Climate of hate: New Jersey teachers ratchet up the vitriol against Christie

He’s trying to cut spending, isn’t he? Well, then, he’s obviously a racist who deserves what he gets.

Henceforth, instead of “teachers,” I shall call them “schoolbaggers.” Where did these dirty ‘baggers learn such hate, my friends?

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In Facebook messages visible to the world — not to mention their students — the teachers have called Christie fat, compared him to a genocidal dictator and wished he was dead. The postings are often riddled with bad grammar and misspellings.

“Never trust a fat f…,” read one profane post on the Facebook page, “New Jersey Teachers United Against Governor Chris Christie’s Pay Freeze,” which has some 69,000 fans, many of them teachers.

“How do you spell A– hole? C-H-R-I-S C-H-R-I-S-T-I-E,” read another…

One educator, a librarian with a Master’s degree, described the cuts as “rediculous.”

“Remember Pol Pot, dictator of Cambodia?” warned another. “He reigned in terror, his target was teachers and intellectuals. They were either killed or put into forced labor… King Kris Kristy is headed in this direction.”

In fairness, Clinton mentioned Christie as being a target of incendiary rhetoric in his Oklahoma City interview with Tapper over the weekend. What he didn’t mention, conveniently, was any culpability for mainstream liberals in inspiring this sort of reaction to smaller government. When “teabaggers” spout off, there’s a galaxy of accomplices — talk radio, right-wing media, and of course the blogosphere, all of which Billy Jeff named as culprits — but “schoolbaggers,” naturally enough, act alone. I’m tempted to speculate that maybe that’s because this whole line of argument by the left is aimed at silencing mainstream critics of their policies via guilt by association, which of course is the last thing they’d want to do to mainstream critics of the right on their own side. So yeah, while the “Pol Pot” comparisons might be a bit much, the traditional liberal talking point that tough budget cuts illustrate the basic heartlessness of demonic conservatives is still pretty much kosher.

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Exit question: If Clinton did want to blame a mainstream lefty media outlet for inspiring this sort of thing, who could he pick, really? Liberal talk radio doesn’t exist and, compared to Fox, no one watches MSNBC.

Update: A commenter notes that the teachers’ vitriol isn’t any worse than what you’d find in the comments on the average blog, including this one. True enough, and that’s the point. No one thinks the teachers are going to bomb the governor’s mansion; in fact, Ed correctly laughed off the idea that the “death threat” in that union memo about Christie was even remotely serious. Put the same sentiments in the mouths of conservatives, though, and it’s time for a national summit on Rush Limbaugh’s hatemongering or whatever.

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