The Bachmann-ization of American Politics

[babylonsister]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/08/the_bachmann-ization_of_americ.html


The Bachmann-ization of American Politics


"She ought to be shot."

Yesterday I noted here that candidates like Michele Bachmann and Sharron Angle aren't content to keep politics in the realm of a good faith clash of visions or ideologies: They have a perpetual need to hint that Dems are up to something nefarious and even vaguely criminal.

The hints of this are everywhere: Bachmann says the $26 billion in state aid is money that will be "laundered" through unions for use by Dems this fall. Angle says the BP escrow cash is a "slush fund" and hints at "Second Amendment remedies." Multiple other extreme GOPers call the escrow fund a "shakedown." And on and on.

The resulting atmosphere is such that you get episodes like this one, in which a perfectly normal-seeming consitutent, a business owner, told Dino Rossi, the GOP candidate for Senate in Washington, that both the state's Dem Senators should be "shot":

One woman, the owner of two gyms and a temporary-employment agency, was venting about a pro-union bill supported by Murray when she blurted out: "She ought to be shot. Murray and (Sen. Maria) Cantwell ought to be shot."

Rossi quickly pointed out a reporter in the room, and then said, "That's not really what you meant." The businesswoman quickly agreed: "I didn't mean that."

To his credit, Rossi quickly got the woman to disavow what she'd said. And I don't want to make too much of one episode. But we're heading into another summer silly season where even more is arguably at stake than last summer. And the escalation of rhetoric from the likes of Bachmann and Angle shows no signs of abating, despite the GOP establishment's awareness that it plays into the Dem strategy of painting the GOP as hostage to extreme elements.

Candidates like Bachmann and Angle owe their success and national renown to the Tea Party. And it frequently seems like they're deliberately speaking to the Tea Party's most delusional and self-aggrandizing elements, who need to be flattered with a narrative that's far more grandiose and portentous than a mere argument over the proper future direction of the republic. They need to believe that they're part of a movement that's determined to rescue the republic from an illegitimate, even evil regime. Hence the frequent hints from the likes of Bachmann and Angle that just about everything Dems do is dark and vaguely criminal.

It'll be interesting to see how responsible Republicans react when the rhetoric gets cranked up to full boil, as it inevitably will.

[KharmaTrain]

1. Facism In A Skirt...

Put a "friendly" face on fear and repression. The GOOP learned that running cranky old white guys is not the best way to get their message out. They've focused on finding "sweet thangs" to deliver the propaganda and dogwhistles...knowing they will get on the teevee and and to stoke the masturbatory fantasies of those who never leave mom's basement.

[Betty Karlson]

2. As early as two years ago, a friend told me

"Don't be surprised if a new political murder happens in the US. There are an African-American and a woman, who both have a big shot at the white house. There is too much frustration, and too much distrust, and too little opportunity to vent it."

He went on to explain: "That Bush's fault: all that security and spying is a blanket over a minefield of social tensions."

When I asked if he didn't have doubt over his predictions, he answered: "I'm afraid it's not a question of IF it will happen. It's when, and to whom."

It was a beautiful summer day, but shivers went down my spine. I'd never seen him so serious.

[babylonsister]

3. I obviously sincerely hope your friend is wrong. There's lots

of security; some things are learned from history.

[gratuitous]

4. Rossi certainly got the woman to back off

But was it solely due to the presence of a reporter? I wonder how this same sequence might have gone down without someone from the Fourth Estate as a witness. I've very little use for Mr. Rossi, even if he did the right thing in this instance. I don't know as I'd trust him to do the right thing without a potentially hostile (or even neutral) witness to his conduct.