Letters to the Editor
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I know
He was scared by the video's representation of white people as supportive of a black man's candidacy. Right?
Because let's face it, it's not the specter of black people voting for Obama.
Bill was right to compare Obama to Jackson. He just got the balance of similarities vs differences wrong.
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Oh Yeah
That W. Why he's a f***ing saint.
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You can Digg this story ...
here:
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Why_do_Republicans_really_find_the_Obama_campaign_scary
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Even more so than they worship ...
the Decider ... look at how all those tools worship Saint Ray-gun ... it is gross
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"Scary" Obama Ad
This is just the beginning of the tortured language and painful spin we'll be getting through Nov as the right tries to disguise their bone-deep fear of women, minorities, homosexuals, and, well, pop music in general.
Meanwhile the RNC will be hitting us with Ford truck ads with McCain taking the place of the heroic gas guzzler. Toby Keith won't even have to change the lyrics.
Maybe they'd like to do a "Hussein" video, but good luck finding soul singers for that ad...
Anyway, this is going to get ugly, be it Obama or Clinton.
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Food Fight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yldqNkGfo
This is how they had to explain it to George.
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When I read those quotes about Bush
I can only believe that they are dosing the snack trays at the Whitehouse. How can these people be so delusional?
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I hope Obama becomes president, but...
I find that ad very creepy.
Chanting "Obama" sounds like the Nuremberg rally.
The speakers sound very naive.
It looks narcissistic because they seem to be focussing on a dreamy image in their imagination, which they project onto Obama, and so they are worshipping themselves.
It looks like they are talking about their lover.
The guy pointing into the camera is a bad move.
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Opposite Day
I just figured neocons were being ironic when they venerated Bush.
And are they saying that Arnold Schwartzenegger is a first rate actor?
I've been looking at the potential Obama v. McCain election as a way to watch how the neocons would have campaigned against Bush in 2000 had they been on the other side. It should be interesting.
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Why is this not hypocrisy?
Are the right wingers who write this stuff (that Obama supporters support him too supportively) dishonest or blind?
Or what?
Do they believe something like: saying all that worshipful stuff about Bush is OK because it is all true. Rather like saying Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world. Who could argue the point?
But Obama is just a guy who gave a speech six years ago (thanks, Evita Clinton!) so his followers are deluded.
Is that in the ballpark? Could someone explain?
I got a shock last week when I told one of my Republican friends that I could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Bush had told an obvious lie.
I asked my friend if he remembered UNMOVIC and Hans Blix. He didn't. Until I reminded him with a little web search and it came back to him.
Then I looked up two or three of Bush's several quotes to the effect that: Saddam wouldn't let the weapons inspectors in so I had to invade.
A simple web search will bring up the exact quotes.
Saddam let the weapons inspectors in. Bush said he didn't. Lie? My Republican friend just shrugged his shoulders and said something like: Well, there were probably a few places they didn't check. That's what he meant.
This is nothing but deep denial. Nothing else can explain any continued support for Bush. And - unless they are total liars - complaints about people revering politicians.
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I know what scares them
Conservatives revere Saint Reagan's heroic rescue of the country from the nefarious, stagflated clutches of Jimmy Carter 30 years ago as a pivotal moment in their party history. With all signs indicating that the GOP is going into this election holding the recession bag, they're mortified that the Democrats have in Obama what may be their generational figurehead to usher in a decades-long majority.
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Well, thanks, Glenn Greenwald
I might never have seen that video if you hadn't posted it.
"Scary"? Maybe not. "Creepy"? Definitely. Did they get the 2007 Miss America Pageant contestants to write those bromides?
All I could think of as I watched, was that all those aspiring actors, singers, songwriters, reality show contestants must have loved hearing from their agents: "Hey babe, I got you into the Obama vid! They promised us four speaking lines! There'll be a wrap party at David Geffen's house on the 29th! Us magazine will give us the July cover as part of their summer Obama special! Who loves ya, eh?"
Anyway, that video might run on Salon, but I suspect it won't be airing following the CBS Evening News in Columbus, Ohio, and its the latter votes that really count.
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No doubt
The right, characterized by difficulties in accepting change, complexity and tolerance, did feel W's presidency, however crookedly acquired, to be a vindication. In a big scary world of new and of unknown and of change, here was someone with all the trappings that are revered in return for the promise of continuity of belief. He was powerful (i.e. rich and connected) but relate-able (i.e. plausible beer drinking buddy, were it not for the alcoholism). He spoke the language of Christian evangelism from a business suit (sometimes in "code"!), but never let it get in the way of corporate profits (or following the constitution). And, after 9/11 (which was when all the adulation started to gush), he embodied that guilt-alleviating, ego-boosting, bloodthirsty answer to fear and cowardice: a war cheerleader that would send other people's children to war. This dude pushed all the right buttons.
Obama? Shit, not only does he call the right's bluff (by fighting the urge to follow the Democrat tendency to submit to every authoritarian bitch slapping), he's got a multi-racial, multi-lingual, liberal, tolerant following who are chanting his name in a youtube video. Don't you know what that means? Get the kids, lock the doors and grab your guns--the Others are coming!
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They'll only have a hard time erecting a cult of personality around McCain...
... if they are reluctant to ignore evidence that points against their preferred conclusions.
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I understand their discomfort
As a strong Obama supporter who is horrified at the turn our country has taken over the last 7 years, I still found that rhythmic "Obama, Obama" vaguely creepy.
What's nerve-wracking to the neos is that this groundswell of support for Obama implies -- deep in their heart of hearts, where it is dark and unpleasant and they'd rather not go -- that just maybe, something is about to go horribly, horribly wrong with the neoconservative dream.
When you get this many people this angry, and they say "You know what, screw you, we're making a 180-degree turn" it kind of forces a reappraisal of what you're doing. At least I hope it does. I suppose the Rushes, Seans and Bills of the world will continue their same rant.
Oh, and as a sidebar, facility and elegance with language is a good thing, not a bad thing.