It shouldn't be a charge one cascades as a facile rejoinder to every wrong the lunkheaded rightwingers unleash.
But there's plenty of evidence, specific evidence, that racism is at the heart of a good many of the attacks on Barack Obama.
So when conservative shoutcasters, like our local watt-sucker, Jim Vicevich, express outrage at being called "racist," one merely has to point out how. Last week Vicevich was in the middle of a rant, during which he saw himself and his listeners ("my little mobsters" he calls them) as victims of a false charge of bigotry. In the same sentence he decried the charge, and implicated himself.
"Is it racist to challenge the policies of the 'young president," he screamed into the mic.
The "young president," is it? Once again, Jim Bob, you may as well call Obama, "boy."
He's black, and he's president. And he's a grown man. And for some people that just doesn't add up, does it, Jim?
The Hartford Courant today printed an editorial about several incidents which indicate a loss of civility in the public discourse. Say the editors:
The health care issue has seen incivility raised to a tactic — premeditated rudeness — in town hall meetings across the country, driven by hate radio and vituperate bloggers.
Local crackpot broadcaster, WTIC-AM's Jim Vicevich took that sentence personally, excoriating editors for not including a list of uncivil incidents during the Bush administration.
I, for one, am glad that Vicevich self-identifed with "hate radio," because the first step in recovery is recognizing that you have a problem.
Now Jim, if we could only convince you to admit that your undergrad degree in economics does not put you on par with Paul Krugman. Your 15 watt notion of the free-market is nothing more than a rehashing of the cribbed talking points of think-tanks, bloggers, pundits and lobbyists for the corporate giants who need nincompoops like you to do their bidding.
Where was Wilson when George Bush was standing in the same place and actually lying. Oh, that's right, George Bush isn't black.
Wilson has apologized to the President. And the President has wisely, graciously, if unsatisfyingly, accepted Wilson's apology, and wants to move on.
I feel as incomplete as Inigo Montoya (from the Princess Bride). As incomplete as when Obama allowed Creepy Joe™ Lieberman back into the fold.
The problem is not Wilson's accusation. If we were to ask ever elected official in the room last night to stand and clap if they had ever offered a political lie to the public, we would have witnessed a standing ovation. Politicians lie. All politicians lie. (In fact, we all lie, Joe.)
And, for me, it's not about the loss of protocol. I, for one, would have been happy if one spineless Democrat had occasionally stood up to George Bush or Dick Cheney.
No, Wilson could have shouted, "you're ugly" or "you're a socialist" or "you were born in Kenya," and they all would have had the same effect. Guys like Wilson seem to think it's okay to shout at President Barack Obama because he's considered an impostor. To them, he's a black man in a white man's office. And a lot of folks don't give him the respect that they've given other men, in the same office, who deserved far less respect.
What Wilson did was send a signal to the racists, and the gun nuts, and the whack jobs, and the crack pots, and the birthers, and the deathers, that the man sitting in the President's chair is doing so illegitimately.
What Wilson did is give these creeps one more reason to believe that Barack Obama is somehow not their president.
"He must be a liar," they repeat. "Joe Wilson said so, and he's a Congressman."
Right here in Connecticut this morning, WTIC wingnut radio host Jim Vicevich, who hilariously called himself "the voice of moderation" today, played the Wilson accusation 6 or 7 times in the short time I was listening. And then he argued himself that the president was not being truthful, but was using "weasel words." And then he entertained at least three callers who called Barack Obama a liar, and each time he amplified the accusation by "proving" that the President was not being completely upfront about the proposed health care bill (Vicevich claims he has had some really "smart people" with "advanced degrees" who read and really understand the bill - a former Assistant U.S. Attorney General, Vicevich's sister, and the RadioVice blogmaster Steve McGough, who happens to work for health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare).
ASIDE: Just for the record, Vicevich hung up on two people who disagreed with him and, then, only after they were safely off the phone, he spent two or three minutes berating them. Bully=coward. The "voice of moderation" indeed.
The echo is deafening, and the crackpots are soaking it up. Listen to them repeat the chants "liar, socialist, nazi, racist (yes, can you believe? "racist")." Vicevich is leading the chorus of malcontents, and goes so far as to continue to remind them of their constitutional right to bear arms. I think any broadcaster with an ounce of sense and responsibility has to understand that lighting a match while standing in a puddle of gasoline, is not a good or gracious or democratic idea.
