The awful truth: Why Nancy Pelosi needs high security military transport.

[JohnnyRingo]

After hearing the right wing pundits carp endlessly for two days about how the "Democrat" Speaker is insisting on a non-stop military plane to fly between DC and California, I find one major issue politely sidestepped while pointing out that her predecessor "made do" with lesser security:

Left Wingnuts protest.
Right Wingnuts kill.

I normally don't like to generalize like that, but after giving it a lot of thought, I racked my brain for a modern day instance of liberal fueled violence. I'm not talking throwing a bottle at a mounted officer here. I don't mean spraying paint on SUVs at a car lot....No, I'm looking for lock and load, assault rifle cross-hair, deadly force. The kind where a nut sits in his basement in solitude for a month plotting an assassination against a perceived political target while sharpening a Rambo knife.

It seems to me:
Leftys don't bomb clinics because they won't perform an abortion.
Liberals don't seek to kill heterosexuals for being open about their love life.
Those on the left don't murder because some religious leader speaks out against their way of thinking.
No liberal would shoot someone for being in the country illegally
Hell, most liberals don't even want to execute the murderers in prison.

I seriously doubt that Dennis Hastert got so much as one credible death threat from an extreme left Democrat while he sat two seats away from the presidency. I'm sure not one plot to bring down the Hastert plane was foiled in 6 years. Nor Air Force One. Nor Marine One.

On the other hand, the very right wing pundits who now are pooh-poohing Ms. Pelosi's request for security know fully well how their audience receives such key phrases as: "She wants to shove San Fran values right up our butts". or "This far left lib, this woman, is sitting just two heartbeats away from the Oval Office".

What's more, I believe these AM radio terrorists and Fox News commandos want nothing more than to inspire activism through fear and prejudice. They speak directly to the weak-minded reactionaries among us who hate with powder keg intensity...and they know it.

Someday there's going to be a major lawsuit because some Pajama Mafia wacko is going to explain his murderous actions as such: "Sean Hannity told me he/she was destroying my country with liberal values, and said I had to do something about it". The ensuing legal ramifications will change the voice of political talk broadcasts forever.

Whether because she's a woman, or because she supports choice, or because she's a perceived liberal in line for the White House, I'm sure there's an army of wing-nuts ready, willing, and capable, of "doing something about it".

An AC130 gunship is not too much to ask in my opinion. Thank goodness the Speaker has enough class to not make a big deal of it.

[Monkeyman]

1. Hastert had it

He claims he never flew his family. I think he forget about his son Josh the lobbyist

[seriousstan]

3. So you are willing to limit Pelosi to one relative ..how far and how often??

[Monkeyman]

9. No her family needs to be protected

She is number three in the line. Think about this someone grabs her family. What then

[Cassandra]

10. He didn't even live with his wife in DC...

so why would he be on a plane with her?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

27. Haven't heard the talking heads mention that Hastert had it - seems like an obvious point

that they should bring up.

[Cobalt-60]

2. Ah the Spectre is a cool ride to be sure.

But I think any proven long range turboprop or pure jet transport would do the job.
There are dozens of airliners essentially up on blocks in the california desert.
Arnold should pick one, clean it up and send it out.

[Hekate]

4. KnR. "Left Wingnuts protest. Right Wingnuts kill."

:wow:

Hekate

[John Q. Citizen]

5. They killed off all our leaders. Jack, Martin, Robert, Bob, and the rest died in

small private plane accidents.

If the Green Zone is good enough for Halliburton then what's a little ol' AC130 gunship among friends?

What with Osama still running around loose and all.

[Pierre.Suave]

16. You forgot one

Paul Wellstone.

[John Q. Citizen]

17. Wellstone was a great leader. I included him in the rather nebulas small

plane accident catagory.

[Pierre.Suave]

18. Yeah

I considered that, but I thought he deserved mention.

[John Q. Citizen]

20. He was my political hero, and I don't have political heroes. He was a good man.

[femrap]

32. JFK, Jr.

Another small plane.

[Atman]

6. Wow, did you nail that one or what??

Great post. Thanks.

.

[bigbrother05]

7. SDS, Weathermen, Panthers

Not trying to be disagreeable, just accurate historically speaking. Granted most of their actions were directed at "hard" targets such as gov't and/or corporate symbols. Individuals were seldom deliberately attacked.

Do tend to agree with the assessment in the current climate and hope that the left doesn't crack under the unrelenting pressure of the last 6 years.

Edit for grammar.

[GoneOffShore]

12. That was long ago, and far away.

The last "leftist" group was defanged years ago.

