Bush ally wants left-leaning voices in ‘detention camp’

December 20, 2006

Stuff like this really irks me.

Yesterday on Fox News, talk radio host Mike Gallagher said the U.S. government should “round up” actor Matt Damon, “The View” host Joy Behar, and MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann and “put them in a detention camp until this war is over because they’re a bunch of traitors.”

Gallagher was upset over Behar’s comment that Time magazine should have chosen a controversial “Hitler-type” like Donald Rumsfeld as its Person of the Year. Gallagher said Damon should also be incarcerated because he “attacked George Bush and Dick Cheney”; he didn’t explain why he wanted to imprison Olbermann.

(Gallagher apparently forgot about his own recent Gore-Hilter comparison.)

And who is this insightful conservative contributing wisdom to our public discourse? That would be him, in the circle, about eight feet from the president during a recent Oval Office visit.
gallagher

I know I’ve mentioned stuff like this many, many times before, and I don’t mean to complain without some kind of constructive ideas, but I just know that in 2009, President Clinton/Obama/Edwards/Clark/Richardson is going to have a chat with some liberal who once said something intemperate about Republicans and the right will be apoplectic about how it’s demonstrable proof that the Dems are radical extremists.

And yet, a Bush buddy not only labels left-leaning voices “traitors,” he wants to see them in “detention camps.”

As regular readers know, this isn’t an isolated phenomenon.

When radicals like Jerry Falwell and Ann Coulter get together for a right-wing event in Washington, Republican presidential aspirants and White House officials think nothing of standing by them, side by side. John McCain cozies up to Falwell, even after Falwell said Americans “deserved” 9/11, and fears no negative consequences.

A fringe theocratic group recently held an event at which the event’s sponsor unveiled his new book, “Liberalism Kills Kids.” Clearly, the Republican establishment would want to keep their distance from such radical activists, right? Wrong. The GOP sent three leading House Republicans (Tom DeLay, Todd Akin, and Louis Gohmert) and two leading Senate Republicans (John Cornyn and Sam Brownback).

There are two sets of rules. If Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) benefits from an email solicitation sent by MoveOn.org, the right goes berserk. If Sen.-elect Jim Webb (D-Va.) takes out an ad on Daily Kos, the Republican machine is all over it. And yet, no one is too extreme on the right for GOP leaders, and no rhetoric is too overheated.

It’s annoying and I wish I knew what the left could do about it.

Only one solution. Put Gallagher in a detention camp. Just kidding!

That picture is so full of evil and funny haircuts and yet people don’t see it as the disgusting fascist group photo that it is.

I hope the left is wising up and starts taking wingnut complaints for what they are and turning the tables on them. They didn’t even use the Coulter-type events against the Republicans. I hope they do in 2008. McCain is creating some really good photos for us to use.

  • “And yet, Bush’s buddies not only label left-leaning voices “traitors,” he wants to see them in “detention camps.” ”

    And they are building them, that is Haliberton is, in the deserts of Arizona.

    So get ready for the third American Revolution children.

  • What part of IOKIYAR don’t you understand?
    What to do? Restore the Fairness Doctrine, to begin. Next, deconstruct the media conglomerates, and bar any defense contractor from owning American airwaves.
    Next, TRAIN the people who supposedly speak for the Left to throw this kind of crap back into the face of every Hannidy/O’Lieley/Glen Beck that starts to clutch at their pearls, aghast that someome on the Left would be uncivil.
    By the way, is anyone else reminded of Dana Carvey’s Church Lady when they see Glen Beck do his schtick? I can’t stand to watch these clowns (the stupid, it burns!), but when channel surfing into this guy, I keep waiting to hear “How Conveeeeenient!”

  • The mechanism by which this stuff would hurt the right is that “respectable” “moderate” people (Broder, Richard Cohen, Cokie Roberts etc.) would get really upset about it, as upset as they got about blowjobs and haircuts and whatnot, and keep pushing the issue. Or back up the less respectable when they did so. In other words, never mind.

  • Is it just me or does anyone else feel more optimistic after seeing that picture. Could it be the rug… 😉

  • Wow, here’s a lopsided comparison,

    The level of intelligence versus the level of pure evil in that picture.

  • Simple. Quit Caring.

    Actually, quite literally. Every time that a Liberal actually stands up for something, there are 20 idiots who start ‘apologizing’ for that person. Those ‘apologies’ are what ends up in the news. State something purely, stand behind it (and shoot the idiots who don’t), and nobody notices, no matter how stupid the initial idea/statement/whatever is.

