The Pastor and the POTUS

Recently, a Pastor named Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona made news again by repeating his wish that physical harm and death befall President Obama. When asked for specifics, he offered the following clarification:

“If you want to know how I’d like to see Obama die, I’d like him to die of natural causes,” said Anderson. “I don’t want him to be a martyr, we don’t need another holiday. I’d like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer.”

When I first read this, I could not help but marvel at how unbelievably brazen, foolish and naive a person has to be to think that their position as Pastor and a House of the Lord was an appropriate position or venue for that kind of opinion. I disliked Kennedy, and certainly do not think President Obama is doing a good job...but wish for his death? Of a horrific debilitating disease that strips you slowly of your mind and dignity? Not a chance.

I flat out believe that the Pastor is completely wrong to have - let alone express - that type of opinion, and certainly not in a forum that is supposed to be teaching about the principals of compassion and forgiveness set forth by Jesus Christ. President Obama does not deserve to have that kind of ill will pressed against him, regardless of his political affiliation or decisions.

It isn't difficult to figure out how we as a nation got to this point. Look at the past 8 years as an example:

When President Bush was in office there were books written regarding his assassination and even a movie created on the same subject. You also had plenty of people online openly coming out and promoting stories that dehumanized him, and there was no shortage of people who wished harm upon President Bush en-masse on a daily basis.

One could look up any current or archived blog and commentary on either the DailyKOS or democratunderground and find the most strung-out moonbats that have ever lived running around in circles fomenting the most lunatic-fringe hatred of the man, and they did it (and continue to do it) for 24 hours a day - every day - for 8 years straight. If a person who was unaware of the political workings of our world were to base their opinion of the former President solely by the content of either of the above two sources - they would swear that President Bush stood upon the fires of Mt. Doom and summoned Hurricane Katrina himself.

Think back and remember - What were the type of responses given to anyone who questioned any of the criticism or the personal nature of the extent of hate and personal animosity for him?

"This is a matter of Free Speech!" (OK, I can agree with that...)

"Dissent is patriotic" (Well...the Rosenbergs dissented to be sure, but patriotic they were not...)

"Nazis!" (...eh?)

The aggressor sets the rules in any fight. If the routine, outlandish nature of so many of the critiques of former President Bush made by the Left were not only acceptable, but were in fact patriotic, then the Left really has no business whatsoever getting their panties in a bunch over the rantings of one man when the very same unsavory nature of his message has been the very lifeblood of the democrat party. All of the hate, anger and outrage over the words of this one Pastor that they are now bemoaning was the very fuel that animated everything they did. It was hatred and anger that united them and allowed for the kind of political success that they were not even close to pulling off years before.

They are concerned that the words being spoken will incite violence? They should be. Welcome to the world conservatives live in every day. They're sitting out there worrying about what one man is saying? Try imagining what tens of thousands of people like him would look like online and you have what conservatives have to contend with. Hatred of President Bush has been liberals passion. Anger and outrage has been their sacraments, and now that their Messiah is running the show - the same dissent they practiced while prancing around calling it patriotic is now akin to "Hate Speech".

You reap what you sow.

For almost the entire length of both his terms, President Bush was assaulted and criticized for everything and anything he said, did, tried to do, wrote, expressed and even what others claimed he was thinking - and ANY attempt he made to defend himself was met with outrage over his "fascist" attempt to "silence" his critics. As time went on, he defended himself less and less, but none of that did anything to abate the torrent of criticism he received, and it certainly did nothing to assist in any ability to govern.

When personal hatred is allowed to act as the means to an end within the political arena, it doesn't just cause more problems by inciting violence or venom, it helps insulate and protect politicians from justifiable criticism.

How this works is simple: When personal attacks and insipid vitriol become the norm, the first thing it initially does is to cause the politician on the receiving end to become protected by supporters who instinctively close ranks around their candidate. This closes their minds to the remote possibility that the opposition might have a legitimate grievance, and they in turn lash out even stronger against their candidates adversaries. Because liberals attacked President Bush with such intensity, a large number of his supporters defended him even when they should not have, such as on his lack of fiscal discipline and refusal to enact immigration reform.

When this Pastor engages in this type of inexcusable attack, he is in fact giving President Obama a free pass on two fronts. First, because he immediately insulates the President from legitimate criticism regarding his policies - as it only reinforces the false notion that criticism of the President and hate speech are one in the same. Secondly, it only makes a bad situation worse, because when the bar is lowered - even someone of ill repute can come off looking reasonable.