Meet the legions of wingnuts who think Andy Griffith was a communist and want him to burn in hell

Remember lovable old Andy Griffith, beloved star of music and TV, who died this week? Turns out that his career involved 46-second appearance in a Ron Howard-directed Barack Obama campaign ad, and a 32-second commercial for universal health care. For this, the online right wing have branded him a communist and figuratively danced upon his grave. Comments for The Blaze's obit for Griffith are seething with vituperative examples of Matlock-hating:

Progressive POS. Have fun burning in Hell for eternity. — Red Meat
Good people don’t promote laws that will directly lead to the death of millions, hope someday I get to spit on his grave. — Swampy
So long Andy [smiley emoticon] You are a total sell out to this great nation. You are a communist piece of garbage and you will not be missed. — Truthbeliever2
Sadly, my first thought when I saw the headline was “if he’d passed away at age 82 I would have missed him so much more” … Now, I only feel angry the old shill didn‘t live another year or two so he’d have to face a “death panel” before kicking it. The old bastrd died too soon to reap what he helped sow. I feel cheated that we’ll never get to hear him lament his decision to be a wh0re for the socialist DNC. — Wool-Free Vision
Another dead Democrat…today’s shaping up to be a better day than expected. — teddrunk

Andy Griffith Dies at 86 (via Wonkette)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: gop • health • obamacare • politics

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=831775164 Russell Baltes

WIG-NUTS! Intentional?
- http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
  
  Would that be Trump supporters?
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  Never could stand the Whig Party
  - CognitiveDissident
    
    I never noticed which Whig Party the Don belonged to (there are two), is the Left to Right party, or the Right to Left party??
mccrum

Where do these people get all the energy to hate all this much? Vitrol like that just seems like so much work.
- millie fink
  
  They’re diligent attendees of the daily Two Minutes Hate (aka, Fox News).
  - haineux
    
    So true. It’s so much easier to tune in, get worked up, hate hate hate, than to actually think about difficult issues and work hard to solve them.
    
    Especially when the bankers have swindled all our spare cash and most of the rest, as well, just because they could.
    
    (The unspoken truth: An awful lot of this is sublimated racism. And an awful lot of people will vote for a morally bankrupt 1%-er, literally one of the people that stole their wealth, just because Obama is black.)
    - dutchs
      
      Sublimated? Nope, they can’t say it openly, yet, but NOT sublimated.
    - Wreckrob8
      
      This sort of behaviour results from a mixture of fear (which people across the political spectrum suffer), UNsublimated anger directed towards individuals and inarticulacy. The problem for the left is to sublimate their anger and direct it towards causes. If the left can no longer communicate this then maybe both sides have lost the plot (temporarily).
- scatterfingers
  
  Hate and fear power the conservative money machine.
  - digi_owl
    
    And just about every religion since the dawn of time.
    - scatterfingers
      
      That’s absurd.
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  It is proof that our mental health care system isn’t working
  - bzishi
    
    Mental illness and assholery are independent. Calling them the same is a bigoted view and is not particularly funny. It furthers the stigma that the mentally ill are bad people and defective. Please stop it.
http://profile.yahoo.com/UHTAT3EAJDFW7MQ2G3B5FRP3HY markp

what the fuck is wrong with people?
- Ashen Victor
  
  Some sort of countrywide schizophrenia that relates healthcare to mass executions?
http://profiles.google.com/michbar Michael Barton

Because the left never engages in that sort of behavior. Modern political discourse is like watching 7 year olds argue.
- sincarne
  
  Yes, you’re exactly right with regards to that last sentence. Just like it’s very tiresome when children justify poor behaviour by shouting “he did it too!”
  - Boundegar
    
    No, you’re exactly wrong. Both sides DON’T do it. This is a byproduct of Redstate and Faux News. In years of posting and reading on Daily Kos, I have seen at most a handful of comments like this, and they are immediately disapproved.
    
    I’ve been called a privileged tool of the white male patriarchy a few times, but nobody has ever wished me death or danced on my grave.
    - sincarne
      
      Ah, but that’s the first sentence. I was commenting on the second one.
      
      I’m Canadian, so I’m a bit removed from this. But it astounds me how you can have people in politics like Michelle Bachman and Allen West, with the mentally unhinged things they say. We have folks like that in Toronto, but they’re standing by the Eaton Centre with megaphones, and the cops keep an eye on them.
      - Ryan Lenethen
        
        Yet Toronto also democratically elected both Mel Lastman and Ford… :)
    - vinculture
      
      Well, I’ve been called a ‘selfish right-wing bastard’ before. But I am one, so I didn’t really mind.
    - http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/OKEONAMLFIOS5WI7MPQY6SXBCQ IRMO
      
      Care to visit Democratic Underground?
- sansadvocate
  
  I hate how true this comment is. It is insanity when people claim universal health care as communist, or socialist. All it is is compassionate, and humane. That’s it. Not to mention ensuring the financial well being of the people, ridding them of unnecessary debt. It riddles me!
  - retepslluerb
    
    Also, notice how only socialized health care, education and welfare are evil.
    
    Socialized military, police, firefighters and military are fine.
    - scatterfingers
      
      Socialised anything that we’re used to is fine. This is, after all, what conservatism, is, right?
    - austinhamman
      
      no socialized military is fine; police, firefighters, and teachers are being regularly cut so the tax money that funds them can go to large corporations (this strange sense that the very wealthy are the “job creators” and we must present offerings to appease them so they will deign to give us jobs) and the police, firefighters, and schools are moving to a for-profit system (even the military is being run largely through third party companies. not just making weapons and guns, but intelligence even soldiers are coming from third party for-profit companies)
      so at least they are consistent, they want everything to be for-profit: schools, the military, the roads, police, firefighters, they want the government to do nothing but funnel tax money to corporations in exchange for campaign money or out right bribes. and they are getting it.
  - billstewart
    
    Of course it’s socialist. Buy you’re saying that like it’s a bad thing?
    
