Evil, murderer, Hitler, liar, Nazi, idiot, dope-smoking drunk, Bushitler, dummy, etc., etc., etc.
The list of mean names and nasty phrases against George Bush dominated the media every day for eight long years.
The fascination over demeaning President Bush rose to such a new high that it earned a name, “Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS).”
The hatred spewed over into “assassination fascination,” according to FOX News commentator Michelle Malkin. There were posters, pictures, even movies depicting Bush being murdered. Buttons and T-shirts advocated killing him. One poster showed a hand holding his decapitated head, dripping blood.
There was no doubt about it; American liberals wanted the president dead.
In Sarah Vowell’s “Assassination Vacation,” she writes that during the 2004 Republican National Convention, she was concerned for President Bush’s safety only because “I don’t think I can stomach watching that man get turned into a martyr if he were killed.”
Guardian columnist Charlie Brooker wrote just before the 2004 election, “…he’ll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr. – where are you now that we need you?”
The hatred for Bush was so great that it extended not only to his father and brothers, but his children, too. They even ridiculed his mother, Barbara Bush.
When Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called him “El Diablo” in a church in Harlem, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover and Sean Penn loved it so much they went to Venezuela to party with him.
During the 2008 campaign, the hatred extended to all Republican candidates. But the vitriol spewed about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her children pushed the envelope on decency so low it was unconscionable.
Never in my life have I heard such mean-spirited, vicious and vile comments about people. I even wrote a column titled, “Why do you call me names?” because those of us black Republicans were, and still are, defiled everywhere we go. RNC
Chairman Michael Steele was cartooned as Black Sambo and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was called “Ignorant Mammy.”
Radical left militia organizations proliferated, even killing military recruiters. But no one cared. Neither the ACLU nor the NAACP. In fact, all the civil rights organizations were eerily silent. Were we not worthy of their time?
For eight years, the liberal media spewed hatred from their airwaves. The Democratic PR Hit Machine had CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC and liberal talk radio throw everything they could at Bush, whether it was true or not.
But now that Obama is president, the very same people guilty of BDS are now complaining that the “radical right” is disrespecting the man. It’s no longer cool to speak bad about the president.
Liberals were upset recently when Russian leaders snubbed Obama, refusing to shake his hand. But they laughed when the Iraqi man threw his shoes at Bush. Some even cheered when President Ronald Reagan was shot.
Now, if anybody disagrees with Obama, they are called racists – unless they’re black. Then they’re Uncle Toms. And they must suffer. Glenn Beck called Obama a racist and ColorofChange.org called for all the advertisers to pull their ads.
The Southern Law Poverty Center released a report recently, “The Second Wave: The Return of the Militias,” detailing the surge in hate groups. But where were they for the past eight years? Again, was Bush not worthy of their time? Or are they just concerned about the groups that hate black folk?
The recent town halls on health care, or “Obamacare” as some call it, were filled with ordinary citizens – a lot of old white folk – who were afraid, and rightly so, of what they would lose if this so-called health-care reform passes. They were called “mobs.” Black Democrats whined that the only reason these people were upset is because there’s “a black man in the White House.”
Tonya Weathersbee of BlackAmericaWeb.com, writes, “For Obama Foes, It’s Not the Plan – It’s the Man.” She calls the people at the town halls “red-faced, screaming…racists.” (I’m sure she had a hissy fit when the black man showed up at the Arizona town hall with an assault rifle.)
So what would you call the people who wanted Bush dead?
Someone called them “righteous.” I guess it’s all right to demean the president if he’s a Republican and you’re a liberal.
But if he’s a Democrat and black, you have crossed the line and must pay dearly.
I call that total hypocrisy.
Barbara Howard is president of Barbara Howard & Associates and the Florida state chair for C.O.R.E. (the Congress of Racial Equality).
BHoward@BHowardandAssoc.com
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