There’s (still) so much to write about – two wars where people are dying but not at a rate sufficeint to gain the attention of the American public or the so-called “liberal media,” a crashing economy (get a load of Wall Street, advancing almost 1000 points on just horrible news – go figure), a government that is led by people who rightly should be in prison, and, along with many other topics, an historic election. I wanted to write about the economy and my thoughts about the bailout going for things like executive compensation packages, dividends for common stock holders, or recipients buying the companies they are supposed to be helping – or I really am getting “pumped” to write about Dick Cheney – want to know why? Read “Angler” – it will totally blow your mind. But after listening to a couple of my acquaintences spewing the garbage and hate that is the result of the republican “water carriers” at Fox “news” (not to mention Limbaugh and the others on right wing radio talk shows) I have to write about the election.
Today I have listened to two relatively intelligent friends of mine point out that Obama is a socialist, communist, or whatever the latest sleaze coming from the republican “attack machine.” I have gotten to the point where I realize it’s not even worth responding. However, I see a big problem on the horizan. Actually, several problems, but I’ll start with the one that is the most alarming. These republicans have the wagons circled, and they are already setting up for the “battle” of the next 8 years (I’m sure they are looking at it as the next 4 years). They are spreading such unbelievable lies that in my heart I keep telling myself even the republican faithful won’t fall for this. The problem is that they not only will, they are. These people, and now I’m talking about the people behind the scenes who are the masters at brain washing, who have managed to get a bunch of working class Americans to consistently vote against their own self-interests by being incredibly good liars, are outdoing themselves which is incredible in its own right.
The people who are the victims are mostly the “religious right” as they are commonly referred to in the media – I call them the “religious wrong.” I listened to someone tonight say something like “When Obama introduces socialism he better watch out. He’s a Marxist. He’s not going to live long.” I couldn’t even respond. This is the same person who, when I showed him evidence that John McCain’s campaign manager had collected over $2 million from Freddie Mac in lobbying payments “for a direct connection to McCain” – irrefutable evidence – but not what he’s hearing from O’reilly and Hannity and Limbaugh et al – he threw the papers on the ground and said “This is the NY Times, it’s liberal B32 Sh@*!” All I can do is pray for him and people who think like this – and then brace myself for the slime they are going to throw at Obama because they follow these lying pundits as if they were sheep.
John Dean’s Conservatives without Conscience should be required reading in this country – especially after withstanding an administration that has pushed our democracy dangerously in the direction of facism. This group of “Christians” are willing to believe anything they hear from the pundits that are simply repeating the republican “talking points.” I suppose they think the democrats are incompetent or they lack unity because they don’t have a comparable strategy of people going from one talk show to another saying the exact same lie over and over until people actually believe it and think it’s true. Now, I’m not denying that the democrats have, out of necessity, dumbed down their conversation because of the effects of the “liberal” media’s focus on “sound bites.” I do blame the consolidation of the media for the reality that politicians of every “brand” have to be careful what they say and you end up hearing cliche’ after cliche’ while they are campaigning. It probably is true that they are campaigning to a “low information” electorate, by and large. But the lying and the type of lies the republicans – the pundits, the supporters – Guliani, Romney, etc., McCain himself, and more directly Sarah Palin is beyond deplorable.
One after another of their lies gets debunked, yet they keep saying them to the “base.” The only explanation for this is the strategy has worked in the past and if it doesn’t work they are still preparing for “post election.” It’s not hard to remember how toxic the environment was when Clinton was president. Now, I did not appreciate, approve, condone, or anything else Clinton’s behavior with Monica Lewinsky. But eight years of one accusation after another, one exorbitant claim after another, the destruction of people in the Clinton “circle” being considered OK – it was sickening. And I’m certain the republicans are planning their strategy already to be on the 100% attack mode with Obama right from the start. I expect it to start before January 20th. Palin is riling up people to the point that if someone attempts to assasinate Obama, as far as I’m concerned it will be on her and McCain. Besides being unqualified to be commander in chief, besides being ignorant as to how the government actually works, besides being unethical in her own job in Alaska, besides being affiliated with a successionist group in Alaska connected to the John Birch society – each one, in its own right, disqualifying her from the office McCain and the republicans nominated her to – Sarah Palin is an extraordinary liar who is whipping up anti-Obama fervor by calling him things like “un-American,” “terrorist,” “socialist,” and even “communist.”