    (As a libertarian, I think socialism isn’t economically sustainable, but it’s not like crony capitalism is a good example of the free market either. Meanwhile, when is Obama going to work on getting more space in US medical schools so we’ll have the doctors and nurses we need in the long term, as well as making it easier for non-US doctors to certify over here?)
    - scatterfingers
      
      I used to be a libertarian. Good times. I’m now a semi-free-market socialist with libertarian leanings.
- picaflor
  
  No. Whatever the rightwingers and the Jon Stewarts on the left say, both sides are not the same. There is no terror campaign on the forced birthers, and there is no equivalent of Adkisson.
  - David Traver Adolphus
    
    Jon Stewart is not on the left.
    - http://goodsharer.com/ Aloisius
      
      What? Jon Stewart is the epitome of modern left. In 2000, when he was labeled a Democrat, Stewart generally agreed but described his political affiliation as “more socialist or independent than Democratic.” [1]
      
      [1] http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/15/lkl.00.html
      - http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair
        
        Stewart is American center-left. That means that on the political spectrum of the rest of the world he is a frothing right-wing ideologue. Just listen to him worship the military some time.
      - http://goodsharer.com/ Aloisius
        
        In America, we have this thing called context where people are expected to adjust their definitions based on the text surrounding the word or passage.
        
        In this case, the context was the American politics.
      - Dave Lloyd
        
        That’ll be the US defn of left then – i.e., to the left of Ronnie Reagan – or still right wing as far as the rest of us are concerned ;)
      - Navin_Johnson
        
        May Day, NATO in Chicago, all of us lefties sure could of put up a much more impressive showing if all those “lefties” that love “leftie” Jon Stewart would have shown up…….
        
        http://exiledonline.com/the-rally-to-restore-vanity-generation-x-celebrates-its-homeric-struggle-against-lameness/
      - Cowicide
        
        @SedanChair:disqus said:
        
        Stewart is American center-left.
        
        Agreed. I wish more people had the critical thinking skills to see that.
- donovan acree
  
  It’s called partisanship. If you are a partisan for the left or the right then you are a wing nut
  - marc dauncey
    
    No you aren’t. If you are crazy, hate-filled credulous person who believes fallacious statements pumped out by media outlets with vested interests, THAT makes you a wingnut. You simply don’t see the left behaving in this way, sorry.
    - millie fink
      
      Right. And that’s because what most people call “the media” is corporate media. Which obviously has no vested interest in promoting left-wing agendas. The idea of “the liberal media” is a fog-generating myth.
    - billstewart
      
      Of course we see leftists behaving that way – haven’t you run into the occasional crazy Trotskyite? Or those annoying Black Block thugs who give anarchism a bad name? It’s just that for the most part, the left encourages civil behaviour, while Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and their ilk have been encouraging the right wingers to be angry and crazy, because that gets market share and makes them easy to use.
      - http://www.facebook.com/people/Robert-Drop/100000929402049 Robert Drop
        
        And importantly, the left-wing equivalent of Fox news et al isn’t mainstream – it’s therefore a relatively very small group and largely hidden.
  - http://grumer.org/ Avram Grumer
    
    “Wingnut” used properly refers only to extreme partisans of the right. Extreme partisans of the left are “moonbats”.
- dragonfrog
  
  Yeah, remember all the vile hate poured forth by liberals when Charlton Heston died?
  
  Oh, wait – that never happened.
  - trondmm
    
    Wait. What? Charlton Heston didn’t die?
    - millie fink
      
      No, the liberal vile hatred over his death never poured forth.
      
      Sigh.
      - trondmm
        
        Look! Up in the sky!
        It’s a bird!
        It’s a plane!
        It’s… a joke!
    - http://grumer.org/ Avram Grumer
      
      Heston slumbers beneath Liberty Island; while the seagulls still circle, his time is not yet come. One day shall he awaken to save us from soylent cannibals and damn dirty apes.
  - Mitchell Glaser
    
    Sure, I’ll take your bait. Charlton Heston was a political firebrand who for years actively courted the anger of those he defied as the head of the NRA. There is no comparison: a man making angry insulting statements in support of the tools of death versus a man making calm reasoned arguments in support of preserving life. And I can’t say I’m surprised you son’t see the difference.
    - SamSam
      
      You missed the part of dragonfrog’s comment where it was noted that liberals did not spew vile hatred after Heston’s death.
- http://www.facebook.com/dez.crawford1 Dez Crawford
  
  No it’s not. Seven-year-olds argue for about five minutes and then somebody gives in or cries, and then someone says “hey look, a soccer ball!” and they all run over to play, and the argument is over.
- Mitchell Glaser
  
  You are so very wrong. Name one upstanding American whom the left would condemn to burn in hell forever over a detail of some issue they don’t even understand. I’ll bet you can’t! And that’s because the conservative right has lowered the bar on political hatred to the center of the Earth.
http://profiles.google.com/benjamin.h.kohl Benjamin Kohl

Why do we give people like this an even louder voice by repeating what they say across the Internet? Is spreading hate supposed to enlighten us somehow? I can’t stand articles like these because all it does is give hate a stronger voice and make the rest of us angry. There will always be haters in the world making the most ignorant remarks you can possibly imagine. Why amplify those remarks?
- http://www.facebook.com/bshur Brad Shur
  
  I don’t think these people are fringe weirdos who pull this out of their asses. They get these viewpoints from their media. It is important to understand the landscape of political ideas that effect our political process.
  
