Antigovernment Rhetoric Spills into the Mainstream
From FOX News to Sean Hannity's radio show, white-hot antigovernment rhetoric is filtering into what is commonly thought of as the mainstream.
From FOX News to Sean Hannity's radio show, white-hot antigovernment rhetoric is filtering into what is commonly thought of as the mainstream. Here, drawn from the watchdog organization Media Matters for America and various YouTube.com postings, is a sampling of recent comments reflecting that infiltration:
"How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution?"
— Chuck Norris, actor and political activist, in a March 9 column for WorldNetDaily.com
"If this country starts to spiral out of control and, you know, and Mexico melts down or whatever, if it really starts to spiral out of control … Americans … just won't stand for it. There will be parts of the country that will rise up."
— FOX News host Glenn Beck, speaking on the March 3 edition of his radio show
"Were I in Washington State, I'd be cleaning my gun right about now waiting to protect my property from the coming riots or the government apparatchiks coming to enforce nonsensical legislation."
— Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief of RedState.com, in a March 31 item posted on the website
"When you hear that Quinn's guns have been confiscated, you will know that Quinn is dead."
— Jim Quinn, co-host of Clear Channel's "The War Room with Quinn & Rose," on the Feb. 20 edition of his radio show
"It's like Thomas Jefferson said, a revolution every now and then is a good thing. We are at the point, Sean, of revolution. And by that, what I mean [is] an orderly revolution, where the people of this country wake up and get up and make a decision that this is not going to happen on their watch."
— U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), speaking against the growing national debt on the March 25 edition of Sean Hannity's radio show
"We think it's time to draw the line in the sand and tell Washington that no longer are we going to accept their oppressive hand in the state of Texas. That's what these Texans are standing up for. Because there's a point in time where you stand up and say enough is enough. And I think Americans, and Texans especially, have reached that point."
— Texas Gov. Rick Perry, speaking at an April 9 press conference in support of a state sovereignty resolution
"Guys, when are we going to wake up and start fighting the fascism that seems to be permeating this country?"
— FOX Business Network anchor Cody Willard, reporting live on the April 15 anti-tax "tea party" in Boston
