In response to a recent blog post here (The Role of Hate in the 2010 Elections), here at PA we've gotten an interesting batch of what can only be described as hate mail – from both left and right.
It is easy to dismiss leftists and their nonsense; they are just feeling a little too powerless. No need to pick on them here.
But the right-wing hate mail proves far more disturbing and notable.
In that blog post, I collected information about how Republican/Tea Party candidates used racism (particularly anti-Latino images messages, but also anti-African American rhetoric) to define themselves and their opponents. I also pointed to anti-gay hatred that in part motivated some of the Tea Party/Republican base. A previous article on the role of hate and violence in the Tea Party garnered a similar response.
To prove how wrong I am, several Tea Party type comments and e-mails have come in, mostly unsigned, of course. One invited me personally to commit suicide. Here is the text of a letter in all caps from another person whose e-mail account says her name is Rose, though people typically use aliases for this sort of thing:
SPEAK OF YOUR TRASHY GROUP.
THE REASON THE GOP WON IN THE ELECTION IS MAIN STREAM AMERICAN IS TAKING OUR COUNTRY BACK FROM YOU COMMIE, MARXIST, FASCIST GAY , MUSLIM LOVING IDIOTS. WE THE PEOPLE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF MUSLIM COMMUNIST OBAMA AND ALL HIS DEMONS.
YOU PEOPLE DON'T KNOW HOW TO APPRECIATE A BEAUTIFUL FREE COUNTRY. SATAN AND HIS DEMONS HAVE YOU PEOPLE SO INFILTRATED THAT YOUR BEYOND THE NORMAL.
IF YOU FRICKIN IDIOTS WANT TO LIVE IN A SOCIALIST, MARXIST, FASCIST OR A COMMUNIST COUNTRY MOVE TO ONE AND LEAVE THIS COUNTRY ALONE.
YOU PEOPLE ARE A SICK BUNCH OF PUPPIES.
YOU BUT HOLES JUST MIGHT AS WELL GET READY, MUSLIM COMMUNIST OBAMA IS COMING OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE
HE IS NOT A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN, HE IS A DOPE HEAD A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR, VERY SICK NARCISSIST PERSONALITY AND A DUD, POOP SCOOPER.
Nope. It wasn't hate that motivated the Teabaggers. Nope. I think we have a partial explanation for why the GOP won the election as this hate speech is far too prevalent on the right to not be dismissed as a major cause for the outcome.
I still believe that in a couple of months, we won't be hearing anything about the Tea Party, as Republican establishment politicians – the same ones who created the massive budget deficit/debt, who started two wars that President Obama is trying to abandon, and who pursue only the interests of the rich, the banks, the oil companies, and other big corporations that filled their campaign coffers – will move on, along with the media allies.
And ordinary Teabaggers will be left with nothing but their hate.