  If we want change, we may never change the minds of these assholes, but we’re going to have to communicate with a lot of people who are being fed the same bad information and pushed towards fear and hatred. Remember that these people didn’t wake up one day howling “Communists!” out of the blue. They write this shit because they have been convinced by people with a lot of voice that our new healthcare laws will murder their grandparents.
  - AttilatheBlond
    
    Rarely have we seen the situation described more eloquently. Bravo!
  - CognitiveDissident
    
    You would think that after the whole “9/11=Saddam Hussein” Big Lie thingee they would stop trusting the messengers, but it doesn’t seem to work that way.
    
    Lack of critical thinking skills + media illiteracy is the Devil’s playground.
- abstract_reg
  
  Because this way we are made aware of the hatred. Knowledge is power and all that. You don’t stop hate by putting on earmuffs and pretending it doesn’t exist.
  Hate is not the ravenous bugblatter beast of traal.
  - Felton / Moderator
    
    What did you say? Sorry, I had a towel over my head.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Shane-Simmons/100000053744641 Shane Simmons
    
    Yeah, thanks to a “conservative” friend on Facebook, I now know some of these same sorts of people are thinking of revolting. Hey, I think they’re revolting, too.
- Scott Slemmons
  
  Ignoring it is giving hatemongers, wingnuts, and psychos permission to keep going. Pointing out this kind of stuff and holding it up for mockery and condemnation sends a stronger signal that it’s wrong and disapproved.
  
  Saying “Ignore them” is the same as saying “I approve of them.”
  - http://twitter.com/Polackio Matt Popke
    
    I want to agree with this, but these people have a serious persecution complex on top of their other, more obvious issues. The fact that we mock them only serves to convince them they are right. They believe in a moral philosophy that tells them they are going to be persecuted for their beliefs and that standing strong in the face of that persecution is not only part of the deal, it’s proof of the correct-ness of their beliefs (a classic self-fulfilling prophecy because they push aggressively against those who disagree with them until you can’t help but hate them for it, which then gives them license to confirm their own beliefs because they’re being persecuted for them just like they thought they would be).
    
    The best way to deal with these people is not through mockery, but with calm, reasoned and dignified responses. Nothing flummoxes these people more than being treated with ambivalence. Nothing threatens their belief structure more than the possibility of irrelevance. Don’t ignore them, but don’t mock them either. Disprove them. Rebut them. State exactly why they are wrong, but do so calmly and with the dignity that they themselves cannot muster.
    
    That’s the only way to beat them.
    - millie fink
      
      Well yeah, that beats them morally, but it doesn’t make them listen. In a debate, there’s no way really to “beat them.”
      
      Legally and politically, though . . .
    - dragonfrog
      
      You ever try rational discourse with these folks? How did it go?
      - AnthonyC
        
        Yes, I have, and it went nowhere. Reason and rationality had little enough to do with generating their ideas in the first place. Why should they play a role in changing them?
    - AttilatheBlond
      
      Enabling (by ignoring) anti-social behavior that is being ramped up is not going to make society more civil. Did ignoring the worst of the bullies on any schoolyard ever get rid of their behavior?
      
      While I applaud, and sometimes work at, “calm, reasoned and dignified responses”, there is a point at which one must accept that reason only works if all parties agree to recognize and use it. You can’t always reason with a drunk. Same is true when dealing with people who are under the influence of mental distortions which can be as, or more, debilitating than alcohol or drugs. Impaired is impaired, and at some point, we have to stop worrying about the feelings of the impaired and intervene.
      - http://twitter.com/Polackio Matt Popke
        
        I don’t give a shit about their feelings, and the last thing we should do is ignore them (which I explicitly stated already). You won’t, actually you can’t change these nuts. But you can influence their kids and others around them. That’s how we beat them. Not through futile attempts to change them. But by making sure their particular brand of meme-virus doesn’t spread.
        
        And the only way to do that is by being better than them.
    - DreamboatSkanky
      
      Often, to those committed to the these hateful kind of right-wing positions , using reason is perceived as mockery. Don’t abandon reason, or humor, to expose them.
    - joshpowers
      
      Great post Matt. Good analysis of how these discussions tend to spiral in a negative direction. Thoughtful responses require effort, and I guess most people just don’t think it’s worth the effort. Everything you said was correct, but here is one thing with even greater effectiveness towards these people (or anybody): kindness. It’s always in short supply on both sides of a disagreement, and it’s the most powerful weapon you have in bridging a gap.
- LinkMan
  
  There’s also that whole cliche about sunlight being the best disinfectant.
fuzzyfuzzyfungus

I always find it interesting how the spectre of future ‘death panels’ manages to stir passions to a degree that actual insurance policy lifetime maximums (incidentally banned by the terrifying Death Panel Law) or presently enacted state laws somehow manage not to…

In Texas, it has been explicitly legal http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/txstatutes/HS/2/H/166/B/166.046 since 1999 for a hospital to decide that treatment is medically futile and pull the plug on the patient 10 days after that decision unless they are transferred to another facility within that time. Virginia has a very similar standard, Va. Code Ann. § 54.1-2990, except that the period is 14 days. I don’t know offhand if there are others.

