The right-wing blogosphere is upset because dozens of protesters -- yes, dozens! in a metropolitan area with at least 16 million people! -- showed up yesterday at LAPD headquarters to back Christopher Dorner's charges of police misconduct:
Those gathered said they were protesting police corruption and the way the massive manhunt for Dorner was conducted....Now, personally, I wouldn't want to associate myself in any way with a guy who murdered people who'd done no harm to him and threatened to murder more. But that's what these people did. It's a free country.
Protesters also said they were appalled by police mistakenly shooting at passengers in two separate trucks in Torrance, wrongly believing Dorner might be in the vehicles. One woman was shot in the back and is still recovering.
The protesters emphasized that they did not condone the killings of which Dorner is accused.
And if right-wingers think this demonstrates a level of depravity peculiar to (a small number of) people on the left, let me bring the righties back to 2003:
Betty Howard made many people happy today, and it was not for her daily special. Around noon, Mrs. Howard walked outside, glanced up at the sign in front of her diner and decided to change the lettering on the marquee from "Roast Turkey Baked Ham" to "Pray for Eric Rudolph."
"Bless his heart," Mrs. Howard said. "Eric needs our help."
Mrs. Howard said she was going to start an Eric Rudolph legal defense fund. Many customers have already said they would chip in.
A day after the authorities finally collared Eric R. Rudolph, the 36-year-old phantom survivalist who had been wanted for five years in connection with the bombing at the 1996 Olympics and attacks on abortion clinics, it is becoming clearer how fiercely loyal this community is to him, and how that might complicate the case.
With Mr. Rudolph in jail, the investigation is shifting to who in this rugged corner of western North Carolina might have helped him. And there may be no shortage of suspects....
While most of his supporters cite his anti-abortion views, a popular stance in many rural, conservative areas, they gloss over the most notorious charge against Mr. Rudolph, that he set off a pipe bomb in a random crowd at the Summer Olympics.
"I didn't see him bomb nobody," said Hoke Henson, 77. "You can't always trust the feds." ...
Also see this 2003 post from the still-popular right-wing site News with Views:
RUN, RUDY, RUN(Oh, and of course Sarah Palin, back in 2008, happily described William Ayers as a terrorist on many occasions, but when asked whether abortion-clinic bombers deserved the same designation, said, "I don't know if you're going to use the word terrorist there.")
I don't know if Eric Rudolph did all the terrible things they say he did, but I have my doubts.
Apparently, all those people who wore tee shirts bearing the message "Run, Rudy, Run" have had their doubts as well. Short of a confession by the man, I'll continue to hold on to those doubts....
Is this just a case of law enforcement feeling like fools because a simple country boy had eluded them all these years?
What should be cause for concern for all Americans is the way they've described this man: "...he studied the Bible, believed the United Nations was usurping U.S. sovereignty, held anti-government sentiment...was an anti-abortion crusader...questioned the Holocaust...was anti-gay, anti-foreigner" to name just a few of the phrases labeling him in the press. Here we go again- paint the man with those colors and he's...guilty!...
Start praying all you "Bible-studying, anti-government, U.N.-bashing" zealots- those descriptions could mean you're the main suspects in unsolved crimes.
Yeah, righties would never go easy on a guy who killed two and injured 150, then became a fugitive from justice. They're better than we are!
Hypocricy and projection are at the very core of their philosophy.
ReplyDeleteNow, add on layers of fear, anger, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, and feelings of mental and sexual inadequacy, and you've pretty much explained the whole package.
And there was the support by the "right" and even a song in support of Claude Dallas, who murdered two park rangers out west some years back.
ReplyDeleteI know the Eric Rudolph case is a perfect counterpoint to Dorner, but if you just want examples of the right's routine, daily threats against the United States and Obama, you only need to dip into the comments on conservative blogs or YouTube videos. The calls for violence against the US government and our elected leaders are a daily occurrence over there.
ReplyDeleteExample: Here's the Disqus profile of a user I saw threatening the president in the comments at Breitbart. Go to the ACTIVITY tab on his profile and read his recent comments: It's one incitement to murder after another; he seems to post a new death threat every day or two. And this is by no means exceptional or unusual; it has become routine for conservatives to talk this way.
http://disqus.com/DorothyPalmer/
And here's the amazing thing: Some of the far right channels I have seen on YouTube are filled with comments *supporting Dorner.* These are from Ron Paul / libertarian / truther types who, even more than conventional Republicans, hate the government and consider any war against it to be legitimate - even someone like Dorner.
One channel on YouTube you might check out is "Mox News": http://www.youtube.com/user/MOXNEWSd0tC0M. This is a site followed by conspiracy-addled libertarians, the types who think Newtown was a hoax Obama dreamed up to usher in his total dictatorship.
Having growm up in the neighborhood Dallas came to "to live the life Louis L'Amour wrote about", I would argue that the better counterpoint than Rudolf. Rudolf is a terrorist, Dallas just wanted to be left alone. It was also damned near fifty yeats ago. Things were a bit different, all the moreso out here on the hinterlands.
ReplyDeleteAs I observed previously, the whole thing reads like a b-grade kung-foo movie starring white dogs. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if 1) he didn't kill anybody, 2) he got away and 3) to a newly rebelled penal colony on the moon.
In the mean time, just who exactly is it that is stealing my forty-seven year contribution to Social Security?
No fear...
Some of the far right channels I have seen on YouTube are filled with comments *supporting Dorner.* These are from Ron Paul / libertarian / truther types
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've been noticing that.