Goon Show

I couldn’t help but notice the ages of the “goons” who tried to drown out Kerry with airhorns in Milwaukee yesterday:

About 30 Bush supporters chanted loudly during the speeches by Kerry and his wife, sometimes setting off air horns. The pro-Bush group was on the Kilbourn Ave. sidewalk overlooking Pere Marquette Park, almost a full block from the stage, but it could be heard throughout the park, including on stage.

Tom Lange, 18, of Waukesha said he was setting off an air horn during Kerry’s remarks because “we want them to hear us and not hear what he has to say.”

Lange said it’s “probably not nice, but it’s my beliefs.”

Michael Gaspar, 18, of Waukesha used a bullhorn frequently before and during the rally to welcome Kerry supporters “to Bush-Cheney country” and to spur on the Bush supporters.

Asked why he was leading the Bush volunteers in loud chants while Kerry was speaking, he said, “I’m doing this to show my support for President George W. Bush.”

“I have the right to speak also,” he said. “I’m just attempting to get my voice heard.”

It immediately reminded me of an article recently posted by David Niewert called “Hate Among the Young.”:

One of the most troubling aspects of the recent resurgence of white-supremacist ideology and its attendant hate crimes is the reality that young people — especially young males — are now the primary target of recruitment by hate groups.

Even if they never join such groups (which is most often the case), young men are targeted by white-supremacist ideologues specifically because they know they are likely to act out on the belief system spread by the rhetoric they engender, which is often picked up and used by non-members who are nonetheless sympathetic. Hate groups carefully tailor their messages to appeal to young men’s sensibilities, running the gamut from inflaming urban and suburban racial tensions in high schools to promoting so-called “racist rock.”

I’m not saying that these kids in Milwaukee are white supremecists. But, they are young politically aware right wingers who are using thuggish tactics. The bridge between those two points is shorter than anywhere else on the political spectrum.

This actually validates one of Niewert’s observations about how the tactics of the hate groups and militia’s are being adopted and absorbed into mainstream Republican culture. It stands to reason that young punks like these would be at the forefront.

Goon is exactly the right word for them and I would expect that we are only seeing the beginning. There is now an entire generation raised with Rush Limbaugh shouting in their ears. Eliminationist rhetoric is mother’s milk to these kids.