“Socialism is a cancer:” Buncombe GOP fires first video salvo

With election season revving up, the Buncombe County Republican Party is first out of the gate in Internet video volleys, with Chair Chad Nesbitt decrying “socialistic terrorism” in this pitch for the party’s 9/11 fundraiser at the Bee Tree Fire Department:

In the video, Nesbitt, who led the Carolina Stompers conservative activist group prior to his election as chair, asks for volunteers for 210 rappels down the 90-ft. tower at the Bee Tree Fire Department in Swannanoa, and Republicans to donate $100 per rappel, asserting that “in order to defend ourselves against socialistic terrorism, we need to have a large turnout of Buncombe County voters that believe in God and America.” The funds will go to purchasing local media advertising and a “guerilla marketing campaign.”

Also, “as socialism is a cancer on the United States,” Nesbitt says that a percentage of the funds raised will go to local non-profit Hunt the Cure, which sends children suffering from cancer on hunting and fishing trips.

— David Forbes, senior news reporter

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68 thoughts on ““Socialism is a cancer:” Buncombe GOP fires first video salvo

  1. The Trolls Troll

    I do find Chad and his ilk to be “repelling.” But seriously, wtf is this?

  2. Dionysis

    “Socialistic terrorism?” Puleeeeze. With this kind of initial salvo, the local Gompers could well end up being just as influential as the Stompers (meaning taken seriously by the handful of members and laughed at by most others).

    Good move. I’ll donate $100 for every god-fearin’, gun totin’, commie-hatin’ tea bagger certified Republican that can climb UP the rope.

  3. WNCGuy

    Me Nesbitt is just another one of those individuals using negative hype or elitism to excite the marginal. There’s no positive solutions offered, just a chance to join the club of the ignorant and angry.

  4. jdm

    so, bu his reckoning then, Jesus was the leading cause of cancer from the new testiment onward? Hm.

  5. Gabriel Shaffer

    Is that the Indiana Jones theme song in the background. This is pure comedy.

  6. tompeck: “I do find Chad and his ilk to be “repelling.” But seriously, wtf is this?”

    Thanks for making this thread about me. I am much more interesting than Chad Nesbitt.
    …………………………..

  7. Bert

    If voters in Western North Carolina actually believe Heath Shuler is a socialist, then they really do deserve the representation they get.

  8. stefanos311

    nothing like shooting a helpless animal than by a child who has cancer…. yeah that makes a lot sense???

  9. Lamont Cranston

    Definition of SOCIALISM (Merriam Webster Dictionary)

    1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

    Well I guess our Republican friends don’t care to have their garbage picked up, services from a police, or fire department, public and national parks, Medicare, Social Security, Public Schools, Airport security, etc., etc, and a whole host of other “socialistic” goods and services that are way to numerous to list here.

    So when is Mr. Chad Nesbitt moving to Somalia? I hear that you take care of your own “public services”, and that “Socialism” is very frowned upon there.

    I’m tired of these ignorant morons throwing around terms, and labels that they haven’t a clue as to their meanings, and how it would impact their lives. Worse yet, I am tired of the ignorant low information voters who buy into these lies, and run scared like the “sheeple” they are.

    We get the government we deserve they say, and boy, we are in for some real dark years ahead of us in this country if the sociopath Republicans and the extreme whackadoodle Tea Baggers get into power.

    This is a dark ride.

  10. Paul -V-

    I appreciate the irony of Republicans using tax-payer funded buildings to fight socialism.

    – pvh

  11. Clyde Hunnicutt

    Pick out the most unflattering frame to show Nesbitt as the “rabid rightwinger” you want to pain thim as. We expect that from you. Fact is that Nesbitt is right: socialism is a cancer on the working people. All we hasve to do is look objectively at what the Obama administration has done, or not done, in the past 2 years. Incompetent is way too mild of a descriptor for Obama. To wit: government screws up most all it touches. It can’t run the economy, it can’t run our lives, it can’t even run itself.

    I’m voting all the incumbent s OUT this year, save Burr. I’m voting for him just to irritate the guy who wrote this article. Ie: I’m smart enough to not be so easily manipulated.