BTW, Jim, lay off the "young president" bit unless you really want to commit to the racist intent of calling him "boy."
Tonight, Jim Vicevich is the "guest of honor" at a fundraiser for Republican candidates for mayor and common council in my hometown of Middletown CT. I can only say, that any of those candidates who attend the fundraiser have lost my respect, and likely my vote.
And perhaps the only satisfaction is knowing that his Democratic opponent for the seat raised more than $300,000 for his campaign in the hours after Wilson's outburst.
Those of you who fell into despair after reading Sara Robinson's essay on fascism, as I did, can take heart that the same author has responded to the many people who responded to her original essay with some commonsense advice about fighting the fascist threat.
Interestingly, one of her ideas is to think nationally but act locally.
It's been on my mind that the people of central Connecticut need to confront the owners and managers of WTIC-AM about the irresponsible broadcasting that's been going on there. By listening carefully, and cataloguing incitment, racism, threats, we may be able to back the bully down.
I've been troubled this week by the denouncements by liberal commentators and the Democratic party of the troublemakers who have shown up at town meetings to disrupt the work of politicians pushing a national health plan.
The First Amendment guarantees free speech, and so it bothers me when any progressive makes the argument that free speech is okay for me when I want to denounce George Bush, but it's not okay for my fellow American who wants to denounce Barack Obama and the Democrats.
The First Amendment does not legislate decorum or politeness. It consecrates free speech, and sometimes free speech has to be shouted. And sometimes it's shouted by people we don't like, and don't agree with.
That means we might not always like what we hear, whether its an obscene word, a homophobic slur, a blasphemy or a racist remark. The First Amendment doesn't guarantee that we won't hear from assholes. We will hear free speech from assholes, and we must tolerate the speech.
But we don't have to stand by idly and tolerate the ideas. That's what free speech is about too. Standing up against racists, homophobes, idealogues, hatemongers, anti-intellectuals, demagogues and bullies of any stripe. They shout. We shout louder.
(A slight digression. One of the first Supreme Court cases newly-sworn-in Judge Sotomayor will hear is a free speech case. In this case, Citizens United vs. FEC, was a narrow argument, that has broadened and will be argued before the SCOTUS as an argument to allow corporations to provide unfettered donations to political candidates as an act of free speech. Here's what one conservative commentator argues, in, ahem, Capitalist Magazine, where they seem to conflate free speech with free market. The DNC has filed a briefing against corporate interests - and union interests, interestingly enough, and Sotomayor, an elections reform proponent, is expected to side with the FEC. But treating a corporation as an "individual" with the rights of the individual, and assigning free speech rights to campaign dollars is far more ridiculous than defending a lap dance as free speech. And I can assure you that there are thousands of conservative Republicans who would fight for lap dances - though probably not publicly.)
The Democrats, and the Obama administration have to own up to a bit of this mess. The health care plan they offer is so watered-down by compromises to corporate interests, and so complex, that it is nearly impossible to sell to anyone as a good thing. And Democratic legislators are doing a horrible job of selling the weak-kneed plan. The strategy is to pass something-anything as a national health plan as a first step to get something on the books and to demonstrate Obama's effectiveness. I say, President Obama, step backwards and remember your campaign of hope and progress and give us a brave and effective plan, and not this mess.
So, Obama and the Democrats gifted something to the conservative commentators to latch onto. A thousand-page plan with give-backs to pharmaceuticals, insurance companies, hospitals and established health-care providers, while stripping it of a public option, and a universal payer. And hanging on it a scary, and probably inevitable, price tag.
Now, a good, simple, universal plan could be sold on its advantages. This Rube Goldberg bill has to be sold, really sold, as if it were a Hummer with spinning rims, gold-plated bumpers and a hybrid gasoline-gin engine.
And so we have the Glenn Becks, the Rush Limbaughs and locally the Jim Vicevich's denouncing the plan and urging the blockheads who listen to them to attend meetings and scream. These teabaggers, most of whom don't have an independent thought in their heads, follow the scripts of guys trying to make ratings, and lobbyists who are working against the plan. Ladle on top of that Republican political leaders who are searching for support and a new base, and you get meetings where ineffectual Democratic leaders are drowned out by the shrill talking points of talk-radio and C Street zealots coming out of the mouths of conspiracy theorists, flat-earthers, birthers and racists.
