Coming soon to a town hall near you - Obama's racist, communist, facist, socialist plot to make everyone believe the Earth is round.

The first town hall disrupter I remember seeing in the news this summer was the lady holding her birth certificate yelling that President Obama was a Kenyan citizen. My first thought (and current thought) was, "She's completely insane." I didn't spend much time congratulating myself for this deep insight because surely everyone could see that this was not a rational person. Little did I know there were hundreds of people sitting at home watching her and saying, "I want to be her." …And stars were born.

The birther lunacy having been quickly debunked (hundreds of times), the angry mobs have moved onto healthcare (although they know in their hearts that Obama is not an American citizen). It's ok to feel strongly about if and how healthcare reform should happen. I happen to feel strongly that everyone should be covered under a government plan with no Private Options, and that anyone who would lose their job as a result of the transformation is guaranteed a job at the same salary in the Federal Health Bureau or whatever it would be called. The point is, understand the issue and state your opinion or ask a relevant question.

What we're getting instead are absurd and baseless buzzwords and catchphrases (designed to stir emotion, particularly fear, in people with poor bs filters) being stated as fact (thanks FoxNews). These people are latching onto this garbage and making it their collective cause. I've heard Obama et al referred to by these wingnuts as racist, reverse racist, Nazi, socialist, Marxist, communist, and on and on. Pictures of our President with a Hitler mustache, live guns outside his speaking engagements, and references to his policies as based on Reparations. None of these have any merit, but the people spouting off this nonsense don't care because the seed has been planted.

The end result is that the issue (in this case healthcare) is no longer the issue. In a forum meant to help our elected officials communicate with their constituents, we've got Congresspeople being shouted down and threatened because now the right wing fringe fears that the government is trying to take away all of their constitutional rights. It's a dangerous trend, and in the case of healthcare reform, it's really sad. This should be a noble attempt by the world’s richest nation to make sure the health needs of all of its people are being met, and it has instead become "America's Next Town Hall Lunatic."

What bothers me the most is that these people are just misled puppets, shilling against things that can only benefit them "because the radio told them to hate libruls." They say nothing based in fact, and they grow louder despite overwhelming proof against them. Perhaps the best course of action is to ignore them all together so they’ll go away. I’ll certainly miss mocking them, but maybe then we can actually make some productive changes in our country.

Funny - from Daily Kos

Wingnut Comment:

You're an ignoramus. Look at the facts. Anything the government has involved itself in haS becomes less efficient and more expensive. That's not partisan it's reality. The CBO has twice now substantiated that this trend will only continue if the government gets involved. We need to address the cost of health care but the gov. is not the solution.
Posted by Stump

A wonderful person by the name of MBShopper came back with this whopper:

Once again, for the benefit of the government-can't-get-anything-right flock:

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the national weather service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time as regulated by the US congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and tTechnology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issed by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to ny house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all it's valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log on to the internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on freerepublic.com and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

The only reason government doesn't work is because conservative Republican administrations defunded and/or patronage staffed them with people with ties to special business interests: to wit the last FDA, Dept of Interior and Agriculture under Bush. No one seems to have a problem with pumping over $500Bil to the Defense Department which last I hear is a socialized entity.

My Antithesis

Anyone who knows me even a little bit would tell you that I am not a political person. For a while now I've been somewhat disillusioned by our political system and have chosen to just ignore it altogether. I'm not out breaking laws or anything like that, but it's been some time since I've even considered voting. Enter Sarah Palin. You see, I've not voted in the recent past because I really had absolutely no feeling for any of it. Now, I am so frightened at the very real prospect of Sarah Palin running our country that I not only will vote against McCain-Palin, but I am going to try to convince everyone I know to do the same. I live in Obama's home state, which is typically democratic anyway, so I'm pretty confident Illinois will step up and do it's duty by rejecting McCain-Palin. It will be a sad day if the "swing" states go the other way.

The past few years, it seems we have become attuned to moderate candidates from both parties. Some election specialist I'm sure has done studies on exactly what to be for or against in order to get the most votes, and candidates on both sides tried to model that. My take was that for the most part they were the same person, so what did it matter if I voted. Then I started thinking about families who have lost loved ones in Iraq. Would we even be there if Gore or Kerry had won? Would 9/11 have happened with Gore as the president? It's impossible to know, but it certainly underscores the importance of who is at the helm.

That is why Sarah Palin scares me. For there to be a candidate whose ideals I agreed with as much as I disagree with Palin, I'd have to be running for office myself. Right on down the line I am on the completely opposite end of the spectrum, and I suspect that I am far from being the only one. How can less than two years of being guv of the least populated state qualify you for the presidency? How can you be anti-abortion and call yourself a feminist? Do you think your pregnant 17 year old benefited from your policy of only teaching abstinence in schools or do you think she could have benefited from learning about birth control? Even the hockey mom thing annoys me. I love hockey, but for you (or anyone) to wear the moniker of hockey mom, or baseball mom, or soccer mom or whatever, you are taking the spotlight off your kids and putting it on you. Your kid plays hockey; that's great for him or her. It's not an opportunity for you to develop an identity. You should go there and cheer when they do well and be there for them when they don't go so well. That's it.

McCain is an old man, and at the risk of sounding cold, old people die way more often than young people. If he's president when that happens and Palin becomes president, there won't be enough planes, trains, and automobiles to accommodate the people who want to leave this country.