A Liberal's Ruff Tuff Creampuff Rhetoric

by tristero

Dave Neiwert discusses the first of a three part series by CNN on the resurgent militia movement, and what he has to say is very interesting. But I noticed something different.

Here's what the militia members got to tell America:
We're practicin' target acquisition...

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America...

BRIAN", SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN VOLUNTEER MILITIA: Well, any time we get a Democratic president in the office, people become concerned, including myself and we get a resurgence out here.

MICHAEL LACKOMAR, SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN VOLUNTERR MILITIA: In short, I think he [Obama] could be dangerous for the nation.
Pretty scary stuff, especially considering these bozos are armed to the teeth with semi-automatics and the like.

And here's what the designated Liberal offered in response:
MARK POTOK, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: The truth is, is that these groups are popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain.
Mushrooms. After a spring rain.

Mr. Potok, with all due respect...

The election of President Obama was not a spring rain, and rightwing paramilitary groups are not cute, little mushrooms. New militias are more like the slop from an overflowing sewage system after a drought-ending deluge.

In short, the simile Mark Potok used was completely, thoroughly, and dangerously weak and inadequate. Surely, it not only made the militia members double-up with laughter - "Hey, Chanterelle, bring me a beer!" - but also emboldened them to push further. If training more rightwingers to fire rifles is as benign as spring mushrooms, let's really show 'em what we can grow!

But wait! Mr. Potok is given another sound bite... well, actually a nibble:
There really is this kind of terrible fear mixed with fury about the idea that President Obama is somehow leading a kind of socialistic, you know, takeover of America.
Mark Potok must think this is self-evidently nutty thinking. It's not, not in an America that gives a lunatic like Glenn Beck a top-rated television show and a best-selling book.

And we wonder why screwball ideas and people like Sarah Palin dominate our discourse. Oh, yes, the celebrity media aid and abet them, but liberals need to realize something else. More often than we know, the fault lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.

We just don't talk too good, a lot of the time.