  12. Piffy!

    [b]Pick out the most unflattering frame to show Nesbitt as the “rabid rightwinger” you want to pain thim as.[/b]

    The mountainXpress has no control over which of the three frames YouTube gave Nesbitt to chose from.

    So if you think that makes Nesbitt look like a “rabid rightwinger”, you might be on to something.

  13. Dionysis

    “Pick out the most unflattering frame to show Nesbitt as the “rabid rightwinger” you want to pain thim as…”

    If they’d used his high school yearbook picture, he’d still be a rabid rightwinger.

    “Fact is that Nesbitt is right: socialism is a cancer on the working people.”

    See other poster’s definition of socialism, then when you understand it, come back and revise your parrot-like comment.

    “To wit: government screws up most all it touches. It can’t run the economy, it can’t run our lives, it can’t even run itself.”

    Is that a non-partisan observation? Do you feel that Bush’s policies left the economy in great shape?

    “I’m voting all the incumbent s OUT this year, save Burr. I’m voting for him just to irritate the guy who wrote this article. Ie: I’m smart enough to not be so easily manipulated”

    There’s certainly no denying that voting for someone just to “irritate the guy who wrote this article” shows real intelligence, principle and conviction.

  14. paul_randall

    “I appreciate the irony of Republicans using tax-payer funded buildings to fight socialism.”

    Spot on, Paul.

  15. Well Chad is looking good in this clip, (in an Elvis kinda way.) But, he needs to be more inclusive here. There are different types of cancers. Both party’s have their own special set.

    Impressive that BCGOP has some healthy and in shape men who can repell……don’t think the local Democrats can beat you on that ability.

  16. Ha! Nothing makes a child forget their life-threatening condition quite like shooting an animal.
    But seriously, where can sign up to be a terrorist for socialism?

  17. shadmarsh

    I’m sure you are already on the list Thad. The only question is: can Chad read it?

  18. Paul -V-

    @Barry: I find it interesting that an organization interested in cancer research & aid would team up with a campaign based on the premise that socialism is a form of cancer.

    Most cancer research funding comes from the government. (eek SOCIALISM!) The poor, elderly, and many children depend on Medicare & Medicaid for their cancer treatments. (Moar SOCIALISM!!!) Also, thanks to healthcare reform – cancer survivors can’t be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. (OMFG OBAMA SOCIALISM!!!111)

    Ms Ponder and huntthecure.org should re-evaluate their support of NCGOP.

    – pvh

  19. LOKEL

    I really liked the part about how “a portion” of the $100 will go to kids with cancer …. what a hoot, the BCGOP trying to raise money by saying they are donating to sick children ….

    maybe Chad and his apostles should go to Florida to attend the Qu’ran burning on the same day!

  20. Barry Summers

    But seriously, where can sign up to be a terrorist for socialism?

    Chad’s handing out the targets. I wouldn’t recommend going into the woods in the near future, however. Apparently the deers have the cure for cancer and aren’t sharing it, and that’s got some patriots hopping mad. Cloven-hoofed terrorist bastards…

    Summer was fun, Fall is here, Lets go out and kill a deer.” Ted Nugent

  21. bobaloo

    Impressive that BCGOP has some healthy and in shape men who can repell……don’t think the local Democrats can beat you on that ability.

    Gravity is gravity, no matter your girth.

  22. “Gravity is gravity, no matter your girth. “

    That’s true, but depending on girth you either repel or fall.

  23. Paul -V-

    There’s a subtext here that hasn’t been discussed.

    Rappelling-for-cash is silly and a bit militaristic – but nothing unusual. It’s typical fare for a campaign fundraiser. If successful the Democrats will come up with similar ideas.

    So what’s the real message here? What inspired the NCGOP to co-brand with a charity that has nothing to do with politics?

    For a hint, keep in mind that to the RW the words “Socialism”, “Democrats”, and “progressives” are practically synonyms to each other.

    With this in mind, it’s easy to understand the commercial is a dog-whistle-style* death-threat. Nesbitt implies it’s okay to compare people you disagree with to cancer, and then shoot them.

    The message is exactly what disaffected conservatives want to hear, and will go far in encouraging them to show up.