(For clarity’s sake, both of the above statutes allow a determination of futility against the wishes of the patient or patient’s proxy. An agreement on medical futility and subsequent termination of care is, to the best of my understanding, a quite general practice, so long as one isn’t named “Terri Schiavo”)
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Kristofer-Peterson/100003624673897 Kristofer Peterson
  
  Those are Republican Death Panels, and only apply in the case of the non-elect. ie, the not-wealthy. Since I will soon be wealthy due to my faith ….. Also ombamakenyasocialismwharbirthcertificate….
  - digi_owl
    
    “Those are Republican Death Panels, and only apply in the case of the non-elect. ie, the not-wealthy. Since I will soon be wealthy due to my faith…”
    
    In essence, the american dream taken beyond the pale.
http://www.facebook.com/arjanvkesteren Arjan van Kesteren

Whatever happend to speaking no ill of the dead?Or a little common courtesy at the very least?
John Harland

I saw a digest of the ‘choicest’ nuggets of rage from that article, and there’s one that stuck out for me, head and shoulders above the rest of the horrible, demented nonsense.

“I had hoped that he would live long enough to be denied the healthcare that he helped shove down America’s throat.”

Wh-… b… you… but.. what?
- AttilatheBlond
  
  Hate is a drug for some folks, and they will ‘shoot up’ no matter how insane the tactic.
- digi_owl
  
  I suspect it is a variation on the “death panel” line.
Palomino

I didn’t know he was a Russian Jew, his corn pone dialect was perfect.

I don’t take anything at face value when those faces spew filth AFTER the person they are defaming is deceased.
- fuzzyfuzzyfungus
  
  Clearly, he must have had excellent training in KGB mole school…
  - millie fink
    
    mole school
Colin Curry

It really bothers me that people don’t understand what communism is. It doesn’t come much closer to state supported capitalism than forcing people to buy health care insurance to cover treatment in private hospitals. The US solution is a far cry from what the rest of the world considers public health care.
- farwest1
  
  The right sees the world on a primitive ideological spectrum where if you’re left leaning or liberal, and move further left, somehow you reach communism. Therefore, a liberal is by extension a “moderate” communist. (Nevermind that on this same ridiculous spectrum, if you move further right you reach Fascism.)
  
  It’s an absurd way of looking at the world. Democratic Liberalism actually runs counter to all totalitarianisms. But try explaining that to the intellectually-stunted folk who wrote the cruel and ignorant comments about a great, upstanding guy.
  - Nonentity
    
    Nevermind that on this same ridiculous spectrum, if you move further right you reach Fascism.
    
    No, no, no… that’s one of the best parts of the absurdity. On their spectrum, fascism is on the left too. See, in their world, the only way to have communism is by enforcing it with fascism.
    
    The only thing you get by moving farther right is Freedom!
    - AttilatheBlond
      
      Yep. Logic and language skills are not the forte of the haters.
    - Dave Lloyd
      
      As an outsider this is always the doublethink I can’t get past: your uber rightwing nazis bang on about Freedom but hate Liberals and Liberty. How can that work in anything other than an Orwellian world?
  - http://twitter.com/BonzoDog1 BonzoDog1
    
    The right also ignores the fact that the USSR collapsed 20 years ago, the Maoists have adopted capitalism and are beating us at our own game and Castro’s in a nursing home.
- Boundegar
  
  Here’s how the logic works:
  
  1. Communism is bad
  2. Obama is bad
  3. Therefore, Obama is a Communist
  
  See how simple that is? Why, it can be used to prove almost anything!
  - http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie
    
    Whoa whoa whoa! slow down there, professor.
    
    So what is this ‘logic’ you speakin’ of?
    
    ;)
  - Colin Curry
    
    What I really find curious is how gung-ho the left is about this solution. I guess it beats what was there before, but I fail to see how funneling money into private health insurance and private hospitals is anything but state sponsored capitalism. It’s wasteful and inefficient – it doesn’t remove the profit motive so costs will continue to spiral out of control.
    - Navin_Johnson
      
      The left is gung-ho about single payer, but this will still help a shitload of people in the meantime.
    - AnthonyC
      
      Which is probably why Romney and Gingrich wrote this law in 2006 and 1994, respectively.
      
      All the methods that solve that problem involve either government-as-single-payer, reforming insurance companies as non-profits, eliminating the fee-for-service system, or a few other ideas that had absolutely no chance of becoming law.
      
      If there is a long-term political logic to it (there may not be), I would guess it’s that once 30 million more people have health insurance, they’re likely to fight to keep it and be willing to make more fundamental changes to do so.
- AttilatheBlond
  
  Some state legislators in Texas don’t want critical thinking taught in public schools. They already wrote Thomas Jefferson out of some of their textbooks, and as textbooks in Texas go, so goes most of the nation’s school books.
  
  Teaching is not allowed by TPTB on the far authoritarian side. Ignorant people are easier to herd with twisted language and playing on raw emotions of the unbalanced.
http://twitter.com/BonzoDog1 BonzoDog1

He was buried so quickly, he had to be Muslim.
Just_Ok

And thus Gomer Pyle was a sleeper agent who worked his way to the top levels of the Marine Corps!
- AttilatheBlond
  
  As part of the insidious gay agenda to destroy America from within the military? ;^)
EvilSpirit

I, for one, am shocked to learn that Andy Griffith was a Democrat, when he was old enough to have personally witnessed FDR dining on babies.
snagglepuss

What the fuck is wrong with people ?

