The monster years

Sen. McCain behaved like such a monster, too. He ran a campaign with many racist, nationalist (not patriotic), homophobic, anti-Musilim,and divisive strains that was the most negative in recent history.

This cannot be washed away by a gracious concession speech.

We need to keep in mind that these forces, although not in the majority now, are still out there.

Banished to the wilderness? I wish I could agree, but I can’t…not nearly, not yet. Re-elected were Inhofe, Roberts, Collins, Cornyn and Coleman. Re-elected were Bachmann, Issa, Hunter, Rohrabacher, Jean Schmidt, and a host of others. Rove gone? I think not. And with the exception of about 2 hours a week on MSNBC and a few minutes a week on CNN, the wingnuts still control the tv airwaves, not to mention radio. Tom DeLay might no longer be in the House of Reps, but he still gets plenty of tv airtime to spew his filth. We surely must expect that the storm of bigotry and rightwing hatred and ridicule will continue if not intensify in the months and years ahead, that the monsters will continue to roar even in the op-ed pages of the New York Times.

Brought to mind last night was the relief US citizens felt in the 1970s upon hearing the words: “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.”

Last night we watched the entire world breath a collective sigh of relief – hopefully our long international nightmare is over.

Great solace and comfort will be taken by the couples in California whose marriages were just declared illegal.

There are monsters everywhere, but many are found out and neutralized. The fact that our monsters had sympathizers in Congress & the media who intimidated the critics is what allowed them to flourish.

Thanks for calling a monster a monster.

Really?

I wish I could agree with you. But this morning my joy at the election of Senator Obama quickly vanished when I learned that Prop. 8 passed in California, that Ted Stevens and Rep. Bachmann were reelected.

So what was the message from last night? You may see that it as the end for some “monsters”, but I certainly don’t see it that way.

Imagine waking up this morning to learn that you are no longer legally married, that it is now written in the Constitution that you are considered less than a full citizen — and that this new status was voted in by your fellow Americans — Democrats included?

And what is the electorate saying in Minnesota? Should we start an investigation into the question of whether members of Congress are anti-American? What is the electorate saying in Alaska? Should we pass a law giving members of Congress immunity from all criminal prosecution?

This morning I woke up and suddenly all the bad memories of the past eight years came rushing back: the Democrats who voted for the war, and Pelosi’s epic efforts to keep Bush’s war funded; the passage of the Patriot Act, the passage of the bankruptcy law, the FISA bill — all things passed with the consent of the Democrats, many when the Democrats were in the majority.

Now we have voters in California who voted for Obama also voting to deny their fellow citizens the right to be, and stay, married. I may be straight, but the denial of one Americans basic rights is the denial of all Americans of their basic rights. America, and the Democratic Party, still represents bigotry and authoritarianism to me.

This morning the sun came out, but my joy quickly disappeared. As long as Democrats, and Americans in general, continue to want to oppress their fellow citizens, as long as they continue to tolerate bigotry and criminality, America will have accomplished nothing, and will have learned nothing.

Bush and Cheney may be leaving the scene in January, but there are plenty of others around to take their place — many are already there in Congress, and many continue to vote — many, apparently, even voted for Obama.

Well said – helps to put things into perspective. Now we have the opportunity to show that progressive liberals do not have horns and forked tails. It’s as it the country has been under the spell of an evil demon, and now we have been awakened.

The oddest thing about the last 12 years is that the monsters have gotten the American public to vote against their own self-interest, through fear of the “other”.

Shouldn’t monsters be accountable for their monstruosities? You talk about them being banished, but this could lead our society to forget what they did, surely paving the way for their return. I think that they should be brought in front of the competent justice, kept into the spotlight until together we draw the lessons of all these years and exile those monsters forever.

I certainly hope you are right, but we are not through with intolerance. As my brother Tim Hornor pointed out, it’s extremely troubling that based upon the results of two propositions on the California ballot, voters are more concerned about the dignity and rights of farm animals than they are about the dignity and rights of gay people.

The monsters in politics got their strength from the bigotry, hatred, and fear in our communities. Hopefully, the strength and hope that elected Barack Obama president, will bring an end to the meanness in our communities.

While we may see a national mandate for tolerance, what about in California and Florida? Gay marriage is a tricky issue, but surely there’s a better solution than to ban it with a constitutional amendment. Majorities don’t think so.

Mr. Krugman, I hope you are correct that the monsters have been banished to the wilderness. The comments I’ve read last night and today on many websites suggest that these monsters’ supporters feel cornered and are erupting with madness in their hearts and minds; it appears they plan to attack us, not with words or veiled threats, but now with their weapons, as well. I feel they have never been more dangerous to our country than they are today, and only hope that sane Americans will recognize their danger and report them or have them arrested.

To the sane Americans… keep your guards up, protect your new-found pride in our country, and defend your new President and help keep him safe.

It would be nice to think they have been banished, but they still inhabit our electorate, they are still our neighbors, and we still live with them and work with them every day. A process of reevaluating our views as a society is needed.

Certainly political ethics rules, education policies, human rights issues, and responsibilities in international relations need to be revisited, reexamined, refined and reformed. We need to do that by (ughh, yech) including the monsters in our discussions to understand what drives them and what truly is needed to correct the problems created during the past administration’s tenure.