The Radical Right Reacts: Spinning the Killing of Osama bin Laden
Right-wing extremists, already reeling from the release of President Obama’s long-form birth certificate – the document many “birthers” insisted either didn’t exist or proved Obama really wasn’t born a U.S. citizen – were dealt another blow Sunday when the president authorized the military raid that finally extinguished America’s greatest single enemy, Osama bin Laden. But they pluckily soldier on.
How do you hate on a no-longer-Manchurian-Candidate president who can now say, legitimately, “Mission Accomplished” with respect to the leading criminal of 9/11?
Easy. Just fold in a heavy dose of bizarre reasoning. Some examples:
It’s all a lie. Barbara Coe, founder and leader of the nativist hate group California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR) and a self-described member of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) – a white supremacist group that has described black people as a “retrograde species of humanity” – begged followers not to believe the news. Claiming to have killed bin Laden was just a White House ruse to get the traitorous president re-elected, she declared. Indeed, your very life apparently depends on believing Coe:
“We are sure most of you heard Imposter OBAMA's speech tonight, taking credit for the death of OSAMA BIN LADIN [sic],” Coe wrote, according to OC Weekly, which replicated Coe’s typically agitated print stylings. “HE LIES! We hope, we pray that you did NOT believe him. OBAMA is a proven, radical pro-Islamic Muslim BUT will do/say ANYTHING to get re-elected. OBAMA has illustrated that he complies with Sharia Law - which demands Misleading or Lying (TAQIYYA) to promote the Koran's mandate to torture, kill ALL non-Muslim ‘infidels.’ DUMP OBAMA (and his fellow-TRAITORS) or DIE! YOUR CALL!”
Is he really, really dead? Andrew Breitbart – the notorious media manipulator infamous for publicizing strategically doctored videos that maligned the community group ACORN, Planned Parenthood, and black former Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod — posted a commentary by J. Michael Waller insisting that every American should have had the chance to play coroner to assure that bin Laden’s carcass is, in fact, bin Laden’s carcass.
“The free world, particularly the United States, has a right to make sure Osama bin Laden is really dead. Every American has a right to walk right up to bin Laden’s corpse and view it. We are entitled to know for a fact that the witch is dead. No shroud for dignity’s sake, please – bin Laden’s naked, bullet-riddled corpse should be put on display in lower Manhattan for all the world to see. The entire body should be digitally scanned, inside and out – and made available for everyone to take his or her own picture.”
(Brietbart, a committed enemy of liberals and Democrats, later posted on his website his own earlier tweet to demonstrate that he had congratulated Obama on the operation.)
Bad strategic move, Mr. President. Bryan Fischer, the slightly addled director of issue analysis for government and public policy for the anti-gay hate group American Family Association (see here, here, here and here), conjured up this doozy of an argument: Obama shouldn’t have taken credit for Osama bin Laden’s death because it will upset Muslims.
“This is a major P.R. problem for President Obama, and he does not even realize the size of the hole that he dug for himself … because he has taken complete, 100%, unilateral credit for the execution of Osama bin Laden,” Fischer said in an online broadcast. “All of that is fine as long as the Islamic world likes what you are doing. But the problem, Mr. President, is that Islam is at war with us. And you have just said that you are solely responsible for the death of Osama bin Laden. … You have just invited the entire Islamic world to focus all of their vitriol, all of their hatred, all of their animosity directly on you.”
Imagine what Fischer would have said had the president used such an excuse for not taking out bin Laden.
It doesn’t mean a thing. A number of right-wing bloggers stifled yawns regarding death of bin Laden. Capturing the sentiment, iconic right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh offered a convoluted theory that killing the now-unimportant bin Laden would somehow weaken Obama’s reelection chances:
“This story about Obama being a shoo-in for reelection, if he was a shoo-in for reelection Osama bin Laden would still be alive today. … None of the realities that people face each and every day are at all affected by this. In fact, you could say – and you'd be truthful in saying it – that as a terror leader and somebody who posed an ongoing threat, Osama has been irrelevant for as many years as he's been forced to hide out with no direct communications. … Look at it this way: Obama has just lost something that's pretty important. Remember, now, Osama bin Laden and [bin Laden’s top deputy] Ayman al-Zawahiri and [Iranian president] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at election time, they put out talking points that sounded just like the Democrat Party. So in a way you could say that Obama has lost a voice for his reelection.”
A “coup” forced Obama to kill bin Laden. Leading Islamophobe Pamela Geller (see also here), executive director of anti-Muslim hate group Stop Islamization of America (and a favorite of white nationalists despite her being Jewish), claims to have an anonymous source who has revealed that a virtual “coup” inside the administration forced Obama to reluctantly launch the operation that killed bin Laden. Really. Geller on Tuesday published what she describes as the actual secret dispatch from her source, with formatting intact:
“RE Osama Bin Laden. Significant push to take him out months ago. Senior WH staff resisted. This was cause of much strain between HC [Secretary of State Hillary Clinton] and Obama/Jarrett [senior White House advisor Valerie B. Jarrett]. HC and LP [CIA Director Leon Panetta] were in constant communication over matter – both attempted to convince administration to act. Administration feared failure and resulting negative impact on president. Intel disgusted over politics over national security. Staff resigned/left. Check timeline to corroborate.
“Now Intel already leaking to media facts surrounding how info obtained. Namely from enhanced interrogation efforts via GITMO prisoners. Obama administration placed in corner on this. Some media aware of danger to president RE this and attempting protection. Others looking for further investigation. We are pushing for them to follow through and already meeting with some access.
“Point of determination made FOR Obama not BY Obama. Will clarify as details become more clear. Very clear divide between Military and WH. Jarrett marginalized 100% on decision to take out OBL. She played no part. BD [Obama Chief of Staff Bill Daly] worked with LP and HC to form coalition to force CoC [commander in chief] to engage.
“IMPORTANT SPECIFIC: When 48 hour go order issued, CoC was told, not requested. Administration scrambled to abort. That order was overruled. This order did not originate from CoC. Repeat – this order did not originate from CoC. He complied, but did not originate.
“Independent military contacts have confirmed. Stories corroborate one another. This is legit.
“The killing of Osama Bin Laden was in fact a Coup within Obama WH.”