[angstlessk]

14. You forgot PETA..they are the leftist terrorists now exploring the planet

only...well they are PETA, hated by the LEFT and the REIGHT..so they must be doing SOMETHING correctly!

[Porcupine]

26. FREE the cosmetics test bunnies!!! Yep, Nancy's scared.

All the HOO-ha about PETA being terrorists is a foil for the drug companies. There supposed to be terrorist while Christian identity militias stockpile .50-cal sniper rifles and explosives.

[Greyhound]

15. I was thinking this too, but I'm pretty sure that individuals were never

attacked, but I was very young and there is precious little straight, unbiased, info available. I do seem to recall that someone was hurt/killed by accident in one of the Weathermen(?) bombings.

[XOKCowboy]

19. Earth First ?

They are pretty radical. They firebombed the lodge on Vail Mountain and have also set fires at Hummer dealerships and some housing projects. They "might" one day kill an innocent bystander during one of their protests but so far haven't.

Of course I don't believe that they've ever tried to assassinate a pol.

[John Q. Citizen]

23. Well put them up against 500,000 plus dead Iraqi civialians and what do you got?

You call Earth First radical? What do you call US taxpayers that pay for phosherous bombs and mercenaries? Good ol' boys?

Get your priorities straight.

Or don't.

[cui bono]

28. PETA and Earth First may be radical but they're not out killing off

individuals they disagree with. They're vandalizing buildings/property. That is a world of difference.

I believe the OP is talking about those disturbed ideologues who are filled with hate and purposely go after particular people with the clear intent to murder them.

[Hippo_Tron]

22. Not in this day and age

In the 1960's there were actually left wing movements in this country and some of them were violent. The left wing movement in this country is almost nonexistent and therefore their violence isn't either.

[Bobbie Jo]

8. Spot on. n/t

[Straight Shooter]

11. The worst attack on Hastert was someone beaned him with a water balloon in a parade.

The doofus that lobbed the water balloon didn't even know the prominence of Hastert's position. The police said, "Do you realize who you just hit? That's the Speaker of the House!" And the guy was, like, "Uh, doh."

I think this incident was in 2005.

[teryang]

13. I don't think a "wingnut" sent milspec anthrax to Congress

it goes way deeper than the superficial characterizations here. It was an inside job for political purposes, an assassination attempt on the loyal opposition in the Senate and on potential powerful critics in the press.

Americans are basically brainwashed to think about the "lone nut" or the islamic fanatic conspiracy. Most assasinations are internally generated by covert intelligence operatives who operate behind fronts. When they are done, the FBI and commissions destroy the evidence and support the cover story.

[cui bono]

29. This is true as well. Still RW though. Add them both together and you got

a whole lot of trouble.

[Big Pappa]

21. The Unibomber.

[ck4829]

25. What about him?

His ideology was of his own. His manifesto reeked of hatred of "The Left".

[Breeze54]

24. An astute observation, JohnnyRingo!

[burythehatchet]

31. I agree n/t

[Gold Metal Flake]

30. Just remember that the Speaker did not request this.

This is between the Seargent At Arms and the DOD. The Speaker said she could fly commercial, but others are tasked with her safety and it is they who will decide the transport. The Republican Amrericans are the ones who are lying about the Speaker, her motives and her simple request that any aircraft provided be able to traverse the country without stopping to refuel. Of course, I would never suggest that republican Americans are less able to understand the truth of the situation than other Americans. Some of them are very articulate.


"Left Wingnuts protest.
Right Wingnuts kill."

Now that is a great big steaming pile of white-hot truth right there. Well done!

On edit: Take a look at this statement from the Seargent at Arms:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x160189

[melody]

33. you got it -- exactly

The Royals have been killing off their opponents for generations. They're not about to stop now.

[HappyWeasel]

34. That's a good argument.

We need our leader protected from their criminal element. If you remember, just a week after the election, our speaker recieved white powder. Pat Robertson threatens to kill people on TV. The right's initial rise to power was because of a homicidal maniac "decapitated" the liberal movement at their height of power in 1968. We must protect our interests from bloodthirsty religious terrorist killers not only the ones the middle east, but the ones at home, too.

[w4rma]

35. And I think the GOP leadership wants her as *unprotected* as possible.

That's why they are attacking her for having security: To try to make it easier for a right-wing whack job that they helped create.

P.S.

Noone has to think very hard about multiple multitudes of examples of right-wing violence. But, you have think very very very hard to find hardly any left-wing violence in this country.