    Simple formula, and the Republifucks have been using it for years… might be worth a try.

  • Castor Troy’s (# 9) right. The only people who agree with these media versions of the WWF are people so thick-headed, malicious and paranoid that there’s no point in explaining or reacting to anything they say.

    What swine these yokels be.

  • What’s the point of getting upset about these morons anymore? The people voted in Nov. and made it pretty clear that they saw through this tripe. People like him are speaking louder and louder to a narrower and narrower group of fans. We can all hope that someday he’s speaking at the top of his voice on a street corner while passersby ignore him. “Bout what he deserves.

    Behar doesn’t get many points for her nonsense either. Let’s think a bit–the dialogue is bad enough–does she really think that saying things that are patently foolish is going to restore sanity?

  • My answer: Be as upright, virtuous and dedicated as possible. Shrug off the desperate ravings of what’s left of the right wing attack machine and demonstrate through positive action who is really on the right side of the public interest.

    People will see that and respond accordingly. They’re hungry for a new dawn in America and are just waiting for someone….anyone….to deliver it.

    I think that most of the current Democratic leadership understands that as witnessed by their refusal to be sidetracked by Republican tricks like the leftover spending bills. The Dems will just keep current funding levels until the next budget cycle so they can proceed with their ‘100 hour plan’ or whatever it’s called. Brilliant!

    So there you go. Glad I could help. 🙂

  • Wait, quietly, until 12:30 pm on January 20, 2009, and then, handcuff Bush and Cheney, and send them off to Guantanamo to answer questions put to them by an openly gay Navy Seal interrogator, named Bubba. Invite any right-wing commentator, who wants to, to join them.

    Watch a new respect for civil liberties grow up on the Right.

  • What an attention starved wanker. C’mon, you know he’s praying the “traitors” will mention him. Damon has a new movie out (about the OSS I believe) so Gargler likely picked on him for that reason.

  • ***It’s annoying and I wish I knew what the left could do about it.***
    ———–CB

    Is it just me—or has anyone else realized that Gallagher and Gitmo both start with a “G?” I’d like to see that whole roomfull of uberschweinen offal bumped to a beach-head in Cuba….

  • Damon has a new movie out (about the OSS I believe) so Gargler likely picked on him for that reason.

    his recent appearance on hardball is more likely the reason. He straight up said that Cheney was a coward (the actual quote had something to do with lacking personal courages…yada yada yada).

  • The left must really be doing something right if the paranoid wing of the Republic party is this scared. Good job all! But time to double down and really force these guys like Gallagher over the cliff.

  • he didn’t explain why he wanted to imprison Olbermann. — CB

    The little matter of sagging ratings for Fox, while Olbermann’s pinching all the prime viewers?

    What part of IOKIYAR don’t you understand? — BuzzMon, @3

    Actually…I don’t even know what it means; been meanin’ to ask for a while, but keep forgettin’…

  • LIbra, #21: Just checked the Acronym Finder Web site. IOKIYAR stands for It’s OK If You’re Republican. Hope it helps.

  • Come on, people. There is a way to push back on this kind of crap, contact their sponsors, and encourage everyone else to do the same.

    Gallagher has a weakness, it’s called making a living. If enough of us write nice, polite, insistent letters to the sponsors of his crappy ass show, and send them his utterly indefensible quotes about interning political prisoners, the sponsors will get word back to Gallagher that he better tone it down. They may even yank their funding if they feel like the issue is getting their company enough bad press.

    We need to associate the sponsors with the hate speech of Gallagher and his ilk, and see how they like the association. They won’t.

  • Come on, people. There is a way to push back on this kind of crap, contact their sponsors, and encourage everyone else to do the same.

    Gallagher has a weakness, it’s called making a living. If enough of us write nice, polite, insistent letters to the sponsors of his crappy ass show, and send them his utterly indefensible quotes about interning political prisoners, the sponsors will get word back to Gallagher that he better tone it down. They may even yank their funding if they feel like the issue is getting their company enough bad press.

    We need to associate the sponsors with the hate speech of Gallagher and his ilk, and see how they like the association. They won’t.

  • > Bring back the fairness doctrine and these bozos will be back under their
    > rocks in 90 days.

    Unfortunately that would also eliminate the good lefty talkers like Thom Hartmann, effectively tossing the baby out with the bath water. I do like the idea of preventing defense contractors from getting into the media, and spreading media outlet ownership around.

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