Hugo Chavez Democrats' Systematic Removal of Conservatives

By Lisa De Pasquale
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

In Godless Ann Coulter wrote, “Liberals are perennially enraged that Republicans are allowed to talk back.” As such, this has spawned “Hugo Chavez Democrats” that make it their life’s work to get conservatives blacklisted from the media. The Left’s perpetual whining is usually funny, but not so much when the spineless surrender to them. Last month Daily Kos turned their attention to columnist Rachel Marsden. Marsden wrote a column for the Toronto Sun and appears frequently on Fox News and CNN. Daily Kos objected to her recent column on waterboarding and this joke Marsden made on CNN:

I suppose that those who object to terror suspects getting water up the nose would say that, as a young competitive swimmer, I was also tortured. It was called “hypoxic training” — swimming underwater and holding our breath until we passed out. Our coaches didn’t call it torture, just an exercise in “mental toughness.” So think of it this way — terror suspects are getting some free mental toughness training courtesy of the U.S. government.

Daily Kos posted contact information for Marsden’s Toronto Sun editor and encouraged people to get her column removed from the newspaper. “pale cold” wrote:

But we don’t have to sit and take it. Speak up! All Canadian Kossacks can write a letter. If any American Kossacks want to vent, hey, please! Make the Toronto Sun aware of how abhorrent and completely UNCANADIAN they are for publishing such tripe. If they don’t want to live in a country with morals and humanitarian ethics? They know where the door is. I suspect that the rest of Canada won’t lose any sleep in their absence.

Perhaps we should scrap waterboarding and force terrorists to read page after page of incoherent rants from the Daily Kos e-mail monkeys. It gets results: Toronto Sun editor Lou Clancy folded in just a few hours. After a two-year relationship the Toronto Sun dropped Marsden’s weekly column.

As most conservatives would, Marsden is wearing the Daily Kos’s campaign against her as a badge of honor. Marsden responded on her website, “Attention terrorists and Islamofascists: You can now read the Toronto Sun without having your delicate sensibilities offended, as my weekly column is no longer with Sun Media… Best of luck to any principled conservatives who remain.”

However, the knee-jerk outrage toward conservatives isn’t limited to “Kossacks” who get perverted self-satisfaction from firing off angry e-mails. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid basically sent the CEO of Clear Channel an extended, letterhead version of a Kossack e-mail. In addition to Senator Reid, 41 other Senators also signed the letter. The letter backfired on the 42 “Hugo Chavez Democrats” in the Senate. People don’t remember their baseless accusation, but rather Rush’s genius and rebel spirit in the face of the fanatical Left. As we all do remember, Rush auctioned the letter on eBay and donated the winning bid of more than $2 million to the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation.

Like Rush, Rachel Marsden turned the attempts to silence her as an opportunity to help a good cause. Marsden created a cheeky t-shirt with the phrase “CIA Center for Aquatic Excellence Waterboarding Team.” All proceeds ($500+ so far) will be donated to the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund. Marsden told me, “Liberals are just projecting when they think that attacks actually cripple conservatives. They only serve to spark new ideas and push us in new entrepreneurial directions.”

In fact, Marsden inspired me to embrace my entrepreneurial spirit and create “Muhammad the Teddy Bear” – the perfect Christmas gift for your favorite infidel or apostate. (Long live capitalism!)

Aside from the Left’s knee-jerk reaction to whatever it deems over the line, they also make knee-jerk pronunciations before a conservative even opens his or her mouth. ESPN announced they were bringing in Rush Limbaugh for a short segment on their NFL Sunday Countdown and every two-bit sports reporter had an opinion on how Limbaugh was undoing the 13th and 19th Amendments. Limbaugh hadn’t even made his infamous comments about the media’s coverage of quarterback Donovan McNabb and sports reporters were already shocked and offended. Apparently, the separation between sports and politics is more sacred to the Left than the “separation between church and state.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports reporter Mike Tierney wrote, “So, in adding this blowhard to the cast, ESPN has done more than further blur the line between entertainment people and sports commentators. Never has someone making the transition alienated a sizable portion of the audience before uttering the first multisyllabic word.”

Seattle Post-Intelligencer sports columnist Derrick Z. Jackson wrote, “It is a touchdown at the old-boy network when ESPN hires Rush Limbaugh for pregame blabber about pro football. It is an extra point when the media think nothing of this event. They both should be penalized for roughing the past.” (Yes, as I recall there was nary a peep from the mainstream media about ESPN hiring their most popular critic.)

In early September 2003, Colorado’s Gazette sports reporter David Ramsey wrote, “Hiring Mr. Right Wing to talk about football is wrong.” He posited, “Imagine the outcry if ESPN had hired a liberal icon, say Al Franken. Conservatives, who dominate TV and radio, would howl with anger, and Bill O'Reilly, who resides in his oh-so narrow no-spin zone, would demand a congressional investigation.”

Yes, imagine the outrage! Oh wait, that quietly happened a few months ago and conservatives didn’t make a peep. This season Keith Olbermann began making weekly appearances on NBC’s “Football Night in America.” No protesting in the streets. No calls for congressional investigations. Not even any token media reports of angry reactions from conservatives.

Like Limbaugh, Olbermann started in sports reporting and later moved into political punditry. Olbermann’s a pompous jerk, but who cares if his parent company hires him to talk about football for five minutes? Perhaps Olbermann will say something offensive on “Football Night in America” and awaken the conservative beast. However, the difference between conservatives and the “Hugo Chavez Democrats” is that conservatives aren’t offended by the mere presence of those with whom they disagree. Whether it’s Ann Coulter, Rachel Marsden or Rush Limbaugh, the Left will always be more infuriated with their existence and success than by what they actually say.