And we can dismiss them all as "wing-nuts," but I'm afraid my suspicion that something darker is happening has just been confirmed by Sara Robinon's insightful analysis of Robert Paxton's essay, The Five Stages of Fascism. Both Paxton's original essay, and Robinson's update are essential reading.
Robinson's thesis is this: we are at the point where a disenfranchised conservative movement is grasping at the last straws of racism, purity and patriotism, to engage a core base, who in their fear is willing to rise up to destroy what they see as threats to their country, their religion, their morality and their way of life. Intellectually, of course, these screaming idiots are easy to dismiss, but what's impossible to dismiss is the fact that a movement is afoot, and its being abetted by the demagoguery of ratings-hungry broadcasters, desperate politicians, and corporations willing to do anything to preserve their bottom line. And it is, Paxton's third stage of the rise of the tide of fascism, a tide he sees as nearly impossible to turn back.
So, it's time to stand up and call out the birthers and the racists, and the liars and the homophobes and the sanctimonious and the charlatans and the broadcasters and politicians who would destroy democracy to consolidate money and power. It's no time to be timid.
Now that I can get instant traffic reports on my iPhone, I much prefer John Dankosky's Where We Live in the morning to wading throught the pitiful, non-tempered "libertarian" (read: conservative lunatic fringe) musings of hatemonger Jim Vicevich, and his herd of birther and flat-earther caller/listeners on WTIC-AM while waiting for a traffic report.
Vicevich, who makes a great, florid show of outrage if anyone accuses him of racism, demonstrated Tuesday that he is, in fact, a racist.
On a late morning drive, I listened in long enough to hear Vicevich condemn Barack Obama for chastizing the Cambridge Police Department's Sargeant James Crowley as "acting stupidly" for arresting Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates for disorderly conduct when the cops tried to arrest Gates for breaking into his own house.
Sounds pretty damned stupid to me (and racist - a good essay on the topic here). What's stupider is that Obama apologized. Stupider still is Vicevich's implication that Obama himself is somehow racist for calling stupid, "stupid".
Meanwhile, acting the peacemaker, Obama has invited Gates and Crowley to the White House to hash out the problem over a few beers.
One of Vicevich's callers, a self-proclaimed "Irishman" was appalled that Obama would offer beers to a cop of obvious Irish descent, claiming that such an invitation was insulting and somehow anti-Celtic. Vicevich hooted, and agreed heartily with the caller.
The caller went on to say that if the invitation went the other way, Obama should be offered "fried chicken and watermelon."
Oh. Doesn't take a genius to sniff a bigot at work.
Vicevich just laughed. No scold. No disclaimer. No rebuke. No condemnation. No indication that the caller had just crossed a line into old-fashioned, xenophobic, tiny-minded racism.Vicevich just laughed.
Which, in my book, makes Vicevich a racist. A radio host who encourages outright bigotry is, undeniably, himself, a bigot.
But that's no surprise from a man who regularly calls Barack Obama "the young president." Someone should remind Jim that constantly and consistently reminding his listeners that the president is "youthful" and "inexperienced" is tantamount to calling him "boy." And, Vicevich probably doesn't have to be reminded that calling a person of color "boy" has been a time-honored method of diminishing the worth of a person because of their race. If Vicevich doesn't intend the insult, he should refrain from using the "young president" tag, but my guess is that, in this case, he means what he says.
Yesterday I allowed myself a listen to the carwreck which WTIC-AM has become.
Jim Vicevich was at the top of his form, playing the same soundbites ten or fifteen times per show, to somehow emphasize his misunderstanding of them, and occasionally playing one of the many bites he repeats over and over and over and over through the year, as if the repetition in someway bestows credence. When he wasn't beating the soundbites to death, he was mouthing empty platitudes from the conservative script - socialism, nanny state, enhanced interrogation, generational theft, blah, blah, blah.
If anything, old Vicegrip has become more shrill as the months of the Obama administration tick by. It was to be expected. For all the carping these conservative did about Obama, it was a boon to their ratings. Now they're the victims, and liberals are the persecutors. (Ironically, Vicevich, who demanded respect for the commander-in-chief, when Bush was in office, can't seem to muster the requisite respect for Obama).
But Vicevich got up a head of steam on a story that appeared in the Boston Globe about a Harvard program which helps lower income students adjust to life at a school where wealth, and all its perquisites, are considered commonplace. The program seeks to bridge the cultural, social and economic gap which becomes evident, and intimidating, in the most common ways - like being able to afford a winter coat.
