I've seen his name referenced quite a bit lately, but didn't know much more about him than that he is probably considered an absolute Commie in some circles. (At a guess, he'd probably be a Liberal in Canada, but that's just a guess.)
But my god, it's nice to see a politician have the balls to call a moron a moron.
I believe he's a rep from Massachusetts. He's a liberal Democrat and is the head of the finance committee. He's also one of the few out gay people in Congress.
I've been a huge fan of Barney since I can remember. He's super smart and funny. That woman is CRAZY. Have you been watching all these crazy people showing up at townhall meetings? With guns etc...?
I basically don't have a teevee (no cable and the box is sitting in the hall, not plugged in; my room is small and the teevee is big; I'm going to set it up in the kitchen when hockey starts up in the fall), so my news is limited to print, the CBC and what I stumble over on the net.
So, I've seen pictures of the loons but haven't watched any of the meetings themselves (other than the clip above). And also, I'd kind of tuned out for a while, wrongly thinking the loons were so loony that they wouldn't be paid any attention.
Do note, the media down here all describe the woman as a "conservative" protestor. She is, in reality, a Lyndon LaRouche follower. They are self-proclaimed Democrats, and by any measure, extreme political leftists.
Paul, I know extreme leftists and, after a brief dip into the sheer strangeness that is Larouchepac.com, I feel confident in asserting that LaRouche ain't no leftist — nor a rightist, for the matter.
He's just plain nuts. (Though I'm fascinated to learn of the dangers to the United States posed by the, er, British! Who knew?)
Lyndon LaRouche agreed there is a threat against the President's life, but not from the so-called extremist fringe in America. LaRouche warned that any attack on Obama would come from the British, "who have a long history of assassinating American Presidents, from Abraham Lincoln, to William McKinley, to John F. Kennedy."
They are way over the top in the bizarre conspiracies department, and I did not much care for a strong whiff of anti-Semitism.
Agreed. Which makes their misuse of the term "Nazi" even more bizarre. But yes, I'd say they are simply to inconsistent to be placed in any standard political category (my knee jerks towards "fascist" but "demagogic" is probably a better term, since fascism is also a reasonably self-consistent political ideology).
Do you have any sense of how significant a political force they are?
Significant? In brief, not at all. They're the very textbook example of 'fringe group.'
I mean heck, my own Unificationist theology gets taken seriously in academic quarters, and our ideology in political circles, despite being from a small minority. But there's nothing about LaRouche's claims that isn't obviously whacko and unreal.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-21 02:20 am (UTC)Oh yeah!
Date: 2009-08-21 03:03 am (UTC)But my god, it's nice to see a politician have the balls to call a moron a moron.
Re: Oh yeah!
Date: 2009-08-21 11:09 am (UTC)Re: Oh yeah!
Date: 2009-08-21 06:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-21 02:25 am (UTC)Obama is Black! Not Hitler/Nazi.
Date: 2009-08-21 09:01 pm (UTC)He's super smart and funny.
That woman is CRAZY.
Have you been watching all these crazy people showing up at townhall meetings? With guns etc...?
Re: Obama is Black! Not Hitler/Nazi.
Date: 2009-08-21 10:29 pm (UTC)So, I've seen pictures of the loons but haven't watched any of the meetings themselves (other than the clip above). And also, I'd kind of tuned out for a while, wrongly thinking the loons were so loony that they wouldn't be paid any attention.
How wrong I was ...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-22 05:04 am (UTC)"Leftists"? I don't think so
Date: 2009-08-22 05:36 pm (UTC)He's just plain nuts. (Though I'm fascinated to learn of the dangers to the United States posed by the, er, British! Who knew?)
Lyndon LaRouche agreed there is a threat against the President's life, but not from the so-called extremist fringe in America. LaRouche warned that any attack on Obama would come from the British, "who have a long history of assassinating American Presidents, from Abraham Lincoln, to William McKinley, to John F. Kennedy."
Re: "Leftists"? I don't think so
Date: 2009-08-22 06:16 pm (UTC)What can I say? They are way over the top in the bizarre conspiracies department, and I did not much care for a strong whiff of anti-Semitism. :-P
Why they insist on calling themselves (American political version) Democrats, I have no idea . . .
Re: "Leftists"? I don't think so
Date: 2009-08-22 06:24 pm (UTC)Agreed. Which makes their misuse of the term "Nazi" even more bizarre. But yes, I'd say they are simply to inconsistent to be placed in any standard political category (my knee jerks towards "fascist" but "demagogic" is probably a better term, since fascism is also a reasonably self-consistent political ideology).
Do you have any sense of how significant a political force they are?
Re: "Leftists"? I don't think so
Date: 2009-08-22 09:53 pm (UTC)They're the very textbook example of 'fringe group.'
I mean heck, my own Unificationist theology gets taken seriously in academic quarters, and our ideology in political circles, despite being from a small minority.
But there's nothing about LaRouche's claims that isn't obviously whacko and unreal.