Resentment in the heart of the Family (NZ Herald on The Family, Birthers & US Healthcare)

If this is what passes for mainstream politics among some C Street conservatives, perhaps it is not surprising that the twilight zone occupied by America's far right - a shadowy swamp awash with conspiracy theories, racism, anti-Semitism, gun rights and a pervasive sense of victimhood - has emitted scary signals since President Obama's election.

Rallies to promote the president's health care plan are disrupted by ugly scenes, where right-wingers - some waving "Death to Obama" signs (a Maryland sign added "Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids"), or carrying weapons (sidearms and assault rifles were in evidence at an Arizona rally this week) - rail against "socialism" (probably the worst slur in the conservative cannon) and "death panels".

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There is a distinct echo of the Angry White Men who emerged in the Clinton era. Back then anti-Washington sentiment fuelled the militia movement and fostered right-wing paranoia about UN takeovers among the "black helicopter" crowd, whose zealots included Timothy McVeigh and John Nichols who killed 165 people in the 1995 Oklahoma bombing.

But this time round, with a black man in the White House, and shifting demographics that are changing the character of America, there is a racist edge. White resentment, and fears of being dispossessed as once marginalised groups flex their political muscle - an ugly vein tapped during the election campaign, when the Republicans championed "Joe the Plumber" as the archetypal, downtrodden white guy - exploded in July with the fracas over the arrest of a black scholar, Henry Louis Gates Jr, by a white policeman, James Crowley.

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Back in the Clinton era, extremism flowed via AM and shortwave radio. Today it flourishes on the internet and in the mainstream media. CNN's Lou Dobbs, a TV populist, gives a platform to birthers, and talk radio host Rush Limbaugh says Obama wants to impose "government control over life and death".

The most incendiary figure is Fox TV host Glenn Beck. He depicts Obama as a "racist" who has "a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture".

After Obama was elected Beck pondered secession, a diehard right-wing fantasy. Last time that happened, Lincoln freed the slaves.

"Dobbs and Beck are voicing what are essentially idiotic conspiracy theories," says Beirich of this Alice-like reality.

"That's really scary. Where does the mainstream end? And where does the fringe begin? How do you know?"