Every conservative loves a bully

From Thomas Frank's "The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule" (pp. 51-52):

 

There are, of course, bullies from every walk of life and every political persuasion, but on the right bullying holds a special, exalted position. It is no accident that two of the movement’s greatest heroes – Tom DeLay and Oliver North – had the same nickname: “The Hammer.” This is a movement that adores bullies, that cheers their bullying slogans at its conventions, that longs fro a bully mean enough to put the weaklings back in their place forever, that has lionized bullies from Joe McCarthy to Westbrook Pegler to Bill O’Reilly to George Allen to Michelle Malkin...

And so it goes with Wisconsin’s right wing. Whether it’s Charlie Sykes berating callers after hanging up on them, Jessica McBride hailing "smackdowns" and fantasizing about strapping Russ Feingold to a chair, Texas Hold Em Blogger calling Mexicans “Chihuahuas,” Mark Belling calling Mexicans “wetbacks,” Fred Dooley engaging in the most childish name calling while demanding "civility," or John MacAdams insulting priests, bullying is one of the defining traits of local movement conservatives.

Comments

[Bert]

Speaking of the exterminator DeLay, what was it he said to a Washington, D.C. waitress once who told him to put out his cigar because the federal government forbids smoking there? I think he said "I am the federal government" and I think his table mates then chortled.

[John Foust]

Uhm yeah, over at The Right View Wisconsin: Your Home For Off-Base Mambo-Jumbo, I've been declared "Sister Foust". They're not just calling me a girl, they're calling me a de-sexualized woman. This is from one of their star bloggers, not a visitor. This somewhat contradicts THB's assertation that I would like to have sex with a horse. I suspect that the radio- and newspaper-related star bloggers there may be the first to flee.