What's driving Krugman, Eric Fuller, an unnamed SI poster whose first post after the Giffords shooting was "FU wingers! I hope you all die", and the other leftists who've come unglued?
After Obama's win, leftists thought they were going to establish progressive liberalism in this country permanently. They had Congress and the White House. Nothing could stop them. We'd have government paid health care for everyone, strict carbon controls, the voices of the right (Rush, Beck, Fox News, Limbaugh, etc) would be silenced by a new Fairness doctrine, the wars would end, Gitmo would be closed (in a year), the probably innocent victims of Bush held at Gitmo would be brought to the US for fair trials or set free (and those freed would abandon terrorism now that we were ruled by the good guys), the Bush tax cuts would quietly expire raising taxes on everyone (which they really want - if they'd wanted to cut taxes on the middle class they'd have done so when they had the power), gay marriage would be the rule nationwide, abortion rights would be reinforced for all time. Those with retrograde unprogressive opinions would be slowly re-educated by the media, academia, and government.
I'm probably leaving some agenda items out. But you get the picture. It was time for the new enlightened liberal progressive socialized America they've been wanting. Looking at the dying liberal newsweekly covers from 2009 shows what they were anticipating:
Well, it didn't quite work out the way they wanted. Gitmo is open and will stay open. The wars continue. They got a healthcare bill but it wasn't really what any of them wanted and is wildly unpopular. The hope for carbon controls rests on the EPA's ability to cram them on the country without a legislative mandate. The Bush tax cuts were extended through the rest of Obama's term. Conservative talk radio and Fox News is still out there going strong and trampling the competition. DADT, ended by a lame duck Democratic Congress, seems to be their biggest victory.
And worst of all, the voters gave the Republicans control of the House of Representatives. The pressure is on Obama to move to the center. So it's clear the liberal highwater mark for this generation is past with hardly any of the things achieved they wanted.
A lot of leftists have a of their personal identity wrapped up in politics. Often leftists don't have the family and faith supports most people do (think of Eric Fuller, for instance). So for them to see their hopes failing is personally painful. Thus the fury and rage they display.
Lastly they hope against hope that the Tucson shooting will provide their opportunity to put restrictions on the conservative speech they blame for wrecking their dreams. The Giffords shooting was an opportunity. If only they can demonize conservatives enough, the public will realize the mistake they made in the last election and turn back to progressivism. |
