Fear Itself
By
Kent Jones
-
Mon Nov 7, 2011 1:58 PM EST
Foreign Policy magazine has been tracking America's leaders to find out what they believe is
"the" greatest threat to U.S. national security or the American way of life. You can guess some of the answers: China's nuclear arsenal, Yemen, homegrown terror, Iran. President Obama's number one fear is a lone wolf terrorist attack. Senator Barbara Boxer went big picture and picked global warming. All super scary. Worry accomplished. So what are some prominent Republicans afraid of most in the whole world?
-Gov. Rick Perry: President Barack Obama
-Rick Santorum: Obamacare
-Newt Gingrich: The radical secular socialist machine
-American Family Association's Bryan Fischer: The homosexual agenda
Good call, gentlemen, so much scarier than rogue nukes. But I think they're forgetting a few. What about the imminent threat of...
- Glee
- Skinny jeans
- Wet Gremlins
- ACORN
- OWS drum circles
- Google (Att: Rick Santorum)
- Bad Lip Reading videos
And, obviously
- Teachers, librarians, cops and firefighters
What are you afraid of? Please tell us in the comments.
Reader Comments:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_new...22-fear-itself
chemgirl-1656707
I think Sally Kern has an interesting take on what we should be a'skeered, in her book,
The Stoning of Sally Kern:
http://www.amazon.com/Stoning-Sally-.../dp/1616383615
Otherwise, I'm afraid of the resurgence of 1970s family-pop musical acts. I'm talking the Osmonds and Partridge Family here. The Jackson 5 are exempt.
#1 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:03 PM EST
Don Quixokie
The collapse of America by way of the Republican agenda. Our fall into the status of 3rd world nation.
#1.1 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:13 PM EST
Rick's Real
What scares the hell out of me is a bus driver whose head is buried in a map while his bus is travelling down a curvy road at breakneck speeds. He's so transfixed by the colors, the lines and shapes on the map, he never bothers to look up to see the road.
That is how irresponsibly the Republican party in congress is driving our bus.
#1.2 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:31 PM EST
gramapoet mn
I'm with you both, Don and Rick. Right now the Republicans are frightening most thinking people. We see a third world country looming over the horizon if they continue to get their way. The only hope we really have right now is the OWS movement. May they keep on, keeping on.
#1.3 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 3:02 PM EST
Russell La Claire
Ignorance. Hatred.
#2 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:09 PM EST
hoosierprof
I agree, though I can't believe that staffers forgot to include "the Gay" on their list of Republican fears. Considering we've been tagged with 9/11, the destruction of the modern American family, the decline of morals, AIDS and a host of other 20th century challenges, it would seem the Repubs have placed us front as center as targets in their culture war (next to individual women who want to control their own uterus).
#2.1 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:15 PM EST
NextMSNBCStar
Ignorance. Hatred.
Syn: Glenn Beck, GBTV, Tea Party, Rush Linbaugh, Amrican Family Foundation, Crossroads, Americans for Prosperity, Dick Armey, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc, ...
#2.2 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:32 PM EST
Brian-4458594
I'm pretty terrified someone will start suggesting the DEA use drone strikes on US soil.
"That looks like a pot field... or maybe corn.... BOMB IT ANYWAYS!"
#3 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:09 PM EST
LonghornDem
That could not be a more irrational or unfounded fear. I couldn't believe that Rachel Maddow actually had a discussion about what the difference is between a drone strike in Yemen and the US. That answer is pretty easy -- jurisdiction. When you don't have to deal with extradition and you don't have to deal with intel going through a foreign government you don't trust, the game changes. You don't have to deal with those things, you just get a warrant and arrest the guy. I'm not saying there aren't important philosophical issues with drone strikes that are worth discussing. I have my concerns, too. But fear of using them to strike domestic targets isn't one of the issues. That just distracts from the real concerns. Honestly -- I love Rachel Maddow but that discussion was absurd.
#3.1 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:32 PM EST
Amanda The Q
Spiders. And monkeys--especially spider monkeys.
#4 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:11 PM EST
fred campbell
dark circles with lots of power
#5 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:15 PM EST
Gary W. Longsine
One of the greatest threats to American national security is the deep ignorance of a substantial portion of the electorate. I had a conversation recently with a very nice elderly gentleman who insisted to me that "Obama hasn't submitted a budget since being elected." This is of course not true, but the right wing echo chamber is spreading this message, and the simple, easily verifiable truth cannot counter that in the minds of their followers -- even given the unlikely event that the facts ever get before these folk.
<a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/aug/05/buddy-roemer/obama-submitted-budgets/">Truth-O-Meter: Has Obama Submitted a Budget? Yes.</a>
#6 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:16 PM EST
Chris Boese
Definitely Wet Gremlins. Although, thanks to chemgirl, I am now also terrified that we face the imminent return of 70s family pop-musical acts. The horror!
And fred, do you mean the ones under my aging eyeballs, or the Illuminati of Darkness?
#7 - Mon Nov 7, 2011 2:17 PM EST
Fear Itself
