Ruining The Discourse - One Ignorant Fat Pig at a Time

Maine governor Paul LePage: earning Tea Party cred by telling the NAACP to kiss his butt. Classé.

We're all talking now about violent rhetoric and the death of civil discourse these days... how it's made for a much dumber and more violent society, how it tacitly encourages psychos to act and makes them feel justified.

True, there have always been 'firebrands' in politics preaching exclusion and hatred. But historically, the system was embarrassed by them and they're usually remembered as freak exceptions to the norm. But now? We have Joe Wilson yelling "you lie" at the Commander-in-Chief... We have shameless sh*ts trying to blame a mythical left for inspiring Jared Loughner... We seem to have embraced the goon squad.

So how is it that a republic founded by genteel philosophers who sipped tea and talked "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" became hostage to right-wing thugs with low verbal barriers? WTF happened to America during the 200 years we weren't looking?

Once the news media tut-tutted folks like Hughy "Kingfish" Long - that 30s Democrat populist who raised so much hell he got shot for it. But now the MSM is just a judgment-free, ever-obliging amplifier for whatever caveman sh*t gets spouted by wingnuts. And it sucks.

Hell, I'm not even talking about straight violence as preached by Palin, Bachmann, et al, and validated by media cronies like Krauthammer: It's the basic lack of common decency and manners in the public discourse that's got us where we are today. In politics, little things really do mean a lot.

For example, a Republican elected doesn't need to say "kill all Muslims" - even if they really want to. As a supposed figure of authority, they just need to be rude about them publicly to get the hate ball rolling. How? Because people still expect restraint and decency from public officials, they don't expect them to be ignorant pigs like themselves. When they hear a pol talk smack, they assume they're holding back to be polite and mean so much more than they say. It's the dog whistle principle: even the smallest slight can go a long, long way.

Like today there's Maine 'bagger governor Paul LePage telling the NAACP to “kiss my butt” if they object to him not attending MLK day events in the state. This is far from a call to arms or incitement to violence against black people. But it doesn't need to be. For a public official as high up as state governor to be this f*cking rude in public is enough. Enough to get the haters feeling empowered and validated, enough for them to feel that LePage is on their side... and enough in general to make this sorry f*ck ineligible for office in a civilized society.