Was the right this rabid under Clinton?

[SpaceProg]

I don't remember it being so crazy-go-nuts either.  Though I DO believe the internet has played a large part in stoking fires that otherwise would have smouldered quietly.

[RavynousHunter]

Recent right-wing insanity: GIFT in action.

[Fpqxz]

I can say with certainty that it was nowhere this insane. This madness seems to have only come about in the last decade or so. If they were this mad back in the day, I never would have been a Repub.

I respectfully disagree.  I think the level of craziness we are seeing today was already present under Clinton, and in fact had been present in some form in U.S. politics for a long time, even prior to WWII.  A lot of the same criticisms Obama is facing now were thrown at FDR and his New Deal (e.g. that he was a socialist, fascist, etc.).

Remember also that the Republican Revolution of 1994 and the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 both happened during Clinton's first term.

The point was not to uphold the law. The point was to headhunt a political opponent. And they were willing to outright abuse their power of impeachment to do it.

He was IMPEACHED for nothing. The Republicans (and even some Democrats, to their utter shame) abused their most serious power. They've done nothing like that for Obama.

I agree with Lt. Fred on this one.  The Republicans hated Clinton at least as much as they hate Obama, though for slightly different reasons.  The only difference is, this time the GOP has yet to find sufficient ammunition to go after the Obama administration.

When did adultery become illegal?

I thought it was.

Just as a point of law, adultery is prosecutable in the military under Article 134 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice under certain circumstances, and is usually grounds for divorce in most states.  It is not, to my knowledge, a prosecutable offense under the civilian criminal laws of the United States or any state or territory, and has not been for some time.

[Distind]

The crazy was there, but back in the early 90s not every nutbar in his mountain cabin could have internet access. Now they can, and it seems like they do.

One of the things people credit the internet with, that whole bit about forming communities based on commonalities not found locally. It isn't all roses when you realize the psychotics get a go at it too.

[Old Viking]

Infants in their infancy, adults in their adultery ...

Not exactly pertinent, but I thought I'd toss it out there.

[SpaceProg]

Recent right-wing insanity: GIFT in action.

Guy In Fancy Turban

Gene Influencing for Flatulence Termination

Get In the Fucking TARDIS

...?

[Saturn500]

Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/

[Cerim Treascair]

Recent right-wing insanity: GIFT in action.

Guy In Fancy Turban

Gene Influencing for Flatulence Termination

Get In the Fucking TARDIS

...?

Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory, Proggy.

As defined by the Penny Arcade webcomic:  Average person + Anonyimity + Internet = Fuckwad

[Saturn500]

A bit late there, Priestling.

[Cerim Treascair]

by two minutes and seventeen seconds, Saturn.  I was catching up on the thread.

[SpaceProg]

Thanks you two.  That would have been my next guess.  Really... :p

[tempus]

Kinda close.   The far right has a shrill, hysterical edge to it that it didn't seem to have in the 90s (okay, MORE shrill and hysterical, I mean), and the obstructionism is even greater, but yeah.  Chalk it up to the fact that the president is near, the religious hysteria is much greater, and the average age of the religious right is "ancient."   

But...yeah.  It was a pale, watered-down version of the sheer psychotic batfuckery that we're experiencing now, but it was sort of close.  If Obama wins in November, look for them to start impeachment proceedings at some point regardless of what he (a) did or (b) didn't do.  Everything old is new again.

[TheBurningOne]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UwJYfTC9Hw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UwJYfTC9Hw</a>

[R. U. Sirius]

Kinda close.   The far right has a shrill, hysterical edge to it that it didn't seem to have in the 90s (okay, MORE shrill and hysterical, I mean), and the obstructionism is even greater, but yeah.  Chalk it up to the fact that the president is near, the religious hysteria is much greater, and the average age of the religious right is "ancient."   

But...yeah.  It was a pale, watered-down version of the sheer psychotic batfuckery that we're experiencing now, but it was sort of close.  If Obama wins in November, look for them to start impeachment proceedings at some point regardless of what he (a) did or (b) didn't do.  Everything old is new again.

Near where I live, one person has a sign in their van window that says "Yes we can...impeach Obama!"

This was put up about a month after his initial inauguration.

Yeah... I think I'll go curl up in a corner and weep for America now.

[Bezron]

Kinda close.   The far right has a shrill, hysterical edge to it that it didn't seem to have in the 90s (okay, MORE shrill and hysterical, I mean), and the obstructionism is even greater, but yeah.  Chalk it up to the fact that the president is near, the religious hysteria is much greater, and the average age of the religious right is "ancient."   

But...yeah.  It was a pale, watered-down version of the sheer psychotic batfuckery that we're experiencing now, but it was sort of close.  If Obama wins in November, look for them to start impeachment proceedings at some point regardless of what he (a) did or (b) didn't do.  Everything old is new again.

What everyone is missing is the fact that Rush Limbaugh was a new thing back in the Clinton days.  Yes, there was right wing radio/talk shows, but it was largely relegated to AM stations and only listened to by the super crazy conspiracy theorists.  Fox News at that time was very subtle about being the media arm of the GOP.  In the time since, there has been an explosion on that type of thing, which has only served to whip the crazies into a frenzy and infect supposedly "normal" conservatives.