Sad Reality

Let's face it: This country has long had its Know-Nothings and its Birchers and its McCarthyites, but it never had gizmos like Fox News or Sarah Palin's Twitter feed to fuel toxic ideas so far so fast. It's time we admit these seemingly disconnected battles over "anchor babies, mosques, and a black man in the Oval Office are all part of the same war against "the Other," and that we are in the fight of a lifetime.

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This isn’t a fight any progressive worthy of the name can afford to sit out. Even if Obama hurt their feelings once upon a time.

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Closing lines from Will Bunch and Betty Cracker, respectively. In this case, I don't feel guilty about stepping on punchlines. You'll see what I mean when you click the links.

Yes, you can say, as I often do, that a lot of this will die down once the economy picks up again. But that's not going to be for a while, and meantime, there is an entire class of people who make a living stirring up hate and feeding off of it. And the more entrenched you let it get, the harder it will be to dig it out.

(h/t: Evan Hurst)