ink,most all of them agree with you, but they dont drive the train,they just keep it running.
electrician
August 19th, 2009
10:31 pm
one more thing Pat,thanks for having a subscription for as long as you could stand it.
Jimbo
August 20th, 2009
8:41 am
Azazel,
I think the rhetoric of the neo-liberals is inclusive, but the reality is quite different. Being a centrist, I find both the left and the right to be fairly exclusive, stated ideals aside.
US-Gesundheitsreform: Rund die Hälfe der Befragten einer NBC-Umfrage befürchten das Schlimmste… « a c h t m i l l i a r d e n . c o m
August 20th, 2009
11:03 am
[...] eingekauft worden sind, und mit nicht gerade vorteilhaften Bannern bestückt wurden. Unvermeidlich: manche fühlen sich gar an die “vast rightwing conspiracy” erinnert, als deren Opfer sich Hillary Clinton einst bezeichnete — ein paar Jahre, nachdem sie mit [...]
Dunwoody Bob
August 20th, 2009
2:26 pm
Ms. Tucker would have more credibility if she were to write: “Remember when Dorothy took her trip to Oz? Well, she’s ba-a-ack.” That’s because I’m guessing more people believe in Dorothy’s existence than those who believe that a right wing conspiracy ever existed, or exists now.
When Ms Clinton first used the phrase “vast right wing conspiracy”while being interviewed by Matt Lauer on January 27, 1998, she could not name these conspirators, nor quantify their “vastness.” That is because they did not exist.
And yet, Ms. Tucker believes that this same vast right wing conspiracy – the one that never existed – still exists today. And she cites these dark, shadowy, and unquantifiable forces as standing in the way of all the good work President Obama and his allies seek to do.
Because she has no facts, Ms. Tucker, like Ms. Clinton, resorts to calling into question the character and motivation of those who would dare challenge President Obama’s (and her extraordinarily transparent) political agenda.
Ms Tucker is doing what children do. If children cannot understand or accept the real world, they make up fantastic, mythical worlds in which they let their minds wander to create new creatures to love or to fear.
Fortunately, children don’t bring creations from their mythical worlds into the real world. Unfortunately, this is precisely what Ms Tucker is now doing – replacing facts with amazing stories of dark and sinister people. Tragically, some readers will be lured into believing her fanciful world of vast right wing conspiracies actually exists.
dewstarpath
August 20th, 2009
3:03 pm
- ELECTRICIAN – You might want to see about hiring a
REPAIRMAN to fix the “apostrophe” button on your
keyboard. So little words, so much confusion behind them.
Electronics and mechanics were created by those who
both drive the train and who also teach others how to
keep it running, not those who overmoralize about how hard
they work. They represent the objective mindset. Read
your history. Edison, Tesla, Ford, Wright Bros, etc. were
problem solvers, not protesters who spouted obscenities
when things didn’t go their way, like ObamaHitlerists.
midroadreader
August 21st, 2009
6:15 am
Oh Cyntihia. We are so tired og hearing that if we do not support a particular plan for health care reform that somehow we do not want any reform. The real issue is people are fed up with typical “south side Chicago” politics. Promise one thing but do another. When the plan has tort reform and ability for my existing private policy to cross state lines then I will listen. When t provides someone a tax credit with which to buy coverage rather tan just “give” it to folks, then I will listen. Yes you can tax my private plan, so long as I get the same benefits. But the President has narrowed his options for what can be touched via his campaign promises, his deal with pharma industry, the fact that he and over 80% of all members of house and senate are lawyers, etc, etc. When they are cutting deals with one side it leaves more of the “cost” of reform to be carried by the other side. This type of two faced self serving behavior is something that the majority of americans are so tired of, from both parties. They thing we are their employees. They think their job is to make their organizations bigger and more powerful. In that regard they act like a lot of corporate pencil necks. But unlike the corporations they are no for profit operations. This is OUR government and OUR money. We have no faith that they will spend it wisely.
PackYourCrap
September 10th, 2009
3:17 pm
“France, Canada, the Uk has much better…Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah!
I’ve got a really good idea for all of you “Givmesomethinfornothin” liberals, that would solve everyone’s problems. PACK UP YOUR CRACK PIPES AND MOVE TO ONE OF THOSE “BETTER” COUNTRIES!!! GO ON! GET OUT!
If you don’t like the way we do things here, then LEAVE! It’s that simple. Don’t try to “fundamentally change” OUR country…and yes, I say OUR country because this is OUR country…NOT YOURS! If you are trying to change it into a socialist welfare country, then you ARE NOT a true American and you should be ashamed to call yourself one, period!
This country was founded and based on people working hard for what they have. This IS NOT a welfare country, the way you wish it was. This is, by far, the BEST country in the world…too bad you liberals are all to stupid to understand why? Because we ARE NOT like all of those other socialist and communist countries around the world…THAT’S WHY!
We do things different here, and it has been working great until all of you liberals started crying about how, “Other people has things that I don’t have, and I deserve them too”…well, BooHoo for You! Work hard for it or SHUT UP! If you don’t like that, then like I said…Pack your junk and move to “one of those great countries” that will give you something for nothing.
I’m tired of supporting all of you leeches…SO GET OUT AND CRY TO SOMEONE ELSE!
p
September 14th, 2009
6:15 pm
Yeah, well, you can’t get angry for folks using each other’s tactics! Left wingers are calling for boycotts of Fox TV hosts just like Anita Bryant used to do, and right wingers are shouting and disrupting meetings just like Abby Hoffman used to do.
Stop name and blame calling just because you can’t get something through a Congress with the biggest majorities in recent memory. Can’t anyone reason without resorting to kindergarten mentality any more?
Larry Guarcello
September 16th, 2009
5:20 pm
Cynthia,
Open your eyes…..you’re really missing a great world out there! Open your ears…..there are actually intelligent, educated and thoughtful columnists you could emulate. Put down your pen……you have no idea how to write the truth with it.
“Vast, right-wing conspiracies” make me nervous. « Dating Jesus
September 28th, 2009
8:15 am
[...] talking about a concerted effort on the part of the right to thwart just about everything — echoing the phenomenon then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton said plagued his administration in the [...]