John L. Perry called for a “military intervention” of the Obama Administration at NewsMax.com. The article apparently has been removed. It went too far even for NewsMax. Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars quotes some of it:
There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the Obama problem. Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.
America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it. So, view the following through military eyes:
Top military officers can see the Constitution they are sworn to defend being trampled as American institutions and enterprises are nationalized.
They can see that Americans are increasingly alarmed that this nation, under President Barack Obama, may not even be recognizable as America by the 2012 election, in which he will surely seek continuation in office.
They can see that the economy ravaged by deficits, taxes, unemployment, and impending inflation is financially reliant on foreign lender governments.
Media Matters quotes some of it:
America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it.
[…]
Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the national equivalent of a “family intervention,” with some form of limited, shared responsibility?
Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making.
Military intervention is what Obama’s exponentially accelerating agenda for “fundamental change” toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama’s radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.
Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem. Just don’t shrug and say, “We can always worry about that later.”
In the 2008 election, that was the wistful, self-indulgent, indifferent reliance on abnegation of personal responsibility that has sunk the nation into this morass.
Talk away. I have a dreadful cold and am going back to bed.
I ask myself sometimes, if a military commander who’s batshit-crazy (like Mr. Perry) attempted a coup, and armored vehicles rolled through the streets of the state capital where I live, how much of the population would have the guts to stand up to them? More importantly… would I have the guts? Or would I just hide in the house, watching it all unfold on teevee while hoping that no one notices my voter registration is a (D) and decides I should join the crowds being marched up to the landfill and shot.
I guess it all comes down to: under what circumstances do I still want to live? Is it worth it to sit by and hide and survive, letting this country revert to crap-and-then-some at the hands of the John L. Perrys, and then in five years or ten, I die of cancer or something anyway? Or is it better to stand up and go outside, and perhaps die fighting the batshit-crazies?
I’d go outside. Oh, hell yes.
And so would a lot of other people. So it only adds to this chump Perry’s many delusions that he thinks his coup would be “civilized.”
The awesome power of Wingnut Projection continues to astound me.
Top military officers can see the Constitution they are sworn to defend being trampled as American institutions and enterprises are nationalized.
They can see that the economy ravaged by deficits, taxes, unemployment, and impending inflation is financially reliant on foreign lender governments.
Just what was Perry doing during the last eight years? Defending every unconstitutional, economically reckless thing Bush did, I have no doubt.
A still-reasonably popular president, democratically elected with a clear voter mandate, doing what he said he would during the campaign = “trampling on American institutions”. A bogus incompetent clown who lost the popular vote and would have lost the Florida recount if it hadn’t been stopped, installed in office by Antonin Scalia = “still recognizably America”, . Got it.
If we didn’t take to the streets after a military coup, we would deserve what we got.
Last time I looked, the Constitution says very little about the specific economic system we use, but it says in big black letters that the military is subordinate to the elected civilian officials, including the President, who is commander-in-chief. Perry fails to explain why, in order to save the Constitution from amorphous threats he imagines, these hypothetical military men would choose to ignore that very specific language they have sworn to obey.
Digby covered this over at Hullabaloo yesterday. Imagine if a liberal had suggested a military coup to oust Bush and his cronies, even though they demonstrably disobeyed the Constitution, whereas Obama has operated well within his Constitutionally-defined powers? They would have certainly been arrested and probably tortured. Unbe-fucking-lievable. These right-wing assholes think they get an automatic “do-over”, just because they don’t like a Democratic president’s policies.
I would like to hear what happened to cause them to take it down.
It is just that type of “free speech” that incites other insane people to murder census takers and act out their insanity.
This part –
They can see that the economy ravaged by deficits, taxes, unemployment, and impending inflation is financially reliant on foreign lender governments. –
REALLY makes me furious. They can see that now eh? Well! I guess they are still blind when it comes to who got us into this mess that President Obama is trying to get us out of. They don’t seem to remember the economy was collapsing BEFORE the election. If they want to worry about deficits, you can’t get more to worry about than the 4 trillion shrub went through. Not mentioning the personal wealth that disappeared when the stock market started free falling. Taxes? Huh! Who did they think would be paying for those unfunded tax cuts for the rich? How high was the trade deficit with China BEFORE the election? It was mega high! It was so high.. people were having to think of creative things to do with all of those freight cars coming over here.
I wonder where their vision was for the past decade? Must have been where the sun doesn’t shine.
Someone in the secret service should pay “John L. Perry” a little visit in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again (except his lawyers of course we aint bu$hco). Is calling for the overthrow goverment even legal? NewsMAx, what can the average IQ be of the dimwits that read that useless fucking cyber rag?
Here is the part that bothers me. In a country with 330 million people you are going to get the bat sh*t crazies and because some of the mass media is controlled by batsh*t crazies there is always going to be an outlet for them. The internet helps balance things a bit but gives the whackos like Perry another outlet. I can live with all of that, but with an all volunteer military, we have set ourselves up for a situation where a group of professional, batsh*t crazy military folks could stage a coup. If I recall my history correctly Rome ceased being a republic about the time it turned to professional soldiers. Bring back the draft and defend the second amendment.
