Fast, furious, and crazy

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Rachel Maddow: "This is a conspiracy theory that was cooked up by the guy who told people to break people's windows after health reform passed. But the right is hard-wired to believe stuff like this. ...  It can be easy to forget that, on the right, they are susceptible enough to conspiracy theories like this, in their sort of closed-loop, fact-free universe of conservative media."

And listen to those gun-nuts she interviews in the street. That's a fact-free group if there ever was one! But this is where conspiracy enthusiasts on the right gravitate. (On the left, they're more into vaccines and 9/11 fantasies.)

But as Maddow points out, "Agitated people protesting on the street who are not good at explaining their views can be forgiven for sounding nonspecific, or even a little crazy about these things. But what those folks were articulating to me,... it's not just a random street protestor view, on the right. What those people were telling me on that street corner in Anchorage is how the right talks about the Obama administration even when they're standing at podiums."

I suspect that this is the direct result of Fox 'News.' Sure, every political party has its crazies - if some more than others - but usually, those crazies are on the fringe. Indeed, that's how it used to be even in the GOP. But not today. Today, the crazies are the Republican base. Today, crazy is mainstream in the GOP.

Some of that is undoubtedly racism. After all, the Republicans' notorious "Southern strategy" filled the party with racists in its successful attempt to take the South from the Democrats. These people have become absolutely hysterical about our first black president. (And note that Eric Holder, too, is black.)

And gun-nuts - I use that term appropriately, I think - seem to be prone to hysteria anyway. (Listen to Wayne LaPierre's speech at CPAC. Do you really wonder why I have such a poor opinion of the NRA?)

Well, conspiracy thinking in general has become mainstream in the Republican Party. Republican leaders thought to use those people - and did so successfully for many years - but now the crazies have taken control.

And until sane Americans repudiate today's extremist GOP, our nation will continue to suffer. If you think the Bush administration was a complete disaster for our country, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

Note: Thanks to Jeff for the link. This is a perfect example of why I love Rachel Maddow!