Vicevich reinterpreted the facts of the stories, and created a distortion which made a mockery of the facts relayed in the story.
He told his listeners that the Harvard program provided money so poor students could go to the prom, though the story never mentions the word "prom" and Harvard would doubtlessly find it hilarious that Vicevich thinks they hold proms there. In fact, the story says that funds are availableto pay for such things as "admissionto dorm dances, tutoring, winter coats, even plane tickets home."
The story also notes:
It can be difficult to discern the neediest students. There's no support group or club for them - many students prefer not to reveal their socioeconomic standing. The university keeps a list of them, available only to Harvard financial aid officials, to try to meet their needs throughout their undergraduate years, be it emergency money for a root canal or a loan for test-prep courses, an interview suit, or travel while studying abroad.
One might guess that a self-professed Christian like Jim would appreciate the concept of assisting a needy student through some difficult, and embarassing times.
But, no. Vicevich wailed about the way in which Harvard was preparing the student (actually two students are featured in the story, and Vicevich continued to conflate the facts of the two students' situations) for the "nanny state."
Has anyone ever asked Vicevich if it was the "nanny state" that helped him avoid creditors in his own bankruptcy?
He bellowed about "the state" paying for tuxedoes. Not sure what "state" Harvard is, but it's probably better off financially than most of the other 50.
But the worst manipulation of the fact is that Vicevich said again and again, that Miguel Garcia was complaining about his situation (Vicevich offered a histrionic imitation of Garcia, wailing like a baby with a dirty diaper). Vicevich claimed that Garcia was getting $50,000 a year in scholarship, and that should be enough, so Garcia should button up.
The story makes clear that Garcia felt intimidated and disconnected, but Garcia himself acknowledges the subleties of getting a paid-in-full first-class education, and needing to worry about his parent's car payments. The story also indicates that Garcia had found coping mechinisms, and that complaining was not one of them.
While it's puzzling that Vicevich could find so much powder for his indoor fireworks, all you need to do is read the comments following the Boston Globe story to see the kind of company the talk show host keeps.
The dark and thorny vines of envy, ignorance, prejudice, racism and anti-intellectualism wind their way through the comments on the radio, and in the newspaper.
It's clear that those who perceive themselves stuck in the middle hold an abiding hatred for those considered below, and those considered above them.
Vicevich is a shameful liar who is using his three hours of vitriol to stoke the fires of hatred. He has, and will claim it isn't so. But a man who is smart enough to know what generates ratings, is not stupid enough to believe what comes out of his own mouth.
BTW, in his online commentary, which appeared after his on-air rant, Vicevich tries to ameliorate some of the false on-air claims he made about Garcia. Vicevich "writes" in a sentence that goes on forever attempting to find a point:
Because Miguel worked his way into Harvard on his own merritt and not on the back of a “rich alumni Daddy” or because he came from some famous family … the odds are all of those folks that make him uncomfortable, will be working FOR Miguel some day, because Miguel is the premiere example of personal freedom, and individual achievement, a life to be celebrated and not pitied. But then, that’s just my take.
And I guess working "his way on his own merritt," means he took the parkway through Connecticut on his way to school.
God help me, I can't bring myself to avoid local WTIC-AM, hate-radio host, Jim Vicevich, if only to hear how devise (de-vicevich), he's become.
Here's the man who was denying there was a recession through October, suddenly blaming all the financial woes created by George Bush, on Barack Obama. And yes, finally admitting to recession.
Here's the man who believes in free-market capitalism, shocked, I tell you, shocked, at the greed of corporate bankers and Wall Street financiers. But declaring that the economy can heal itself, when the Chicago school of Economics has been roundly derided as a failed policy. Business leaders can't seem to police themselves.
Here's the man who demanded respect for George Bush as commander-in-chief, who demanded respect for the office of the presidency, who insisted that protecting America from terrorism is the most sacred responsibility of the president (though the president swears to uphold the Constitution), now, on a daily basis, tearing down the words and actions of the current president.
Here's the man who excoriated the left for impatience with "the surge" now, talking about the failure of the stimulus package before it's even implemented.
Here's the radio host bragging about his fairness, hustling anyone who disagrees with him off the phone.