They believe assholes like this guy, that’s what’s fucking wrong with them:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002902822

You’re welcome, Mr. Barton.
- sigdrifa
  
  Phew… who the hell are these people?? I do complain quite a bit about the BS conservative politicians in Germany are spreading and the ridiculous laws they’re trying to get through, but _none_ of them are anywhere near as bad as that. I don’t think that anybody in Europe would be stupid enough to try and spread the misinformation that people don’t die from cancer anymore. I guess, it’s not so bad here after all.
bcsizemo

Powered by rage, but fueled by fear…

Kind of like when kids are afraid of the dark or thunderstorms…
Albie Farinas

I say let them spew their hatred, let them demonstrate their ignorance and their primitive views to us… It provides great contrast that diminishes their value to the collective conscience…. I happen to think it’s a good thing that we can define these nuts and classify them as a demographic, that can be easily manipulated, mocked and ridiculed…. Don’t tell me who you are, tell me what you are…. I’m loving it….!
- mortdieu
  
  Which is all well and good, until you realise that they can vote.
http://fashionfaves.tumblr.com/ Charles Kane

From far away in Australia, a long time close friend and ally of the US, America looks progressively sicker and more facist and extreme day by day.

Truth is the vitriol, hatred, violence that define a good part of modern America is repulsive to many of us in the West. That being so, is it any surprise that much of the rest of the world has no regard for the false claims of democracy and freedom that America trumpets.

Universal health care may have its faults but it is one of the benefits of wealth, “capitalism” and democracy – not a left wing plot but that which much of the world offers its citizens and which much of the rest of the world aspires to.

Until now America has been completely out of step with what makes sense, a healthy well treated citizenry where having your appendix out doesn’t make you a pauper but allows you to be a productive member of society
- mccrum
  
  I hear you guys don’t have an ozone layer, but do you have room over there? I promise not to bring any crazy talk.
- http://twitter.com/BonzoDog1 BonzoDog1
  
  If you had managed to keep Rupert Murdoch caged up, we’d be much better off!
  - http://robinnixon.com/ Robin Nixon
    
    Murdoch makes huge money from Fox News, and that’s his only criteria. He doesn’t care that he’s setting Americans against each other as long as he turns a decent profit. He certainly has a lot to answer for, far more than for the phone tapping scandal in my view.
- dioptase
  
  We didn’t get universal healthcare. We got insurance reform. The way we went about health care reform, paradoxically, aligns more with fascism than with communism.
  
  And a bit of a pet peeve, but fascism as a political description (as opposed to the common use a a epitaph) is very different than how most people use it. In a bit of irony, Russia might be a good example of fascism right now. Authoritarian, nationalistic, anti-plutocratic. But given the weird mix of things that make up fascism, nearly every country has some overlap. In several categories, US is by no means fascist (too capitalist and religious).
  
  Many European countries that consider themselves progressive probably fit more categories. That’s right, economically and religiously, fascist philosophy has much more in common with liberal tenets. Yow!
  
  Sorry. My pet peeve comes from the feeling that mislabeling something is a distraction that makes it harder to fix. And by no means do I know what the heck fascism is. Just that we all keep using it wrong.
  - Colin Curry
    
    I agree with two of your points – that this isn’t universal healthcare and that mislabeling something makes it harder to fix. I’m not sure that fascism aligns easily with either end of the liberal-conservative spectrum though.
Joseph Brown

“There is a social realm where things are rationally sorted and then there’s the anonymous place that brings out a person’s base instincts. It can become a frothing, bubbling cauldron of insanity,” he said. “Yet, you need that animalistic part of yourself. I think of it almost like your sex drive.”
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/everything-moderation-141163
sincarne

Can everyone saying the left does it too please provide links to examples of the left doing it too? And on a site the size of the Blaze and/or the other sites linked on Wonkette, not some tiny little hive of scum and villainy.
- millie fink
  
  A tiny left-wing hive of scum and villainy?
  
  Where is this place of which you speak?
  - Wild Rumpus
    
    Tatooine.
  - Navin_Johnson
    
    It’s here and it’s a wonderful little hive.
http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

Lest anyone forget that in 1957 he starred in a film that may be the role model for Limbaugh and his ilk:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Face_in_the_Crowd_(film)
- CognitiveDissident
  
  Yeah!
  I bet if the headline was,
  “Rush Limbaugh archetype dies at 96″
  the praise would have flowed effortlessly!
Wolfgang Barth

The right-wings speak about “death-panels” to come with new laws.

I do not understand why the really existing death-panels arent spoken about. Thousands and thousands of people without insurance or low coverage which are not given adequate medical treatment: no surgery – “too expensive”, no cancer treatmant – “too expensive” …
corydodt

directly lead to the death of millions
directly lead to the death of millions
directly lead to the death of millions
directly lead to the death of millions

Holy cow. Some of these people have to be trolls.
dorkhero

It is not the acidic hate being spouted by pundits of both sides that bothers me. It’s the inane parroting behavior of their fans. My elderly parents were excellent at repeating the daily talking points of Glenn Beck when he still had his show on Fox News. (My parents were not technically sophisticated enough to follow Beck’s show onto the web. I feel confident he lost a large portion of his audience for that reason.) Those who follow the words of these entertainers who care not for their country, but for the advertising money brought in by higher ratings, are gradually polarizing the political discourse of our nation. Conservative vs Liberal. Republican vs Democrat. Red state vs Blue state. Political gridlock is paralyzing our legislative processes. Our representatives in the government need to respect their opposition, agree to disagree, and relearn the skill of compromise. Our nation was founded on compromise. We will certainly fail with out it. If those representatives only see such abysmal comments from their constituents they will continue to act blindly in our name to our mutual detriment.
- DrunkenOrangetree
  
  I really hate this comparison. If the left is doing this kind of demonization then provide us with examples.
- Navin_Johnson
  
  Our representatives in the government need to respect their opposition, agree to disagree, and relearn the skill of compromise. Our nation was founded on compromise. We will certainly fail with out it.
  
  Barack, is that you?
  
  There has been loads of compromise lately! All of it on the “left” side of our political system unfortunately. There’s been plenty of niceness and compromise, and guess what? It’s not respected or reciprocated by the ones who’ve enjoyed it.
  