I read the piece on the original site yesterday, and I wish I had saved a file copy under “sedition” to put it all here for everyone to see. The key part is the “recognizable as America” phrase. I wonder why Mr. Perry doesn’t recognize America when he sees President Obama in front of him. He evidently had no problem recognizing America when he saw W. Wonder why?
The last time there was a planned coup attempt was about this time in FDRs first term. JP Morgan and Irenee duPonte were the major players – some of the conservative democrats the FDR opposed, including Al Davis, and a number of bit players, including Prescott Bush also joined. Conservatives of both parties were flirting with fascism at this time – from how things looked in Italy & Germany you could suppress any faction, including the growing labor movement. The plan was to get General Smdley Butler, a famous (at that time) decorated retired marine general to lead a half million armed WWI vererans on Washington.
It might have worked except Butler did not go for the idea but played along to to discover who the traitors were. That threw off the timing of the coup – Butler testified before a House subcommittee, His testimony was suppressed and the FDR administration burried the matter. The ‘front man’ could have been convicted but was never indicted – he died of natural causes 4 months after General Butler testified. Doncha love coincidences. History that’s not in the history books but you can search under ‘Wall Street Plot” for summaries of the incident.
[W]ith an all volunteer military, we have set ourselves up for a situation where a group of professional, batsh*t crazy military folks could stage a coup.
Actually, terry, on further reflection I wonder if that would be what happens, at the present time, anyway. A commenter to this story over on HuffPo pointed out that, because the neo- and other cons haven’t sent their kids into the military lately (i.e., since WWII), the all-volunteer military has a huge number of recruits of color who respect Obama and see him as a perfectly legitimate commander-in-chief. Those men and women are courageous, angry, and they know where the guns and ammo are stored. If there are any divisions made up entirely of Abu Ghraib-abuser-type poor, uneducated whites (John L. Perry’s target audience), they could try a coup, but the first backlash they’d encounter would come from within the military itself.
If Perry’s whole scenario weren’t so blatantly undemocratic and evil, it would be pitiful. I think he misjudges all the actors in his pipe dream, from start to finish. Plus, he’s rallied support for Obama just by briefly publishing his foul little call-to-arms. As Nelson Muntz the cartoon bully would say: “HA-ha.”
Actually, terry, on further reflection I wonder if that would be what happens, at the present time, anyway. A commenter to this story over on HuffPo pointed out that, because the neo- and other cons haven’t sent their kids into the military lately (i.e., since WWII), the all-volunteer military has a huge number of recruits of color who respect Obama and see him as a perfectly legitimate commander-in-chief. Those men and women are courageous, angry, and they know where the guns and ammo are stored. If there are any divisions made up entirely of Abu Ghraib-abuser-type poor, uneducated whites (John L. Perry’s target audience), they could try a coup, but the first backlash they’d encounter would come from within the military itself.
I was thinking the same thing. I really am not concerned about the regular military being manipulated into taking part in a coup. It’s interesting, though, that conservatives tend to assume the military is an auxiliary of the Conservative Movement.
Damn! I agree with you. That piece was wacko insane, and Newsmax should have made some sort of announcement (if they’ve made one, I can’t find it) about taking it down.
Personally I find sexual fantasies most gratifying but, if Perry can get off on visions of manly nation building warriors and star studded Generals who defend the Constitution— then let him enjoy his fantasy. To each his own!
The page is still in Google:
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:st9T5Lydw4kJ:www.newsmax.com/john_perry/obama_military_coup/2009/09/29/266012.html+newsmax+john+perry&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Posted by: Al Swearengen on September 30, 2009 at 5:00 PM |
A commenter at The Washington Monthly provided this.
If I recall my history correctly Rome ceased being a republic about the time it turned to professional soldiers.
I’m more concerned about the massive increase in the use of mercenary outfits like Blackwater, which are stuffed to the gills with hard right-fascist mentalities and close ties to the Republicans and major corporations. There is a long history of such outfits turning violently on their employers.
Of course, large swaths of the regular military hate them for their cowboy arrogance in Iraq, and would happily wipe the floor with them if they tried anything seriously traitorous.
Kyle — Good point about Blackwater.
Seven Days in October? Who hates America now?
Good points about the mercenaries. I understand that we have a lot of enlisted personnel who are people of color and would probably have trouble with the idea of a military coup, but I think conservatives–rich or otherwise- still send their kids to the military academies and the mercenary outfits generally recruit ex military and military wannabes–who were too batsh*t crazy-for the military. I guess I would prefer that predator drones, bunker busting bombs and other military hardware, was operated by groups of people who rotated every few years.
I guess I would prefer that predator drones, bunker busting bombs and other military hardware, was operated by groups of people who rotated every few years.
Agreed. The present situation is still very dangerous and could be manipulated by the right crazies in the right places. And yeah, Crapwater/Xe would be at the front of it all, I expect.
To be fair, Martin Lewis suggested at the Huffington Post that Gen. Peter Pace arrest Bush in 2007–though he insisted that arresting and court-marshaling the president wasn’t a coup: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-lewis/general-pace-you-can-save_b_61785.html