Rachel Maddow: Joe Wilson a 'Mascot for Incivil, Racist Fringe'

I've said it many times by now, but Rachel Maddow's show is simply a platform for the left's unsubstantiated smears against conservatives. Last night, she looked at comments in support of Joe Wilson as evidence that the right is "uncivil" and that the movement is "unhinged." Check at 2:45 minutes:

Maddow goes on to present a far-fetched "history" of right-wing extremism and postulates that the fate of groups like the John Birch Society is in store for today's conservative and libertarian activists. Maddow's elevation of Joseph Farah and Dick Armey to the center of the "movement" is a classic straw man fallacy.

Of course, the public's not buying the left's "racism" scare tactics. As Rassmussen points out this morning, "12% Say Most Opponents of Obama Health Care Plan Are Racist":

Twelve percent (12%) of voters nationwide believe that most opponents of President Obama’s health care reform plan are racist. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 67% of voters disagree, and 21% are not sure.

In recent days, several Democrats have suggested that racism is a factor. The most prominent to make that accusation is former President Jimmy Carter.

Eighty-eight percent (88%) of Republicans reject the notion that most of the opponents are racist. So do 78% of voters not affiliated with either major party. However, just 39% of Democrats share that view. Twenty-two percent (22%) of those in the president’s party say that most of the opposition to his plan comes from racists, and another 39% are not sure.

Okay, think about this: Two-thirds of respondents reject Rachel Maddow's hard-left claim that opposition to the president is racist. And 9 of 10 Republicans along with 8 of 10 independents reject the view as well. Maddow's appealing, in fact, to a genuine fringe element herself. Of those 39 percent, a large segment would be the same fever-swamp radicals who have burned George W. Bush in effigy.

And if you check Gallup's piece up today, "Healthcare Bill Supporters Cite Uninsured; Foes, Big Gov’t."

Basically, the common responses see ObamaCare as an unnecessary expansion of big government. And the response for "government should not be involved in healthcare" measures support for a total government takecare of health markets, not simply a government role, since we know Medicare is a traditionally popular program for the elderly.

Most importantly, there's nothing here that indicates racist sentiment. Democrats are playing the "race card" because they're desperate. If you noticed at the video, Maddow repeatedly refers to President Obama as a "relatively popular president." The only problem is that he's not relatively popular. As early as March analysts were indicating how President George W. Bush (the evil "Chimpy") was more popular than President Obama at the same stage in the presidential term. And as this essay indicates, "George W. Bush was in office 37 months with an unpopular war before he fell to the Obama historically low level according to Gallup."

See more at Cold Fury, Power Line, Protein Wisdom, QandO, Say Anything, and YID With LID.