If you’re searching for evidence of Right-Wing Derangement Syndrome, and the corrosive effect it is having on our body politic, look no further than Washington’s 1st Legislative District, where certified teahadist Heidi Munson and her supporters have run a mean-spirited and racist campaign against Democratic Representative-Elect Luis Moscoso.
One Moscoso supporter reports being harassed by a Munson doorbeller, who ironically called Moscoso a “racist” while accusingly him of being part of a La Raza invasion of Snohomish County. Another supporter reports a confrontation with a Munson sign waver, who insisted Moscoso wasn’t a citizen, and demanded to see his birth certificate. And just this Sunday Moscoso found a cross made out of his campaign signs on his office lawn.
That sort of xenophobic race baiting doesn’t occur in a vacuum; it’s the result of a top down rhetorical strategy that seeks to exploit fear, anger, paranoia and hatred, all for cheap political gain. And it’s a strategy one can’t simply turn off after the election.
Throughout the campaign Munson supporters have left numerous ugly comments on Moscoso’s Facebook page about him, his family and President Obama. And just yesterday, after the latest ballot drops gave Moscoso an 863-vote lead in a race he was trailing on election night, another Munson troll left this oh-so-bitter/cliche comment:
That final line, “You will not have that seat,” sure does sound like a threat, and I hope the Washington State Patrol investigates it, but the larger point is that when such an angry (and presumably armed) segment of the population has become so convinced by its leaders that the only way for a Democrat to win is to cheat, lie and steal, well… would it really be so surprising to see that result in violent consequences?
If Munson cared about democracy and the rule of law, she would concede now. She would congratulate Moscoso on his victory, and wish him the best of luck. This was a heartbreakingly close loss, she would tell her supporters, by she would vouch for the legitimacy of the outcome while thanking her supporters for all the hard work they put into her campaign. Yes, if Munson truly cared about democracy and the rule of law, she would be gracious in defeat, leading her supporters by example.
But she won’t, because like so many others on the teahadist right, Munson and her cross-planting followers are little more than modern day Klanners, intent on appealing to our nation’s basest instincts in their delusional struggle against the La Rasa hordes. And what’s truly scary, is that she almost won.
Since we will never be able to overcome prejudice and ignorance, we have to learn to use it in a sort of political jiu-jitsu sort of way.
Like asking for donations to an organization called:Make America Safe for White People!
Then use the money for political contributions that you think will make America safe for everybody — and that includes white people.
Yep!
Oops, posted as my alter ego.
Yep!
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@3: I have enjoyed your alter ego, Michael. Don’t stop now that you’ve outed yourself, please.
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With the right I’m always reminded of a J. G. Ballard kind of closed feedback system, following its own Id of worst impulses into savagery.
@2,3,5
Could you guys explain to me the difference between alter-ego and sockpuppet?
Are alter-egos satirical and and enlightening, while sock-puppets are manipulative and dishonest?
Is it a sort of liberal/conservative contrast?
@5
I didn’t know I was ever in the closet!
@8: Good questions. Knowing that Michael is really Some Republican Dullard maybe resolves?
(;-))
@8
My alter-ego Republican just reacts to things he hears and reads, he doesn’t think about it, try to put things in context or create a narrative. He doesn’t have any sort of political philosophy other than my side is right and your side is weird, wrong, maybe gay (which is very bad, he doesn’t really remember why, but he’s been train to think that way so it must be true), and wants to take his stuff. A lot of what he says are things that I heard as a kid, that I’ve blown out of proportion or are based on people I see around Gig Harbor.
I’m not in anyway a classical conservative, but I have a lot of respect for those folks and I think we can learn from them and work together with them. The Republican Dullard thinks that he IS a classical conservative, but in reality he doesn’t even know what that is. But, he’s white, married, male, suburban, Christian and upper middle class, so he must be right.
Those same Tea Party folks don’t seem to complain at all when the Republican candidate is Hispanic — such as Jamie Herrera in our state, Raul Labrador in Idaho, and Marco Rubio in Florida. So not only is their racism disgusting, it is hypocritical as well.
No wonder the conservative aka throwback party is angry, they are stuck. Stuck in the past. No clue how to move forward so resorts to unimaginative neanderthal tactics.
This will end some day when angry whites are reduced to a small minority forced to live in special “homelands” behind large walls, subjected to endless humiliations at border crossings as they try to travel to work, and granted ‘democratic rights’ as long as the scope of their decision-making is reduced to the inconsequential.
Some say this could lead to violence, but all right thinking whites abhor terrorism, or so they endlessly claim. Since they are barely human, and don’t wash regularly, we foresee few, if any, problems.
@11
Highly illuminating. Role play the character with honest adherence to central beliefs, without need to obfuscate or make politically palatable.
I’ve thought that an analogous exercise, though reversed, linked to the Sunday Bible Study, would be similarly illuminating – that is, to rewrite the Bible as if it were the chronicle of a people actually dedicated to peace and love, and where such attitudes and aspirations might lead, in contrast to where we’ve seemed to have ended up as a culture.
@14
That comes kinda close to the eliminationist rhetoric that conservatives engage in.
