In my column of Sept. 27, I commented that I believed extremist right-wing anti-government rhetoric contributed to the death of 51-year-old census worker Bill Sparkman. Sparkman had been found in a county of Kentucky with a rope around his neck and the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest. His death was recently declared to be an elaborate suicide, made to look like a murder for the alleged purpose of a life insurance payoff to his family.
Unfortunately, the suicide scene Sparkman apparently concocted was entirely plausible as a homicide. While I regret jumping to an erroneous conclusion in the death of Mr. Sparkman, the rage from radical conservatives is no less divisive and dangerous.
Conservative friends ---- yes, I do have some ---- send me anti-Obama propaganda that apparently spreads like wildfire across e-mail chains. I am truly shocked and saddened by a political movement bent on nonstop attacks on the president of the United States of America.
It's no wonder that polls show President Barack Obama's approval rating slipping when the so-called liberal media constantly broadcasts right-wing attacks on the White House over virtually every single issue. Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck and O'Reilly are household names taking up hours of media time on TV and radio. I could easily name another half-dozen conservative media celebrities, but there are only a handful of progressive hosts on television and radio. Still, the right-wing programs saturating the public airwaves make claims of a liberal media bias!
As leader of the conservative media movement, Rush Limbaugh has declared that he wants President Barack Obama ---- or at least his policies ---- to fail. What kind of patriotism is that?
An accusation of a liberal agenda of hate against President George W. Bush doesn't mask the reality of actual policy failures being responsible for his demise in popularity.
I would have loved for Bush's policies to succeed. I wish our cowboy president had tracked down Osama bin Laden and found the illusive menacing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but those empty promises didn't happen. I wish tax breaks for the rich and deregulation of financial markets had resulted in mass wealth for the American people. Instead, the Bush administration left office with the country in financial ruin.
Nobody wanted Bush or his policies to fail, but his presidency was consistently disastrous. Why would any American from any political party want our president to fail?
Although conservative corporate media was not directly responsible for the death of Bill Sparkman, anti-government rhetoric played a part in his suicide of deceit. Furthermore, conservative fiscal policies may have contributed to Sparkman's desperation to provide for his family's financial future by committing suicide and insurance fraud.
Growing up, I would sometimes stay up late watching TV and the broadcasting day would end with a patriotic playing of our national anthem. Country came first before any political ideology.
PAUL JACOBS writes from Temecula. Contact him at TemeculaPaul@aol.com.