So I visited via the web today, and observed his vaunted "chat-room," a veritable circle-jerk of flat-earthers, zealots, conspiracy-theorists, science-deniers, wing-nuts, Hannity-philes and chickenhawks. And there, in the chat room, I found Jim's chat-room profile.
Hmmm? Vicevich claiming to be 43? That would mean he was born in 1965. That would mean when he graduated from Bucknell in 1974, he was 9 years old. And I though his self-proclaimed "genius" was hogwash.
Still, his webcam shows a man who clearly is at least as old as his graduation year would make him out to be, 55 or 56. Or a very haggard 43.
Nothing wrong with being 56. That's how old I am. But I can't imagine ever trying to pass as 43, and Jim, based on this picture, I'd lay off that claim too.
Granted, Vicevich began his extra hour on Friday, Jan. 2, but this morning, on his first Monday, of his first full week of expanded programming, I decided to tune in one last time to be an earwitness to the transition to advanced stupidity.
I was not disappointed.
At five minutes to nine, conservo-solo-host Ray Dunaway called Vicevich to the mic, and together they concluded that Harry Reid (who I am no great fan of), was the "most despicable person on earth." Harry Reid? Spineless, maybe. Driven by devotion to his benefactors, probably (but these days, which politician isn't?), but "most despicable?" Seems like the start of some the same kind ongoing right-wing hyperbole Limbaugh invented.
Harry Reid is a "weasel" Dunaway pronounced.
So much for balanced on-air opinionating.
Vicevich began his show with a months-old Nancy Pelosi soundbite that he must have played hundreds of times on his show (every time I ever listened, he played it at least twice), a music cut from Rodney Crowell (one of the twelve American acts he actually knows anything about), and then launched into a stammering (because he is a stammerer) tirade about corrupt Democrats. While he might be right on the Democrats, he laughably omitted any hint that Republicans, especially Bush Republicans, might also be guilty (and have been shown to be guilty) of cronyism, corruption and pay-to-play.
Vicevich announced the litany of tired-and-true conservative commentators who would join him over the next few days, hiccuped through a lame tribute to Diane Smith, and then with Dunaway on mic with him, they launched into a defense of "poor John Rowland" who was driven from office on "trumped-up charges."
Oh lord.
Is this the same John Rowland I'm thinking of? The one who was convicted of corruption and did jail time? That John Rowland?
I had had enough. I reprogrammed my pre-set, and tuned into John Dankowsky, who inevitably will garner a lot of new listeners. If WNPR would feature traffic reports (and they should), I would never have a reason to tune to any AM radio stations.
With confirmation that CBS is preparing WTIC-AM for sale, we can only hope that the dim-burning light of conservative liars will disappear when some corporate giant like ClearChannel who will make it all-satellite all the time, and another local station will disappear, along with its vexingly-stupid show hosts.
I haven't listened to right-wing hatemonger Jim Vicevich on WTIC-AM for months. Mostly it's because I don't allow myself to listen. Partly, it's because I haven't been in my car much over that time period.
But yesterday I was in my car and the radio was tuned to WTIC-AM.
And I was just about to switch the damn thing off because the blowhard host, and his blowhard guest from some wingnut blog called Powerline were jerking each other off about ACORN and how the Obama campaign has collected internet donations. The entire conversation was accusation with out substantiation. Typical.
Then a call came in. The caller introduced himself as a veteran. And as usual, Vicevich afforded him the deference he offers all people who have participated in military service.
I don't know the caller's exact words, but he said something like: "I'm a Vietnam veteran, and I just wanted to call and comment on what you had to say about homeless people being allowed to vote."
A few minutes earlier, the dimwitted host, and another caller went on and on about how allowing homeless people to vote would lead to massive voter fraud. In a mocking voice, the nitwit host did his imitiation of a homeless person saying something like, "My address? It's bench 939 in Central Park." And then the host and the caller laughed like hyenas.
So, the Vietnam vet was commenting on that exchange. He continued by saying something like: "I'm not an Obama supporter, but I don't see how you can be against homeless people voting. Lots of Vietnam vets are homeless. They live under bridges and in the woods, and they served this country. And I think they have the right to vote."
The lamebrained host said, "But...." and then there was a moment of what radio people call "dead air."
The host, whose tongue was suddenly as calcified as his intellect, changed the topic rapidly, but in that moment, that one moment, the host's hate, derision, predjudices, biases, and blindspots were suddenly distilled and exposed by the simple challenge of a Vietnam vet.