Forgive my “french” but I have no idea how in the hell Tom Delay (another “toxin” expert) could even be considered an “expert” by any TV station, yet I heard him in an interview with Chris Matthews on MSNBC say Obama was a Marxist at one point and a communist at another point. With the absurdity of the statements aside, what does that tell us about the state of the media in our nation. Delay was implying the same old crap about Obama’s association on an education board with Bill Ayers (a board on which they were both chosen by the staunchly republican Annenberg foundation) some 20+ years ago as making Obama a terrorist, a marxist, and a communist. This is coming from a man who left congress in disgrace, who is waiting trial on money laundering charges in Texas, who was the closest associate of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff – Delay’s chief of staff is in prison for his dealings with Abramoff, along with other close associates. How does a man like this even rate a spot on TV – any TV including Fox. Does no one there have any principle at all? And for Matthews to allow this thug to sit on national TV and recklessly accuse Obama of being a communist or marxist – do they think no one is watching? It only takes one whacko – well one more than Delay – to turn his “spot” on TV into a tragedy.
I really hope this isn’t the kind of crap we are going to have to listen to for the next 8 years – I really do! This is why it is paramount for all Obama supporters to demand accountability for Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Gonzales/Feith/Addington/and all of the rest of the people who advocated things like torture, wiretapping w/o a warrant, outing a CIA agent, and illegally invading Iraq based on lies – purposeful lies that they knew full well were lies. As I’ve said on earlier posts, these republicans need to be a thing of the past. I understand Obama’s desire to “unite” this country, but this “base” doesn’t want to be united. I’m guessing about half of them hate the idea of an African American as president. And the other half will continue to listen to these hate mongers like Hannity, O’reilly, Limbaugh, and the others – I don’t know who the others are because I long ago got in the habit of refusing to allow their garbage into my head, so I don’t listen to it. I think another of the names is Savage – but I haven’t heard that one personally, I’ve just heard about him. And there are some women on the air also – I suppose they are well-paid for spewing the talking points – but to me they are traitors to our system. Disagreement is one thing, but purposely spreading lies because you know there is a group of people who will believe anything you say is just WRONG!!!! Worse than that is portraying yourself as “news” while having a direct connection to a political party. I listen to Air America – and it is unquestionably biased – but it’s also independent, it’s just liberal. And while Keith Olberman is clearly (and sometimes even too much for me) biased – at least it’s his words and not the words of the democratic party, even though he is clearly supporting Obama for president.
So in my mind the solution is to “bury” the republicans at the polls this next Tuesday, and then don’t let them back up. And for the ones who choose to perpetrate violence – there have already been two foiled assassination conspiracies against Obama – we need to follow the republican playbook and prosecute those people to the full extent of the law. Also, the people who stir up the “crazies” need to be prosecuted as well. I really don’t understand how someone like Delay can call Obama a Marxist on national TV and get away with it. Did the supreme court overturn the libel laws if its about a democrat? And for Palin to stand in front of crowd after crowd and call Obama a terrorist and a communist – that’s beyond the pale. I’m not kidding – at first I kind of felt sorry for the woman thinking that the McCain campaign put her in a spot she wasn’t ready for – but this woman is as overly ambitious as any politician I’ve seen in my lifetime. But her rhetoric is unacceptable. It should be unacceptable to any reasonable republican. However, the fact she keeps doing it day after day says a lot about McCain and a lot about what’s left of the republican party. This woman is not a “barracuda” she’s a “Pirhana!”