right-wing

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Barack Obama wants to burn Joe Q. Public alive -- and all because he wants to fix the immigration mess. That was pretty much what Glenn Beck told his Fox News audience yesterday. Actually, it was more blatant than that: Beck: And President Obama apparently feeling like -- ah, I'm pretty much done, not a lot more to do, you know? I got all those things done. You know what? Why don't I work on immigration reform? Later this year he hopes to create a path for the estimated 12 million illegal aliens here in America to become legal. But yet, we haven't fixed the border and shut the water off! What a sweet, sensitive guy he really is. Here's one thing I think the media is missing. I don't know about you, but when I saw that story last night, I did this: Wha-? You've gotta be kidding me! Let me, let me just ask you a question. Maybe I'm alone, but I think it would just be faster if he just shot me in the head! You know what I mean? How much more -- how much more can he disenfranchise all of us? We have Bill Schultz here, he's from Red Eye. And I'm just going to demonstrate at least how I feel, all right? I feel, when I read this story last night, I don't know about you -- let's say Bill is the average American here, and I'm President Obama. This is the way I feel. I feel like President Obama is just saying, 'You know what, I've got that $3.5 trillion budget here ...' He then proceeds to douse Schultz with a clear liquid from a gas can (he promises it's actually water) and then hold up a lit match in his general vicinity. And then he wonders why people think he's promoting a violent and paranoid right-wing worldview that is bereft of anything approaching reality. Because of course, what Obama is planning is hardly anything like the "amensty" that Beck seems to believe is coming. Regarding the border, for instance, the New York Times story that he read the night before stated this clearly: In broad outlines, officials said, the Obama administration favors legislation that would bring illegal immigrants into the legal system by recognizing that they violated the law, and imposing fines and other penalties to fit the offense. The legislation would seek to prevent future illegal immigration by strengthening border enforcement and cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, while creating a national system for verifying the legal immigration status of new workers. So, let's see: No amnesty, but a path to citizenship. Border security a top priority. An emphasis on stopping future illegal immigration. And the problem here is ...? Well, that of course would never stop Beck from shrieking hysterically and warning Americans that he's about to set them all on fire. And he concludes with a truly classic bit of naked dishonesty: We didn't vote to lose the Republic! We didn't vote for any of this stuff! We voted for change! You know what that change was? The change we wanted was an end to the games! An end to the games? You mean, games like pretending now that you actually voted for Obama and change, instead of for McCain and more of the same? You mean, games like accusing the opposing the president of leading us into fascism? You mean, games like pretending that right-wingers' Bizarro version of reality out there on Planet Wingnuttia is somehow rooted in anything other than paranoiac, authoritarian fantasy? Actually, Glenn is right: He didn't vote for any of this stuff. What he hasn't seemed to figure out is that the people he did vote for lost. And if he had his way, the majority of the country who voted for Obama would be the ones being disenfranchised. And of course, that's exactly the only thing that would ever make Glenn Beck happy.