  MLK :
  http://allisonkilkenny.com/2011/01/mlk-on-moderates/
  
  JFK/Dante: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/~/link.aspx?_id=4099B66534F44DAFAC5303C26D9C7977&_z=z
Russ McClay

Leave Andy Griffith ALONE!
AttilatheBlond

Have tried it many times. With most, it’s like dealing with a belligerent drunk. As with belligerent drunks, sometimes you have to throw polite tactics away and just take the car keys before they hurt somebody. At some poing, we have to deal with the realities and call a ass an ass.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000806621090 Sylvain Menouillard

The way some American people react to healthcare issues will never cease to amaze me… (as a French)
I mean…some people really believe that “Obamacare” will “kill millions”…REALLY ? I mean… really ? Wow, just wow…
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  Ironically those opposed to affordable heath care will hopefully die off quickly due to their inability to access it.
- http://twitter.com/dichotoman Max Meyer
  
  I had the same reaction as a Canadian. Is there some sort of flawed reasoning behind statements like this or are the people opposed to universal healthcare just stone cold crazy?
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000806621090 Sylvain Menouillard
    
    Same thing here. I’m trying to find what I’m missing but I can’t…
  - Colin Curry
    
    Also speaking as a Canadian, what Americans have isn’t universal healthcare – it forces them to buy insurance from private insurers and get care from private hospitals. While there are provisions – people can’t be refused insurance – there is no guarantee that subsidies to those with low incomes will be continued into the future. As hospitals are private, their #1 motive is profit, and the law does little from preventing costs from skyrocketing. It doesn’t prevent a two tier system where people who can afford it jump the queue for treatment.
    
    Our system may not be perfect, but it does a far better job of containing costs and it provides fair and equal access to everyone.
http://twitter.com/stephen__o Stephen O

As a Canadian watching your politics and news over my life I’ve noticed a major shift in your society. Firstly, no one is calling out bullshit any more in the mainstream and when they do (Rachel Maddow or Chris Hayes) they get shouted down as a partisan. Take for instance how many mainstream media outlets are reporting on Darrell Issa and his wag the dog fast and furious conspiracy theories – which were reported last week to be a complete non story. None.

The media and a large majority of the population just wave their hands and say both sides are bad. This isn’t about sides this is about human decency and truth.To me it is akin to having two naughty kids, one who picks his nose and the other who runs around with gasoline and matches. Then when the house burns down you just stand around watching it burn and say ‘both my kids can be so naughty.’ Some perspective people!

Cory thanks for calling out bullshit.
- http://ok-cleek.com/blogs cleek
  
  it’s called “working the refs”.
  
  the right has convinced the media that there’s no upside in calling-out a “conservative” – only pain. they’ve beaten down the media so many times that it refuses to do anything but present “both sides” of every issue. the media has adopted a defensive crouch, where they can say nothing negative about one party without balancing it with a comparable example from the other party (even if that means stretching “comparable” to absurdity).
  
  actual fact checking (explicitly saying that this or that political statement is true or false) has become something they do in special segments, once every four years.
  
  so, we’re stuck with Mitt Romney: the most mendacious, truth-averse, flip-floppingest candidate this country has ever seen; and yet the media will only hint about these deficiencies in slyly worded editorials. actual reporters refuse to make judgements about what he says. they simply report what he says, uncritically.
  
  the media absolutely refuses to tell the public when a “conservative” is lying, and so “conservatives” have made brazen lies an integral part of their campaign strategies.
  
  we’re fucked
- Navin_Johnson
  
  Amen,
  Don’t fall for this ‘the left is bad too’ nonsense. The right wing/conservatives *are* wrong. “Which side are you on?” ain’t just a song. It is annoying to hear people talk about civil/human rights like they’re just a matter of opinion.
SomeGuyNamedMark

If Andy Griffith is now a commie then Ronald Reagan must almost be Lenin.
- fuzzyfuzzyfungus
  
  That’s why he was carrying an RPG-7 during his velociraptor ride yesterday…
  - Rich Keller
    
    I thought it looked like an HK MP-9.
http://twitter.com/BKImbecile Brooklyn Imbecile

If you got suckered into religion at a young age, you’re primed to be suckered into FoxNews as an adult. If you watch FoxNews for a week, it’s over: Your brain changes and reality is only one of many possibilities. Trying to make sense with delusional populations is useless. This process of priming the brain for fiction is not a power that left-wing comedians will ever have.
- SomeGuyNamedMark
  
  The folks I know that watch Fox News don’t have a strong religious streak instead they tend to be extremely judgmental and very fear driven.
  - Dave Lloyd
    
    “extremely judgemental and very fear driven” – sounds like a religious streak to me.
- joshpowers
  
  Non-sequitor. What is the connection between religion and this news article? I believe the comments posted in the article represent a very culturally narrow segment of society found only in the United States.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SVV4BXZ3NUPXI34WH3EERSF64Q Seriously

I love how everyone commenting talks like they’ve never met these folks. No one got redneck extended family but me? C’mon.
- mccrum
  
  No, seriously, I got ‘em, but they’d certainly never get all kinds of frothy mouthed about Andy Griffith dying. It might be there but thrown out as a comic observation, not the insanity from those posts:
  “Shame he didn’t die of that health care thing.”
  “Yep. Ha!”
- http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/OKEONAMLFIOS5WI7MPQY6SXBCQ IRMO
  
  Upper class suburbanites are more likely than genuine-rednecks to spawn these haters.
  - joshpowers
    