Though if such “Bubbastans” existed to protect their culture from fading away, I suppose it could be OK. They could become tourist meccas (or would a new term be needed – tourist Bransons?) for people interested in cheap beer, professional wrestling and shooting ranges.
“My alter-ego Republican”
I came of age in an era of war when “Hawks” and “Doves” were the words of the day, and they could be found in both political parties. I have a conservative streak, open to personal change and growth, but somewhat resistant to some forms of societal change. Overall, I always prefered what I saw as the good intentions of progressivism to be tempered by the age-old wisdom of conservatism, as I believe that goodness without wisdom can result in very bad things. However, today’s whack conservatism just don’t cut it. Sigh! I sometimes believe that we’re fast losing the Ying and Yang of it all.
I am so glad that Luis persevered under the conditions you describe. He will be a fine legislator and supporter of rights for all. But it is unnerving to see the permission that people seem to feel they have to unleash their worst tendencies these days.
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Goldy, as you may know, my brother Rep. Al O’Brien (D) has been the Representative from 1st District since 1996. This year Al decided to retire, opening up his seat. When Al first ran for election he was basically running in what had been a swing district that more often then not elected Republicans rather that Democrats. Over the years Al helped change that equation through such things as unending year around door belling and activism. Redistricting help too. People got to know him and trust him. Because of this the 1st became more of a Democratic leaning district than it had been in prior elections.
Al often ran unopposed at election time because Republicans determined he was practically unbeatable. But his first two elections to the legislature were real dogfights. The 1st district has always had bat shit crazy type right-wingers xenophobes lurking in the bushes. They tended to surface each election cycle looking for a fight. But none of them wanted to take Al on. With both House legislative seats open this year they apparently felt emboldened and entitled.
But it should be no surprise to anyone that Luis Moscoso is winning this seat. He’s is an excellent candidate, and the 1st District is now more of a solidly Democratic leaning swing district then before my brother showed up fifteen years ago.
Republicans who claim that the election is being stolen are simply poor losers who really don’t understand the history, demographics or new dynamics of the 1st district.
Danny O’Brien
If you’d like to know what the society Republicans want to create for us would look like, check out some library books and read up on what it’s been like to live in Afghanistan for the last 30 years — unending war, violence, terrorism, political upheaval, millions of refugees living in squalid camps, religious totalitarianism, a destroyed economy, and extreme poverty.
Washington state was a model of how well democratic Get Out the Vote (GOTV) worked. National democrats should be studying this state for tips on how it is done for 2012.
Oh, vote by mail works. Seattle had an unprecedented 71% turnout. There is no way in hell it would be that high with traditional polling places. If you really care about as many people voting as possible, vote by mail is the way to go. Of course the rethugs don’t want people voting. If they had their druthers, only white male land owners would be allowed to vote.
12:
Excellent point, Popemeister. Noting that of those three, only Rubio is of a Hispanic sub-group that generally votes Republican (child of Cuban ‘exiles’), I wonder what outside pressures made Labrador (living in Idaho – go figure) and Hererra go against the flow and/or common sense?
Could you guys explain to me the difference between alter-ego and sockpuppet?
They are both sprezzaturas, but not doppelgangers.
According to his campaign bio, Luis was born in Dubuque, Iowa. His father immigrated from Peru to get a college education after WWII, and his mother:
Not that that really addresses the xenophobia, racism, and hateful bigotry of Heidi Munson and her teahadist friends.
I first met Luis over twenty years ago when he was my union staff rep. He is as American as anyone I have ever met in my life. These xenophobic racist people in the tea party are incredibly dense. They don’t understand that this country was founded with 100% immigrants.
A democracy cannot remain healthy when thuggery of this nature is de rigeur campaign tactics by a major party. The GOP needs to find a route back to rational, civil discourse, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
teahadist right
Munson and her cross-planting followers
modern day Klanners
the La Rasa hordes
Typical leftist progressive name calling hatred in full dress regalia!
Puddy @ 28
She’s fucking earned those terms, Puddy. She could get her people to stop, but she chooses not to. She’s what your party is coming to, Pud.
@16: Drink, sarcasm, irony, despair….a fatal combination. But “bubbastans”? I like it!
@30
I thought it was good too ;)
Pud @28
You are a fool.
Moscoso ran a better campaign. Deal with it. Munson had nothing. I considered Munson before voting in the primary. Nothing, and the faceless, last-minute mailers against Moscoso were pointless crap.
I love Luis like a brother. He’s a solid progressive. He stepped up to serve. He’s going to be great in Olympia.
This racism crap makes me sick. Running for office is humiliating enough. To make it personal is just terrible.
baxter @ 22
The increased turnout, if it lasts, takes a lot of the sting out of closing the poll sites.
There’s always a tradeoff. Higher turnout for slower results sounds like a fair trade. The people clamoring for quicker results need to check their attitude.
puddy @ 28
So you’re going to vouche for Heidi Munson? I know Luis Moscoso. And I’m happy to vouche for him. Luis represents what’s best about America. I couldn’t be more proud of him.
Neither Luis, nor his campaign, engaged in any hate speech whatsoever.
In other words:
False equivalence for the win.
there is no “there” there with the right in the US.
mindless zombies…..no logic, no thought process at all.