    What makes this a particularly sneaky death-threat is that HuntTheCure unwittingly provides the NCGOP with a figleaf of cover for an extremely inflammatory, bullying attitude; well worth what little cash Nesbitt is going to give them.

    – pvh

    * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics

  24. disenfranchised voter

    Interesting that Atwater made a deathbed conversion and became regretful of his previous, cut throat ways. But Pandora’s box was opened and we’ll never be the same. Thank you Lee Atwater, (not!)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics

    ou start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger” — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

  25. Paul -V-

    Correction: Not NCGOP, I meant “Buncombe County Republican Party.”

    – pvh

  26. J

    “But obsessing about the paranoia of the masses is often a way for American elites to gloss over their own, entirely nonsymbolic failures…Today, establishment liberals would much rather fret about the insanity of the Republican base than reckon with the unpopularity of Barack Obama’s domestic program.”
    -Ross Douthat

  27. Ken Hanke

    the insanity of the Republican base than reckon with the unpopularity of Barack Obama’s domestic program

    Of course, the insanity (or inanity) of the Republican base has nothing whatever to do with creating much of that unpopularity through fear-mongering, half-truths and outright fantasy. Oh, my, no.

  28. Barry Summers

    Of course, the insanity (or inanity) of the Republican base has nothing whatever to do with creating much of that unpopularity through fear-mongering, half-truths and outright fantasy. Oh, my, no.

    Death Panels! Death Panels! Death Panels!

  29. Ken Hanke

    Can someone get Chad to define “Socialistic Terrorism”?

    Chad has no idea what it means, but it sure sounds impressive and ominous.

  30. Barry Summers

    Can someone get Chad to define “Socialistic Terrorism”?

    Anything to the left of Hermann Goering.

  31. maggie1

    And his fundraiser for kids suffereing with cancer is hid answer to “healthcare” I guess?

  32. Barry Summers

    And his fundraiser for kids suffereing with cancer is hid answer to “healthcare” I guess?

    Actually, it’s sad to say, but I think Paul V. has it right – this whole thing is meant to not-so-subtly link Democratic-voting American citizens with something you should murder with a shotgun. I absolutely believe that Chad is capable of something that psychotic.

    Saw a bumper sticker the other day:

    If You Take Away Our Guns, What Will We Shoot Liberals With?

  33. mule

    Asheville is indeed the performance art capitol of the Southeast.

    Does anyone know about the legality of publicly funded fire stations lending their facilities to shameless displays of this nature?

  34. Clyde Hunnicutt

    100 out of 100 normal everyday Americans agree, Obama IS a socialist. And that is why he is in so much political trouble. He is not only a socialist, he is incompetent and arrogant. That’s a prescription for trouble. And that’s what we have folks, T R O U B L E. I predict the republicans will retake the House of Representatives and perhaps even the Senate in the next election.

    And socialism is only part of the reason people are so disappointed, and angry, with Obama. A vacation in Martha’s Vineyard in a $50,000 weekly rental beach house. A vacation get away most every other weekend. A vacation by Michelle without Barack, to Spain, along with her large group of friends and bodyguards, on the “royal” plan. God only knows how much that cost us. And this while unemployment is double digits, taxes are set to rise for working people in January 2011 while their healthcare insurance premiums go up. H Y P O C R I S Y.

    Socialism for the regular working person and high living hypocrisy for the elite, ruling government class. That’s what we don’t like. And our votes will speak loudly in 3 weeks.

  35. Ken Hanke

    100 out of 100 normal everyday Americans agree, Obama IS a socialist.

    Wrap yourself in your self-defined normalcy and the flag. That’s always so convincing.

    He is not only a socialist, he is incompetent and arrogant

    He’s got nothing on Chad in the last two categories.

  36. Ken Hanke

    I see the mods are asleep again and allowing Cullen to post his rantings.

    Yes, there’s more than a slight odor of Cullenation about it.

  37. Dionysis

    “100 out of 100 normal everyday Americans agree, Obama IS a socialist.”

    That’s nonsense, pulled out of the thin air which occupies the craniums of those who accept such bilge. Why the aversion to an encyclopedia to help overcome such blatant ignorance?