    Can you elaborate? My experiences contradict this (and I have met some VERY hateful and prejudiced people). I can’t prove this, but I’d bet my savings that ignorance, lack of education, and extreme bigotry have an incredibly strong correlation. But I’d love to see an article that proves otherwise along the lines of what you’re saying.
    - AnthonyC
      
      I don’t have a strong opinion on this point either way, but I have read (don’t recall where, sorry, but it was a source I remember trusting) that when people get higher socioeconomic status they become more selfish and self-absorbed
http://twitter.com/chriscoreline chris coreline

Too soon BB.
TimRowledge

Since around 6500 people die each day in the US, we can guess that around 4000 are of voting age and so about 2000 would be Repugnicans. Hopefully more.
Oh, gosh, am I being nasty? Tut-tut.
CognitiveDissident

As disturbed as those commenters seem to be, they are actually quite compassionate for their intended audience’s ears.
They refrained from using that uniquely terrible word, SHARING, which Jesus and others in the Bible warned us about.

The moral is (especially in the Old Testament), when you share, all you will end up with is a half-brained half baby.
Those concerned commenters are obviously trying to save America from the same fate that they themselves suffer from (at least the half-brain part).

R.I.P. Andy
http://www.gyrofrog.com/ Gyrofrog

I thought they were mad because (35 to 40 years ago) he shilled for Log Cabin Syrup, which until recently contained HFCS and may have contributed to the poor health of many consumers.

That’s still no excuse, though: No one should speak ill of the dead. I can’t emphasize that enough.
- http://twitter.com/MarvinMarks Marvin Marks
  
  Good point – although did Log Cabin Syrup have HFCS 35 to 40 years ago? I thought most things were still using real sugar back then.
  
  You’ve got me curious. I’m going to do some Googling and come back to you…
  Well I found this: “Soft drink makers such as Coca-cola and Pepsi use sugar in other nations, but switched to HFCS in the U.S. and Canada in 1984″ … so 1984 for soda – I’d imagine it’s a similar time period for maple syrup but I wasn’t able to find that specific info with a quick search.
http://twitter.com/axoplasm Paul Souders

I’m impressed. It takes a truly special kind of asshole to hate Andy Griffith ON THE DAY OF HIS DEATH.
http://twitter.com/intensitystudio Antonio Carrasco

Giving people healthcare = public mass executions?

I don’t get it.
http://twitter.com/MarvinMarks Marvin Marks

Bill Maher has it right. Being a conservative in 2012 is just about being a dick.
666beast1

The hatred is because he supports health care for everyone? One wonders how much they would hate him for receiving social security and medicaid, liking his mom and enjoying apple pie.

Freaks.
hungryjoe

I’ll take a Death Panel over an actuary any day.
http://twitter.com/ethanwc ethanwc

Some people are just better left ignored.
ElRonbo

Ironic that this appeared on The Blaze, since Griffith starred in the prescient Glenn Beck biopic “A Face in the Crowd”
http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

I promise you the comments from the left won’t be nearly as hateful and absurdly stupid.
http://twitter.com/michaelsayyes michael b

I used to think that. I don’t anymore. I don’t think I’ve ever quite seen the same level of vitriol coming from the left as I have the right, especially since the coming of the far right propaganda machine, talk radio, tv, internet, etc… There is a closed mindedness and singular ideology that some of these folks latch on to that is so far removed from factual evidence, that it’s like them believing in the tooth fairy or unicorns, then laying into you, frothing at the mouth, for not believing in it too.

Are there some far lefties that cross the line and say destructive things? Sure, but the majority of these people are your neighbors, Bob and Susi Jones from St. Louis, or Grandpa Fred from Minnesota. These are the people that are buying subscriptions to Glenn Beck websites, Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, and so forth. It’s Scare-orrism for “Pay”triots. There is a reason that the likes of Romney hasn’t distanced himself from the birthers. There is a reason that Ron Paul and the Tea Partiers haven’t distanced themselves from the racist organizations that help support them. They pay lip service to moderation, but they know what side their bread is buttered on.
DrunkenOrangetree

Andrew Breitbart just died. Surely you can find some examples of “hatred and vitriol.”
millie fink

What DrunkenOrangetree said.

Evidence plz. A slew of examples from just one source, as Cory apparently provided.

Go on, we’ll wait.
Vengefultacos

I always hear these empty “both sides do it” whines whenever we see right-wing venom being spewed. I’ve never seen anyone corroborate their claims. Put up or shut up. Provide links to stories of mainstream figures who happened to be republican whose comments were filled with vitriolic hate, merely because they subscribed to conservative beliefs.
Navin_Johnson

You realize that this is just a beloved American actor who happened to appear in a commercial that endorsed a Democratic party issue? I didn’t even know he’d done it, and I get the sense that I’m not alone. So please tell me who your equivalent old guy who happened to appear in a Republican ad would be?

Andy Griffith was not like a Ted Kennedy type of polarizing figure, or a Breitbart for that matter. False equivalence is false.

