Reader: Mike Coffman shouldn’t be laughed off as a birther nut

Our post about Rachel Maddow’s takedown of Mike Coffman over his recent birther comments spurred lots of vituperative debate in the comments section.

Here’s the view of a reader who feels that laughing off Coffman’s comments or dismissing him as a fringe character are the wrong tactics.

Coach writes:

I think some are missing the point, in the same way some missed the significance of the Pat Buchanan dust up. Dismissing Mr. Coffman as a looney or as a laughing stock, as Mr. Griffin dismissed Mr. B’s book, is irresponsible because it downplays the significance of the event, which people read as unimportant, encouraging smug complacency. One can see that in this comments section. Where one reads things like he should resign, rather than I am going to call my Congressperson or his Congressperson to make my feelings known. When Mr. Griffin, the president of MSNBC, said some of Pat Buchanan’s comments were not fit for discussion he missed a wonderful opportunity to have the kind of racial debate America so solely needs and to make clear to the American public how deeply ingrained views of white superiority are in culture, especially republican white culture. Mr. Coffman views were an example of that very racism. America should be outraged at this, but we laugh it off as minor. Mr. Coffman is not a nut, he is far more dangerous than that: He’s an intelligent bigot with political power and reach who should be feared and respected. Remember the audience, educated and well heeled, clapped at his remarks. Democrats and progressives need to wake up and realize what the Republicans have been dong since the Tea Party took over and what their goal is: The annihilation of progressive and Democrats regardless of their gender, color, faith, sexuality, union affiliation or any cultural modifier.

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