No the tone is not, MH, no matter how much you want to quiver with fear. What? One guy brought a gun OUTSIDE of a rally, and you're scared of civil war.
It isn't just that. It's things like people having signs that say "we come unarmed... this time", it's the birther movement trying to argue the president is illegitimate. It's that Obama has gotten several hundred percent more death threats than Bush got. It's how much people are talking about how the very government and their opponents are evil. It's the conspiracy about FEMA death camps. There seems to be this whole wellspring of anger just waiting to be tapped.
For 8 years, we put up with Bush is Hitler, Bush is a Murderer, Bush is a War Criminal .... etc yet a bunch of middle aged family people march peacefully (without leaving a mess behind for Goodness sake), and suddenly things could get violent.
As opposed to all of the Obama is Hitler, Obama is a Socialist, Obama wants to brainwash our kids crap? Like I said, there's so much more going on than you want to admit.
You aren't used to them protesting.
You aren't used to the opposition having a voice without being stifled by claims of racism.
Calling them ignorant didn't work.
You can't shut them up, and it scares you.
Do you live that far in La La land? Firstly, the racism claim was pretty irrelevant anyways before Obama, so it can't be something I'm used to. Secondly, there might be a small handful of people decrying racism when its not there, as opposed to hordes of people claiming they're being called racist when they're not. Many people claim that all attacks on Obama are labeled racist when that's not the case. It's a way to deflect the blame. I am used to conservatives having a voice... if you remember, they won the last two presidential elections. I'm not scared because I can't shut them up, I'm scared because there's an entire powder keg there waiting to go off.
For the last 40 years, the conservatives have set the tone of the conversation. Ever since Nixon tapped into the anger of the white middle class to win elections, they've been in charge. When Democrats did win, they were weak, ineffectual moderates like Carter and Clinton. Now a genuine progressive wins, someone who actually wants to take the country in a new direction, and that scares them. Then you have people spreading lies and making it worse, tapping into that anger to win vote or rating. You have the birthers, the deathers, you have people trying to claim that Obama is an Unamerican Socialist, and you don't see how this can blow up? Get real! We're talking about a certain group of people losing control of the discussion after being on top for 40 years, damned right there's a danger here.
The fact is, many of you WANT them to get violent so you can proclaim your superiority over those "stupid hillybilly conservatives."
As opposed to those conservatives that proclaim their superiority over those latte-sipping liberals? Don't act blameless. Your side is just as bad.
Some census worker gets hung and three letters FED scrawled across his face, and Goldendog is over on BN suggesting it's congruent with the 9/12 rally, and that the hanging suggests racism. Little matter that the people who collect census info are not usually federal agents, they're just part timers looking to make a few hundred bucks/week over the course of 3 months.
You are a liar. Goldendog never suggested racism, he suggested anti-governmentism. And can you honestly deny that is one possibility? The guy was still a federal employee.
LibLady is in another thread suggesting that the millions of Rush Limbaugh listeners are too stupid to understand satire (psssst: his listeners got it, Liblady, your ilk DIDN'T).
So you respond by insulting liberals. What's your point here?
And here you are making the assumption that something's in the air that suggests if HCR is passed, conservatives will turn violent.
I mentioned it as a possibility. Do you honestly think there's no possibility at all?
Well mlm to all of you. There's your violence. Stop making fun of them. Listen to them, and they won't have to shout. Get that clown in the White House to recognize that he's not King and that the conservatives have something to say. He promised bi-partisanship. But he won't listen to anyone but his yes men!
You spend half this point making fun of liberals and you think you have any room to talk? We've let them say what they want, no effort has been made to shut them up, yet you act all persecuted! We recognize Obama's not the king and many on the left are criticizing him, it just doesn't fit into your worldview so you're dismissing it in the interest of truthiness! Obama has watered down his health-care proposal, what more do you want that you realistically expect to get?
The tenor and tone of the threads coming from YOUR side suggest something. It suggests something prejudice on YOUR part.
Prejudice against whom? I grew up in a small blood-red farming town far up in the Sacramento Valley. I want to say my home town voted Republican by a good 30%. I'm very familiar living a conservative's world. Stop trying to deflect all blame and accept the fact that your side isn't perfect.