Fresh off having been the butt of a murder “joke” by Glenn Beck (ha ha), Nancy Pelosi today got another veiled threat of violence by an unhinged man. This time, it was the 2008 mascot of the Republican Party, “Joe” the Plumber:

For Pelosi to write about us bein’ un-American and disprespectful — I’ll tell ya what: I respect nobody who lies to me and manipulates me and takes my money and puts my children in debt. They want me to be respectful towards them? Please! You know, I’m not the most civilized person: Those kind of people, I usually took behind the woodshed and just beat the livin’ tar out of ‘em.

While we’re all quite impressed with what a rugged manly man Sam is (he also talked about disciplining his children with his feet), what I’m constantly struck by is how easily this stuff just rolls off of the tongue of people like him and Beck. It’s a second nature reaction towards any woman who dares to disagree or stand up for what they believe in. Oh, but both of them to tell their supporters (as Sam did today) that using violence against people they disagree with is wrong, in their next breath. So persuasive, that argument…

Fortunately, as I write this, Wal-Mart (yes, Wal-Mart) has just become the 20^th company over the past two weeks to pull their advertising from Glenn Beck’s crazy hate-and-tears fest. At least blatant racism, sexism and violence provocation isn’t as market-friendly as it used to be. Not that that will stop people from trying to sell it, by any means.

(crossposted at Feministe)