Photo: The White House

Photo: The White House

You can always rely on the wingnuts.  In this case, rely on them to be all at once racist, hateful, and misinformed.

There’s been a long habit by some in the conservative fold for putting forth some really disgusting words and images about liberals, especially this President and his wife.  George Bush took a lot of flack during his time in office, some of it undoubtably undeserved and unkind.  Laura Bush, however, as best as I recall, never suffered from the abuse and slander at the hands of liberals as Michelle Obama has been forced to endure as First Lady.  Some of the comments and photoshops are clearly hateful and racist.  That’s bad enough, but when they start passing around lies in the wingnut echo-chamber, it really gets telling.  Not only do they hate her, they’ll not do the slightest bit of research to verify what they’re being told and passing along.

Yesterday I posted a blog on Alternating Currents, my community blog on the local newspaper’s (The Visalia Times Delta) site.  It concerned the calls for a boycott of Subway Sandwiches because they’ve joined the First Lady in a program to encourage children to eat healthy.  Boycott Subway, because FLOTUS promotes healthy eating!  Some folks really don’t like Michelle Obama!

I shared the link on my Twitter feed, and this is what I got in reply –

@KC6YRU #flotus Anti Moooochelle Obama. Read the article. People know what a disgusting example of squandered affirmative action free education she is, she was threatened by a Federal judge to either give up her law license or face criminal trial for insurance fraud, looting the treasury, second biggest lying POS in OUR WH–pick a reason. You are attacking Conservatives for having standards other than the low standards of the Liberal Leech parasites. #ImpeachObama

Then –

TESS STEWART‏@1OKCupcake

@KC6YRU She is a disgrace to working women who are a good examples & don’t do illegal acts to get ahead. Then there’s the beard thing.

Then –

@KC6YRU We were quiet & gave the POS in OUR WH a chance. The economy should be humming at 20% if it wasn’t for Obama.

I sent a message to “Tess” linking to a Snopes article about the law license thing.

In typical wingnut mode, I got this comment –

@KC6YRU How many of the Moooochelle links did you have to read before you found the one who said information was wrong?

(Actually, it was the first link.  Snopes is my go-to site.  I’ve yet to have a reason not to trust them.)

“Tess” then posted these links –  well, I was going to post that Twitter comment, but it seems she’s deleted it.  It contained 4 links.  Two didn’t work, one repeated the myth that the Obamas “surrendered” their law licenses to avoid prosecution, which is not true.  The fourth link she posted was essentially the same information as the Snopes article, from a newspaper, the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

The hatred for the Obamas by some on the right cannot be explained by simple political disagreement.  Even the most ardent anti-Hillary campaigns during her time as First Lady, and as a Senator and Secretary of State never reached the level of vitriol directed at Michelle Obama.  This is, plain and simple, racism.  That anyone would politicize the public programs of the First Lady, always in the past seen and treated as non-political (does anyone recall any liberal calls to boycott libraries and reading during Laura Bush’s time as First Lady?), is shameful.  These wingnuts hate the President, and hate his wife.  His politics are the excuse they give, but that doesn’t stand up under even the lightest of scrutiny.

The wingnuts are crazy, and they are hateful.  I’m glad they seem to be losing prominence in this country.  I think people are waking up, and seeing them for what they are.  Good riddance, and the purge can’t be completed too soon.