All posts tagged "Wingnuts"

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Despite the recent surge in emails and tweets from completely off-the-hook wingnuts that I and other bloggers have been receiving lately, I was surprised to find this in my email today:

Prior to this health care reform insanity, the netroots has been really good about pushing back against the way that right wing lies and bullshit are promoted through channels such as right wing media, think tanks, and mainstream media promotion of both. But what's harder to do is deal with is the grapevine. As I'm sure you're aware, I tend to think the grapevine is the most important part of wingnuttery, and I have formed this opinion by growing up surrounded by it, but in my years of mucking around reading anti-choicers, I really have come around to see how important the grapevine is. Seriously, it's interesting how little liberals communicate political ideas through conversation than conservatives, though part of the reason is that liberal values---mainly, freedom and equality---are the assumed ones of our culture that even conservatives have to pay tribute to as they undermine them.

[rebelmouse-image 24863088 original_size="240x240" expand=1]Photo from dday. Yes, that's a real book.

This post by Digby chronicling the psychology of the Republican faux outrage machine is a must-read, and I try not to say that lightly. It's a tactic they use routinely at this point---maybe not quite daily, but at this point, more than weekly. At any point in time, your average wingnut has to juggle a shocking number of pretend offenses, from being pretend shocked that Pelosi criticized the CIA to fake outraged that Notre Dame routinely invited a President to speak at its graduation without checking with Alan Keyes first. In fact, I'd say that on top of what Digby is saying, another function of the hissy fit is base control. By pumping conservative followers with one pretend scandal after another, and occupying all of their minimal brain space with it, you effectively prevent them from actually thinking about real issues that matter. Which is critical, because actual thought is fatal to conservatism, especially the way that it's practiced now.

[rebelmouse-image 24748573 original_size="300x300" expand=1]We're in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, so of course the Bible-thumping wingnut response is, "How can we work this to get some gay people fired?" From Feministing comes this galling show of bigotry mixed with indifference to the reality of our economic situation: