Those Fear-Driven Fear-Mongering Rightists

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Fear her roar.

In a series of speeches designed to energize the fading Democrat party, President Barack Obama indicated that those darned Republican candidates are playing on the fears of the public and voters are, unfortunately for the Democrats, buying into it.

Ah, the first resort of the liberal argument - point at your opponent and accuse. The actual accusation doesn't have to take on any substantive form. For modern liberals, you can take your pick from a whole stockpile of ready-made accusations - fear mongering, racism, bigotry, stupidity, blindness - it really doesn't matter as long as you can label your opponent.

Obama's accusation got me interested in what the Republicans were saying that could be labeled as fear-mongering. Here's a cross sample:

"Tea parties, birthers, patriot groups, militias. Their common cause: a raging hostility toward the elected government of the United States.... Their common enemy: the President of the United States, Barack Obama."

No, wait. That was MSNBC's Chris Matthews trying to lump all Tea Partiers and patriots into one group with radical righties.

"Republicans Say 'Yes' to Shipping Your Job Overseas", and "Jobs for Americans vs. Tax Cuts for Billionaires."

Oh. Um. No, that was a Huffington Post commentary on why you shouldn't vote for a single Republican this election. Sorry about that. Let me try again.

"But Republicans have made it impossible for the government to increase spending to create jobs and investment, and deficit hawks of both parties would rather have government tighten belts."

Oops. That was HuffPo again, complaining that Republicans are keeping the US economy from recovery, not the Democrats currently in power.

"Democrats are accusing Arizona GOP congressional candidate Jesse Kelly of 'Nazi ties' because he accepted an endorsement from a controversial anti-immigration group."

Nope. Nope. Sorry. That was a quote from Politico about the current race in Arizona - not those pesky Republicans at all.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't think the Republicans can fix things in Washington any better than the Democrats. Both parties are too far entrenched in payoffs and corruption to be trusted with running our government. Instead, it is we the people, the "stupid" and "fearful" who must take back power from Washington and spread the wealth (of power) in new directions.

But what really gets my goat are politicians, like Barack Obama, who demonstrate in absolute hypocrisy and hubris when it comes to understanding and dealing with the American people. These are the greedy, power-mongers in the federal government who have as their agenda only the thought to preserve their own power, especially at the expense of regular Americans. Obama's hypocritical campaigning only highlights his own particular ideology - unable to admit that his brand of politicking plays into the fears of his own demographic.

Here's the bottom line: The federal government is getting too expensive and far too out of touch with reality. It must be replaced with those politicians who will listen to Americans.

Fear mongering? You bet.

But only to those in power.