by Chris Bodenner
Kevin Drum struggles with how to deal with the mixed messages sent by what Hitchens calls the "white fright" of Beck followers:
What is the right way to talk about this? I think Bob [Somerby] has a point: calling people stupid racists just isn't very bright. For the most part it probably isn't true, and even to the extent it is, it's bad electoral politics to harp on it. Calling an individual person racist for some particular action is fine if it's justified. Ditto for specific groups with overtly racist agendas. But entire movements? Probably not.
On the other hand, "You'd have to literally be blind not to notice that the Fox/Rush/Drudge axis has been pushing racial hot buttons with abandon all summer." Pivoting off Hitchens, Nick Gillespie observes:
For me, the strangest and most off-putting element of the day was the disjuncture between the anti-authority dimension of the rally - our leaders have disappointed us and must be called to account! - and the whole-hog deference to militarism - we need to thank our soldiers for following orders so honorably and self-sacrificingly. While there were plenty of wounded soldiers on the stage, there was absolutely zero discussion of why these guys were being sent overseas and whether we should expect the same pols who lie to us on domestic policy to be any better on foreign policy.