It's only been three days since Sen. Barack Obama historically won the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. But the Republican venom against the candidate and his wife Michelle is starting to spew. The viciousness is enough to make you sick,
And what is exactly making this guy so sick? Why, Republicans have the audacity to use the words "Obama" and "radical" in the same sentence:
The Republicans are great at framing issues and labelling candidates. And the new buzzword for Obama is radical. Right-wing radio host Sean Hannity has even re-named his show the "Stop Radical Obama express." On his program Thursday he literally said "radical" about every fourth word. Radical, radical, radical. Get ready, Democrats. We're gonna hear that word more in the next five months than we've heard in a lifetime.
Shocking. There is an attempt to paint a candidate in a political race as being outside the mainstream.
Who is retarded enough to think this is anything new? No one. So why is the Huff Po publishing something so obviously naive? Well, the real intent is to define all Republicans as racists merely for thinking about opposing Obama:
Make no mistake: the constant regurgitation of the word "radical" is meant to conjure up all sorts of fear, anger and racial prejudice. Think "radical Muslim." Think "angry black man." Think Willie Horton. This sort of pandering to the racist dumbasses of America is beyond despicable, but it's what the GOP does best. It's pure propaganda. And like all good propaganda, if you say it enough it sticks.
See, it doesn't matter what positions Obama actually holds, and this drivel makes no attempt to prove the criticisms of Obama are in fact wrong. Truth is, they don't attempt to refute them because they are irrefutable. Trinity Church is a radical black liberation Church which taught that God's only purpose was to "redeem" blacks and damn whites. That simply is what the place taught. How are you gonna spin that to most Americans? You can't spin it so you obfuscate. You cannot win on the facts of the matter so you denigrate those who dare raise the objection in the first place.
The attacks are not just limited to candidate Obama. Just like the vitriol spewed towards Theresa Heinz Kerry in 2004, Michelle Obama is now reaping the wrath of these vicious thugs. The new rumor circulating is that a videotape exists of Michelle and the Nation of Islam's Minister Louis Farrakhan in which she allegedly says "Fuck Whitey" at one point. This despicable rumor was spread all day and night Thursday by the right-wing talking heads. "If this is true, he's done" they all giddily gushed over and over and over again. It's absolutely disgusting, and worse, it's all too familiar. Welcome to the Republican coffee table, where the Rovian playbook is proudly on display.
Only problem with this little fantasy is that the rumor seems to have originated on a Democratic blog. (Maybe Karl Rove also practices mind control as well.) The fact is both the conservative National Review and the libertarian Reason Magazine have been leading the way in discrediting the rumors. All of which underscores that this particular vileness originated from the Left not the Right. Even a marginally informed author would have known this already, so I have to assume the author of the Huff Po piece is a liar or an idiot.
And yes, plenty of Right wing blogs discussed the rumors, but so did plenty of Left wing blogs. So this is nothing more than an attempt to assert "We (the forces of goodness and light) are allowed to talk about Topic A, YOU (vile hate filled patrons of darkness) are not." Then they have the chutzpah to claim that it is they who are being denigrated! This guy calls anyone who doesn't want to vote for Obama "racist dumbasses" and he is complaining that it is unfair and racist to call Obama "radical."
I think it is a radical departure, in a supposedly democratic society, to claim there is only one moral responsible option in an election; that if you do not support a particular candidate for any reason whatever you are a bad person. That is the hallmark of every one party state, be it of the fascist or communist variety.
A little while I ago I wrote:
And that will be the rub of an Obama presidency, as sensitivity police of various stripes scour the social and political landscape looking for "inappropriate" speech to demonize and intimidate, as if Obama himself were some sort of child being picked upon by "bullies" such as these South Dakota State students. (Do Ivy League degrees really leave one in such an intellectually fragile state of mind? If so the elite of this country might be better served heading for the Great Plains for their higher education.)
As obnoxious and socially poisonous as such tactics are for the bulk of the country's citizens, the real danger occurs when such intimidation is used to quell genuine political opposition. Given the glib manner the Obama campaign has charged their fellow Democrats with the crime of racism, I do not think any such fear can be discounted out of hand. If the conduct of the Obama campaign is indicative of the way they would rule we can look forward not to a President who will infrequently use the "race card", but a fully fledged race President.
It turns out I was underselling the point. The turn the Obama supporters have taken has gone far beyond implied threats and implied intimidation, it has reached the point where any opposition is deemed unacceptable. So the stage is set for the demonization of everyone who disagrees with their "moral" position.
And, remember, there is nothing radical about it.
UPDATE:
More on the same theme from Protein Wisdom:
Ostroy argues that Hannity hammered on Obama’s “radical associations” is “meant to conjure up all sorts of fear, anger and racial prejudice.” Yet of the associations Ostroy mentions — unrepentant terrorist William Ayers, Tony Rezko, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger — three are not black. Wright certainly is, but at this point, few would argue that Wright is anything but an angry black man who trafficks in race-baiting and conspiracy mongering. Obama wrote in his first book that Wright decribed Trinity to him as a radical church, so referring to Obama’s decades of worship there a radical association seems fair, even by Obama’s own account. And Ostroy in fact provides no argument that the associations Hannity described are not radical.
Ostroy then turns to Mark Levin’s radio program Thursday, in which Obama was allegedly “accused of just about everything short of eating babies.” Yet the only specific given by Ostroy is an accusation that Obama has a long history of being hostile to the state of Israel, even as Ostroy claims Levin had no facts to back up the charge.
As to the only specific claim Ostroy raises, it is pretty easy to point toward Obama’s longtime personal and fundraising relationship with former PLO flack Rashid Khalidi, including the thousands Obama (and Ayers) helped funnel to the Arab American Action Network, run by Khalidi’s wife, which calls Israel’s founding a “catastrophe.” Indeed the evil Hannity covered this on television recently. Or one could point to to the high-level staffers who are Nation of Islam members, or to his past relationship with Palestinian activist and Islamist Ali Abunimah. Or to the longtime spiritual adviser who declared Israel a “dirty word,” gave Louis Farrakhan a Lifetime Achievement award, and reprinted a Hamas manifesto. Or to Obama’s coterie of advisers urging a more “even-handed” approach to the Israeli conflict, and his previously stated desire to unconditionally meet with with Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad – who is known for denying the Holocaust and wanting to wipe Israel off the map. Indeed, Obama cannot help but echo Arab-Palestinian positions, even in trying to make himself appear pro-Israel.
I forget....why exactly should Obama be considered above criticism?
Oh yeah..he's the messiah. Sorry, my bad.
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