Just thought I'd share the "success" of local right-wing radio (WTIC-AM) shouter Jim Vicevich's blog in the past six months. He got off with a bang, thanks to some significant pointing from big-time wingnut bloggers, but it's been all down hill since then. It's an average of 25 visits a day for a blog that's advertised on a 50,000 watt "flamethrower" AM radio station broadcasting in a very densely populated corridor of the country, and doing the opener for Limbaugh. As Vicegrip might say himself, "Not much to see here folks."
Right wing WTIC AM talk show host Jim Vicevich continued down his path of accusing Barack Obama of being a "communist," a "red," a "socialist" and "a Marxist."
If you didn't think you were being exhorted to join some great socialist revolution when you attended the Wesleyan commencement Sunday, the right wingers will tell you that you're wrong.
Vicevich, who spent several minutes making fun of Obama for "confusing" Wesleyan with Wellesley (he either doesn't get, or refuses to get, the joke), went on to say that Obama's challenge to graduating seniors to give back to their communities and to the world was asking them to subjugate themselves to some great socialist collective.
And if you think Vicevich came up with the "commie" bit himself, think again. It's an organized attempt to attach a negative label with huge and deep negative resonance, to Obama, that is being carried out by the right-wing hatemongers. Here's yet another example this morning.
I've made formal complaints to the management of WTIC about Vicevich's consistent use of the communist labels. I've asked for time on their airwaves to respond. So far, no response from WTIC.
So, I guess right-wing WTIC talk show host Jim Vicevich is very happy.
Today he promised to link his website to Eliza Gilkyson's (which he consistently pronounces incorrectly gil-ick-son). Obviously Jim either doesn't listen carefully to her lyrics, or he doesn't understand them. Either is certainly possible. But it's the beauty of a great protest song, it gets into the heads of people who need to hear them, and who don't intially realize what they are listening to. Before long they're singing along to "Runaway Train," and "doh" they figure out what they're singing. Jim, take a listen to Eliza's song, "Man of God," on her last album.
Also, on the same topic, I heard Jim promise to attend a folk concert at Cheney Hall featuring Hugh Blumenfeld. Hope he makes good on his promise, and that Hugh plays "George III" and "America Redux."
For the past two decades, hell, since Ronald Regan ambled through the White House like it was a backlot studio set, conservatives have been spitting out the word "liberal" with such invective and with a fulmination so pronounced that the word was transformed into a short-hand malediction, with poison tentacles. You couldn't have called me worse if you said I was a motherfucker, and meant it.
But it ain't working anymore.
First of all, most Americans aren't looking down their noses at liberals anymore. It isn't the liberals who got us into this war. It isn't the liberals who got us into the subprime mortgage crisis. It isn't the liberals who have created a disastrous healthcare system. It isn't the liberals who have delivered us a diminished dollar, a $4 gallon of gas, and an ugly recession. It isn't the liberals who gave us No Child Left Behind.
I'm a liberal and you sure as hell can't blame me for that mess.
So, to call the Democratic presidential candidates, or their supporters, "liberal" simply does not throw fear into the hearts of Joe Sixpack the way it once did.
Now, as Emeril Lagasse says, the conservatives have turned it up a notch. Bam. Barack Obama is suddenly a socialist, a marxist, a red. They've pulled out the Karl Marx boogeyman mask. They've drawn a fictional dotted line between Barack Obama, Joe Stalin and Hitler's Nationalist Socialist Party. Welcome back to 1956. The spirit of Joe McCarthy is alive and well. First it was the folks at Accuracy in Media, a cabal of right-wing nuts who wouldn't know accuracy if it was hand delivered by Charles Darwin. Then it was Bill Kristol in the New York Times.
Then, quickly following it was a near dodge by Creepy Joe™ Lieberman, who infers that Obama's a socialist by claiming that he's not a Marxist, but "far to the left of me, and I think mainstream America." I heard local talk show host Jim Vicevich say it several times (until I complained to his program director, and suddenly the phrase stopped emerging from his lips, though he allows callers to make the slur). Then there was the unholy trinity of Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Ken Blackwell.
Considering the source, Obama ought to be happy to be called red by this group of slime-mongers and cut-rate economy-grade sensationalists.
