Salem Radio Declares War on America

As I've written before in these pages, Salem Radio Network, the extremist Right-Wing/ultra-conservative Christian mouthpiece, carefully synchronizes the message delivered by it's national hosts throughout the day. Here are a few of the most alarming themes they have been pushing the last few days:

• It's war between the Red and Blue states. When I first heard it on Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" show, I thought it was just a weak joke, but throughout the day, the intensity of the message increased. "It's time to jettison the Blue States" a carefully screened caller said. "We've got all the important stuff in the Red States, anyway." With a chuckle, Bennett (failed Secretary of Education and degenerate gambler) started a list, which subsequent callers appended. "They can keep Hollywood and Harvard, we've got Disneyworld and the Alamo." OK, funny, right? But then it got serious. "What would our immigration laws be? Would we allow guest workers from the Blue States? Since we are the states that grow all the food, we could just starve the Blue States out," the former drug czar went on. "And the Red States have all the guns, of course." One caller crossed Salem Radio's dotted line: "All the black people and Jews are in the Blue States, so we'll just have to get rid of the Mexicans." Bennett quickly mentioned that racism was a bad thing, but he let the comment ride.
• Democrats must be thrown out of churches. In every SRN show and even a few editorial segments called "Behind the News" support was shown for the Waynesville, NC pastor, Rev. Chan Chandler of the East Waynesville Baptist Church who expelled nine members of his congregation for supporting Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. "They need to either repent or resign," he said of the non-Republicans from the pulpit. He later resigned when it turned out that the North Carolina Baptist Church worried that his actions might endanger their tax-exempt status. Naturally, to the Salem Radio extremists, he's a hero and a martyr. "If it's in the Bible, it should be preached," said one supporter. I forgot which verse of the Bible says that Democrats should be thrown out of the Church, so if anyone can enlighten me, please leave a comment.
• Congressmen who don't support Bush are guilty of treason. Again, this theme started during the morning show. "Democrats who are holding up the Bolton nomination are giving succor to the enemy," ex-Secretary of Education Bill Bennett cried. "All along, the Hillary's, the Kennedy's, the Bidens are making it look like our country is divided, and this just puts ammunition in the guns of our enemies." "How do you think the Iranians, the Koreans feel when they hear all the criticism of Bush?" Laura Ingraham shrieked. "They must just celebrate. If there's another terrorist attack in this country, we'll have the Democrats to thank." By 6:00 pm, Democrats were guilty of a capital offense according to Michael Savage. "It's just treason, pure and simple," Savage cited. "And you know what we do to traitors, right?... It's time to bring back the firing squad." Let's hope the many gun nuts who listen to Salem Radio were eating dinner when he said this.