Sunday, October 17, 2010

Colorado billboard comes down, but hatred remains


Free speech is one thing. Flat-out hatred is another. This billboard (Grand Junction Sentinel photo) was along I-70 in Grand Junction, Colo. On Friday, it was taken down by the sign company. It shows the president as (from left to right) terrorist, gangster, Mexican bandit and a gay man. Vultures perch overhead and rats scramble underneath. Are those bullet holes in the sign? Or were they placed there by the “artist” to implant bad ideas into right-wing nitwits?

Seemingly rational people hate Barack Obama, the duly-elected 44th president of the United States of America. Only on the surface are these people normal. Within them beat hearts of hate. That sounds like a contradiction, doesn’t it – a heart that hates? If you “have a heart,” you feel something positive about someone or something. Supposed to, anyway. All these people seem to have is a “hearty” hatred for our president. So many of them are well-off, too. You can’t rule our racism. But you know that they are bummed that Pres. Obama wants to end the sweetheart tax cuts doled out by their Repub pal George W. Bush. “Have a heart,” Pres. Obama, “and don’t take my tax cut away?” They would never beg. They think they own the country and it should all be their way of the highway.

Republicans in Wyoming think they own the state -- which they do. In public gatherings, they utter coded hate-filled things about “ObamaLand” or “ObamaCare,” and they expect everyone in attendance to nod like bobble-head dolls. “Wait until Nov. 2” they say gleefully. To them, 11/02/10 has taken on some magic glow, as did 11/04/08 did for Dems lo these many years ago. Now that I think of it, these really aren't coded messages. There are just some ultra-conservatives who have an irrational hatred of our president. For more on his topic, see Frank Rich's column in today's New York Times.

These people think that Republicans and their Corporate Overlords should rule the roost. No room for Dems or non-believers. Sick.

3 comments:

Joshua N Wood said...

I find myself surrounded at times by the same kind of Republicans. People who, despite all evidence to the contrary, feel that Obama is indeed a Muslim or that because of his "Kenyan roots" he hates democracy and has an anti-colonial view.
I keep on hearing the "Wait until Nov. 2" phrase touted like some kind of mantra. Yes, wait until Nov. 2. See what happens when your tea party candidates who pledged to rid the government of all these politics discover that they too must play the game of politics.

Michael Shay said...

Josh: You said it. How's the writing going?

Joshua N Wood said...

The writing is going well. Thanks for asking. The fiction has taken a back seat for the moment as I've been working on my blog and just getting back into the practice of writing on a daily basis.