I also want to be clear that neither is Kennedy comparable to a Breitbart!
Nonentity

Please say you’re not trying to compare Andy Griffith to Andrew Breitbart.
DrunkenOrangetree

The commenter called for a comparison the “next time a Republican dies.” That’s all.
http://twitter.com/theprez98 theprez98 (总统)

No comparison between the two individuals, but the reaction from many people was surely hatred and vitriol. Either way, and regardless of what one might think of his politics, Breitbart left behind a wife and children, and the way he was treated online in the immediacy of his passing was pathetic.
Nonentity

Just thought I’d check. I’m sure there *was* some vitriol out there when Breitbart died (although, I also saw a lot of articles about how we should look past his politics now that he’s dead). But even if one were to cite vitriol about his death, it really wouldn’t prove what theprez98 is attempting to say.
Navin_Johnson

I readily admit I said “good riddance” to Breitbart, and I would again. Even though that was an extremely hateful and ugly individual there were many saying to respect his passing. Respect is earned, and there is absolutely no equivalence between a Breitbart and a Griffith. Let’s not buy into this disingenuous “the left is just as bad” shit. It’s like comparing your elderly neighbor who voted Democratic to another neighbor who burns crosses in your neighborhood.
Just_Ok

They’ll be witty and insightful, at least.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/OKEONAMLFIOS5WI7MPQY6SXBCQ IRMO

I’ll give you a counter-example: the writers and commenters at The Exiled are particularly vituperative about people they decide to put on their enemies list, and particularly gleefull when a man on their list dies. And you don’t have to be Andrew Breitbart to get on the Exiled’s list.
Navin_Johnson

He was not a Republican Andy Griffith. False equivalence is false. I would say most people don’t even know that Griffith had done anything political. Find “the left” saying such ugly things about a similarly affable, hardly political figure plz.
Nonentity

“No comparison between the two..”

And then you go on to try to make a comparison between them.

Strange how the easiest way to show how “the left does it too!!!” is by comparing apples to oranges. One would almost think there was a reason for that.

I suppose the question must be weighted… obviously, there’s no way there would be a comparable actor with mildly republican leanings, since all mass media is so controlled by liberals.
farwest1

Brietbart was not Andy Griffith, a well-mannered and likeable media figure who occasionally got involved in political issues he felt were important.

Brietbart was closer to a Keith Olbermann–provocative, in your face, ranting, hateful, and generally unable to see others’ points of view. I’m sure there are other examples on the left, but I’m having trouble coming up with any. Meanwhile: Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, etc etc. Wow, the entire right is comprised of screamy, ranting, hateful, and non-openminded bloviators. Oh, sorry, I mean journalists.
http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

Please find for us dozens of whacky, Tea Party-worthy, over-the-top hate-filled rants about Breitbart’s passing that you claim are out there.
DrunkenOrangetree

Then please give us an example of that kind of vitriol directed against Breitbart, after he died.
Navin_Johnson

Breitbart left behind a wife and children, and the way he was treated online in the immediacy of his passing was pathetic.

The way he treated people online IN LIFE was pathetic, not only pathetic, but fueled policies that hurt real people (see ACORN for one), cost them their jobs, and incited his followers to violence, all the while monetizing his extremism.

Also, all bets were off when he made his comments on Ted Kennedy’s passing. He got exactly what he gave in return:

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/08/26/57997/breitbart-kennedy-twitter/?mobile=nc
Navin_Johnson

@DrunkenOrangetree:disqus Oh there were lots of “good riddance asshole” type comments, Matt Taibbi’s being the most famous (which him and his family faced all kinds of violent threats for), but Breitbart was deserving and engaged in the same insults himself, unlike Griffith. It is ridiculous to compare an otherwise innocuous grandfatherly character like Griffith to Breitbart, a person who made his money antagonizing people, and admitted to relishing the fact that he was so disliked, and caused real grief and hardship for people as a result of his “work”. There’s no comparison to any media figure on the left for a Breitbart, because there isn’t one.
Wild Rumpus

Sorry prez, “”Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”. You have to show us sources.

Many. many times I’ve seen comments in right wing websites, and especially religious right wing websites, wish death and eternal hell on anyone who challenges their shaky ideology. (I’m thinking Jessica Ahlquist).

“I’ve seen it happen.” – no source? I call BS.
Wild Rumpus

…still waiting…
http://ae4rv.com/ royaltrux

If you like, I will hold off my celebration until you provide the evidence of monkeys hurling barely-coherent poo at Breitbart’s coffin that you have implied exists in droves.
http://www.twitter.com/eselqueso eselqueso

Enjoying, thanks. Stupid argument is stupid.
Navin_Johnson

By your standard, it’s acceptable to trample on the grave of polarizing figures like Breitbart, but off-limits for good guys like Andy Griffith.

Bingo.
Nonentity

Oh, my, yes. It’s such a high bar to set, asking that you find a somewhat similar set of circumstances before trying to imply that Cory is somehow being biased by posting this article.

Whether it’s pathetic to trample on someone’s grave or not isn’t the question.

Publicly demonizing someone solely because they gave public support to a political party you don’t like, in a completely non-confrontational and unassuming way for a miniscule portion of their life, is.

Bringing up people who were quite happy to be publicly confrontational is not responsive.
joshpowers

First: everyone is biased. Don’t trust any news agency that claims to be free from all bias. (Ahem “fair and balanced”.)

Second: this is turning petty. Prez’s point is: bigotry and prejudice grow up on both sides of the tracks. It’s found both among the ignorant and uneducated, and among the privileged, savvy, and hip. All colors, creeds, and political credos have it. If you don’t see them when you look in the mirror, be grateful. Or, look closer. We are all far more susceptible to these things than we care to admit, and it might make us more careful before we judge. “Judge not lest..” I’m not condoning the vitreol; I’m just saying, they were posted by clearly ignorant people. More privileged society is better at concealing their prejudices. The nastiness of a comment reflects the ignorance of the author, and ignorance is a sad thing. But that’s only ONE facet in which prejudice is put on display, and an obvious one at that, and particularly easy to target. A little perception will reveal that it IS as universal as Prez is arguing for.
Nonentity

“Prez’s point is: bigotry and prejudice grow up on both sides of the tracks.

If that were his point, there wouldn’t be any point posting about it. His point was that there is *equivalent* prejudice on both sides, and there seems to be an odd lack of evidence to support that.