If Rush is right, and he usually is, then Mike Barnicle believes that Limbaugh and/or his listeners represent a clear and present danger to Pres. Obama justifying extraordinary security measures.
An argument broke out on Morning Joe today over the very restrictive measures adopted for the inaugural. Tucker Carlson, ever the libertarian, led the charge on behalf of an approach less intrusive on the right of citizens to circulate. Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan generally sided with Tucker, with Joe recounting the story of how when policemen tried to stop him, then a sitting congressman, from entering the Capitol during the 2001 inaugural, he plowed ahead and told them they’d have to shoot him.
Arrayed on the other side was Barnicle, and Mika Brzezinski—who accused Carlson and company of being “hypocrites.” Then came the exchange wherein Barnicle took his shot at the dangerous denizens of talk radio . . .
TUCKER CARLSON: I am an American citizen. These are not gods–they are public servants! They work for us. That’s the whole point of this country, isn’t it? That’s what separates us from every other country.
MIKE BARNICLE: A lot of the point in this country, unfortunately, is keeping him alive in a nation filled with guns and crazy people.
CARLSON: It’s not filled with crazy people.
BARNICLE: Listen to the radio this afternoon!
What does it say about Barnicle–and liberals at large–that he sees the real threat to our country coming not from our sworn enemies . . . but from his fellow citizens who happen to be conservatives?
BONUS COVERAGE: Barnicle Back to His Blog-Bashing
As I’ve noted here and here, a recurring theme with Barnicle is his disdain for the little people of the blogosphere. We got another taste of it this morning.
BARNICLE: I think we’ve become a nation of totally overly-self important people. We pick up the phone and call these talk shows, we blog anonymously, and we think our opinions are the same as everyone else’s –
Barnicle caught himself at that moment, scrambling to add “which they are in a sense.”
But the cat was already out of the bag. In Barnicle’s book, these uppity people of talk radio and the blogosphere should shut up and respect the opinions of their superiors. You know, folks like former Boston Globe columnists with regular TV gigs.
3 Comments
“What does it say about Barnicle–and liberals at large–that he sees the real threat to our country coming not from our sworn enemies . . . but from his fellow citizens who happen to be conservatives?”
I don’t think he sees the “real threat to our country” coming from conservatives…he sees a real threat to *Obama* coming from *Obama’s* sworn enemies…who do include a rather disturbingly large percentage of conservative Americans.
Really? You think “a rather disturbingly large percentage of conservative Americans” represent a physical threat to Pres. Obama? What’s your evidence? During the Bush years, would you have said the same of left-wing Americans? Did you read the kind of hateful and violent comments that appeared every day on left-wing sites?
Whoops–you caught me there. That should have read,
“…Obama’s sworn enemies…a disturbingly large percentage of which seem to be conservative Americans.”
Sorry about that. And yes, of course there were hateful comments on left-wing sites during the Bush years, but for one thing, I think one must take into consideration the fact that the liberals’ frustration was a product of 8 YEARS of feeling ignored and powerless and betrayed by their country’s leadership. And perhaps I missed it, but I don’t remember ever hearing anything about assassination attempts. Meanwhile, we were hearing whisperings of plots to assassinate Obama before the guy even got elected, and often based not even on his politics, but on his race. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to take extra precautions when there are extremists like the KKK voicing their desires to off the President before he’s even sat down in the Oval Office. And I’m sure that extra precautions were added after Bush’s popularity plummeted, too.