But let's not forget, that calling someone a socialist is the same as calling them a communist, and calling them a communist is calling them an enemy of the United States. Which, of course, is patent nonsense. But calling someone a Socialist is exactly what Joe McCarthy did, and in the process he ruined lives and careers through smears and innuendo.
Unfortunately, it's the best we can expect from this debased set of mouthpieces currently reading the conservative script, right off the hatemonger TelePrompter.
I wanna know when McEnroe is going to challenge Buddy Vicevich to a live, on-air debate. If it happened, and if Colin can manage not to be nice, polite and willing to humor even the lamebrained, then Vicevich would have to change his name to mincemeat.
To properly list all the illogical, disjointed, contradictory arguments WTIC-AM conservative chickenhawk announcer Jim Vicevich makes on a daily basis, would take a blog longer than any of you is willing to read.
Vicevich hates Barack Obama. In emulation of the great Joe McCarthy, Vicevich calls Obama a "marxist." And Vicevich, for who stammering is nearly an artform, had the nerve to call attention to how many times Obama said "um" in the most recent debates.
Also, lately, Buddy V, has taken to disdainfully calling Barack Obama "the messiah" while simultaneously disputing Obama's Christianity. Maybe Mr. "I gave my soul to Jesus" Vicevich ought to re-read the gospel, in particular, Matthew 7, chapters 1-5:
1Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Today Vicevich called Barack Obama a "scaredy cat" because Obama has indicated he is not planning another debate with Hillary Clinton. And who could blame him after the travesty on ABC Wednesday evening. In fact, Vicevich spent hours of his show repeated the slurs of Sean Hannity about Obama and his relationship with 60's radical Bill Ayers (for more on the truth about Ayers, see here).
But Vicevich should be the last to call anyone a "scaredy cat." Consider this:
- Vicevich is old enough to have served in Vietnam, but despite his support of the military, war (and yes, the Vietnam War), and patriotism, he did not serve - Vicevich consistently hides behind vets who have served (including his sometimes co-host and co-blogger, Sergent Mel) - Vicevich is consistent in his support of the troops except when he isn't, never speaking out against the outrages of the Bush administration who sent ill-prepared, ill-equipped troops into a poorly planned assault from which the volunteer troops have no escape (blocked by repeated call-ups and stop-loss orders) - Vicevich consistently hangs up on callers who back him into a corner - when he can't come up with a response to someone who challenges him, he simply hangs up, says, "this conversation is over," or shouts over the caller. Typically, he will spend the next fifteen minutes making fun of the caller who found the fault in his illogic, without ever giving the caller the opportunity to respond. For the record, I've made three calls to the show, and have been hung up on each time - Vicevich will never allow a guest who disagrees with him on his show into the studio with an open mic. Why? Not sure, but it certainly prevents all those (and they are legion) who could prove what an imbecile Buddy is from having the opportunity to do so - Vicevich has a blog, but there is no area on the blog for comments from readers. A sure sign that someone is afraid of a little truth shining on their innuendoes - Vicevich consistently supports hard line public policy for which he will never have to really show support. Support the troops, but don't ask me to volunteer to help with homeless vets, or wounded veterans at the VA hospital. Support the boycott of the China Olympics, but don't ask me to tell my management that we will not accept commercials from sponsors who are aligned with the Olympics. Abandon those who need medical, welfare or social services help from the state, but don't ask me, as a Christian to spend my time and money helping them, even if Jesus would. Don't help those who have been hoodwinked into high-risk mortgages, but when my own business goes belly-up, allow the government's bankruptcy laws to protect me from my creditors
Seems to me that Jim Vicevich should be considering the beam in his own eye before calling Obama a "scaredy cat."
Last time I heard someone called a "scaredy cat," was in the third grade. I think the response was: "It takes one to know one."
There's nothing more obscene, more despicable than the promoters of war who wear their patriotism on their sleeves, constantly talk about supporting the troops, opposing terrorism and "Islamic extremists,"while sacrificing absolutely nothing for the cause.
That list begins at the top with Bush and Cheney but trickles down in a murky stream of effluent past blathering sphincters like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter and locally Jim Vicevich who have exploited the war, exploited the bravery of the troops, exploited the patriotic feelings of their listeners, exploited bloodlust and fear, exploited terrorism and who have exploited death and destruction for their own ratings, their own book sales, their own punditry fees, their own profit. Though they would deny it, no less than Halliburton or Sikorsky, they have made money at the cost of others lives.