    “God only knows how much that cost us”

    It doesn’t take a divine being to know that George W. Bush took more vacation days than any other U.S. president (one third of his time in office); it ran into the millions. Were you outraged then?

    “while unemployment is double digits, taxes are set to rise for working people in January 2011 while their healthcare insurance premiums go up.”

    We were left with double-digit unemployment levels by the truly incompetent Bush junta; since his departure, we’ve gone from losing over 600,000 per month to job gains (modest though they are right now). On taxes, this chart shows the difference in tax cuts between the two parties:

    http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/08/the_bush_tax_plan_vs_the_obama.html

    And with respect to health insurance premiums going up, that is largely due to the fact that Obama essentially acquiesced to the for-profit insurance companies who now are in complete control of health care delivery, with little in the way of regulatory protection to mitigate premium increases. That is hardly an example of socialism (public ownership of the means of production and allocation of resources). But evidently it’s easier to level spurious charges when not armed with facts.

  38. Barry Summers

    Whew. That is some scary guy. A true wild-eyed loon. You’re right. Chad Nesbitt seems like Mother Teresa in comparison.

    Although, truth is, I think this guy is actually sincere, but psycho in his presentation, whereas Chad is reasonable in his presentation & psycho underneath…

  39. Barry Summers

    “We did it all for the victims of 9/11, and to defend America.” Chad Nesbitt

    Thanks Jake & Michael. You’re going to hell, Chad.

  40. Clyde Hunnicutt

    Hey, socialism may be a cancer to us working people. But the government needs more of our money, don’t ya know. Obama is planning more vacations on the royal plan. Teachers’ and auto workers’ unions need more payoffs, and slush fund pork barrels need continuous filling…generally speaking. Hey you earned it, but whose money is it anyway?

  41. Dionysis

    To all the terminally confused who continue to show a clear lack of even basic understanding of ‘socialism’, please sign this pledge and mail it to your both your Senate and Congressional representatives, along with the relevant agencies:

    I, ________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:
    I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.
    I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.
    I will forswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.
    I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:
    · Social Security
    · Medicare/Medicaid
    · State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
    · Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
    · US Postal Service
    · Roads and Highways
    · Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
    · The US Railway System
    · Public Subways and Metro Systems
    · Public Bus and Light rail Systems
    · Rest Areas on Highways
    · Sidewalks
    · All Government-Funded Local/State Projects (e.g., see Iowa 2009 federal senate appropriations)
    · Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)
    · Public and State Universities and Colleges
    · Public Primary and Secondary Schools
    · Sesame Street
    · Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children
    · Public Museums
    · Libraries
    · Public Parks and Beaches
    · State and National Parks
    · Public Zoos
    · Unemployment Insurance
    · Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
    · Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
    · Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
    · Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)
    · Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD’s ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking
    · Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies
    · Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies
    If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forgo my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care
    I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
    I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist locations, including but not limited to:
    · Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
    · The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments
    · The government-operated Statue of Liberty
    · The Grand Canyon
    · The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials
    · The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
    · All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC
    I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forgo their government salary and government-provided health care.
    I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.
    I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army.
    I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.
    Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.
    Upon reaching age 65, I will forgo Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I die.
    SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF __________ IN THE YEAR ___.
    _____________
    Signed
    _________________________
    Printed Name/Town and State

  42. Piffy!

    [b]Hey, socialism may be a cancer to us working people. But the government needs more of our money, don’t ya know. Obama is planning more vacations on the royal plan. Teachers’ and auto workers’ unions need more payoffs, and slush fund pork barrels need continuous filling…generally speaking. Hey you earned it, but whose money is it anyway? [/b]

    “Clyde”–I find it suspect that you never seemed to have any complaints about Bush’s NUMEROUS vacation days.

    Your angst appears very one-sided. Almost partisan some might say. As if your REAL complaint is merely with the President’s “D”, and not his actual actions or policies, which dont differ much from the guy you likely once supported.

  43. twinkie223

    What some people call socialism, the rest of us call basic human compassion. I have a friend who lives in Germany. He and his wife just had a baby. Their prenatal care, office visits, doctor delivery, hospital stay, medications, and attending nurses cost them exactly zero dollars. Ask him if he thinks socialism is a cancer.

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