Democratic Assasination?

Over the weekend, someone apparently used a 3rd party Facebook application to publish a poll begging the rather unaskable question; "should obama be killed?" So, it took a few days to gain some traction, someone on Twitter brought it to the attention of some blogger who brought it to the attention of the Secret Service, then the major news outlets caught wind, and in the end, after a few days, it was pulled -- after over 750 people voted on it.

Wow. Perhaps the most frightening feature of this poll, which can be seen here, is the answer selection given by the pollster, probably a youngster with little knowledge of capital letters living in a home perpetually tuned in to Fox News and Conservative talk radio. The answer, "if he cuts my health care," is just the latest proof of the volatility that the far-right has injected into this dispute. The far-right's fringe arguments, however -- the impending imposition of "death panels," government oversight meaning the complete obliteration of private insurance and a loss of healthcare for the middle-class, etc. -- seem to be making a rapid transit into the mainstream Conservative debate. When Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, and Rush Limbaugh's crazy talk becomes commonly repeated by people much closer and much more moderate than the extreme Conservatives that I have witnessed only in faceless YouTube comments, not only do I get scared, but we, as a society, rapidly lose the ability to have thoughtful discourse on anything, healthcare or otherwise. Once that goes out the window, it's only a matter of time before people actually think ridiculous things, like killing the president is the best way to make sure he doesn't take away their healthcare. Oh, wait...