Jim Vicevich hung up on me again (third time). And he's lying about it as I write this.
To his credit, Vicevich, who hosts a right-wing talk show on WTIC-AM, is trying to bring attention to the crisis in China, in which the government is slaughtering Tibetan protestors. In the process, Vicevich has been haranguing the "mainstream media" for not covering the story. He's wrong on that, as he is on many things, since the story has received prominent placement by most major media outlets. For some strange reason, he's also taking the opportunity to slam liberals for trying to bring attention to genocide in Darfur, while "ignoring" Tibet. I think he'd be surprised to find that support of Tibetans is a longstanding issue in liberal circles.
He has suggested boycotting the Olympics, or at the very least having the athletes skip the opening ceremonies. Both good suggestions. Both suggestions unique for a free market conservative, since most of them are afraid of breaking market ties with China.
But when I called (and I will admit I did use radio "nomme de microphone" Greg from Hartford), and suggested that he could actually make a moral decision and ban all commercials for major Olympic sponsors from his show, or quit, he acknowledged he could do that but it would be a major financial hardship for him. He got angry when I suggested that he could make a decision between life and livelihood, and, for some reason, asked me if I know a single Tibetan. When I said I did (and I do know Bumhba who owns Little Tibet in Middletown), Vicevich hung up on me, and went on for minutes about how I had set a trap for him.
He can call it a trap, but when a radio host spends a good portion of his day accusing "liberals" of not caring, of not having the moral courage to stand by decisions, of not having the guts to walk the walk, then it seems legitimate to question his credibility on an issue he claims to "care" about.
You can talk all you want, but when it comes to making a decision that would involve a sacrifice, well, maybe a few dead Tibetans are less important than the income from a McDonald's ad.
This attitude goes hand in hand with the chickenhawk conservative attitude of supporting any war those conservatives don't have to fight in.
BTW, Vicevich declared, on air, that I had lied about what I wanted to talk about to his screener. That's not true. The screener asked what I wanted to talk about, and I said "Tibet." I did give an alias because Vicevich is reputed to have a blacklist of folks he refuses to talk to on-air. I'd be happy to be on his blacklist, but for a radio host who pretends to want to hear all sides of an issue, it's a strange practice to avoid callers he disagrees with.
My only regret is that I may have upended Vicevich's campaign in support of Tibetans.
While much of the rest of the political world praises Barack Obama for his courage, heart and straightforwardness in his speech on race, there are a few dissenters - mostly, as one would predict, on the right wing.
Here in Connecticut, it's radio host Jim "Buddy" Vicevich. He played a hunk of the speech during his show yesterday, and was not really able to cobble together any coherent analysis (read "criticism"). Then he likely went home and read some of the right-wing blogs he so dearly loves to quote and he learned a new phrase - moral relativism, which he has begun to sling around like a high-school freshman with a new thesaurus. And he came up with this.
Seems like Buddy misses the point of the speech completely, and not surprisingly given his aptitude. While the speech is all about confronting racism (and most of the commentators I've read, on the left and right, got that point), Buddy thinks it's about excusing racism.
As for moral relativism, it's a strange term to use by someone whose views so skew the information he presents on his show. For example, it's okay to criticize Obama's incendiary minister, but not McCain's religious supporters Hagee and Parsley. It's okay to question the patriotism of Obama, but not that of a president who continues to execute an immoral war. It's okay to wag a finger at Obama's earmarks, but not to talk about McCain's intimate relationship with lobbyists.
Why, one might accuse Vicevich or criticizing Obama simply because of his race. But I don't think Vicevich hates Obama because he's black. He hates him because he's promises a new way of thinking where rich white men don't control the world. Maybe he's scared of him because he's black, or because he's smart and black.
Back to relativism, Vicevich is famous for hanging up on anyone who disagrees with him (it's happened to me more than once). He consistently says he likes to air all side of the issue, but all his guests are right-wing lunatics, and he never, ever will have anyone on the air live with him who might challenge his feeble arguments. He has a blog which spews invective about his opponents, but he refuses to allow comments which might embrace an opposing opinion. He sputters religiously about the politicians he dislikes not having the courage of their convictions, and yet as a warhawk, he's never served his country (did I hear you say "chickenhawk").
I encourage you to call him during his show today to explain that racism takes several forms, and that his is the most insidious and vituperative. He'll need a few new vocab words to misuse tomorrow.
