What Obama Is Up Against
I was channel surfing the other night and ended up at Larry King Live, which I never watch. He was interviewing conservatives and Hillary Worshippers (is there a difference?) to get their opinions on the Democratic convention. He claimed that during the Republican convention he’ll be interviewing Democrats to get their reactions.
One of his guests was Dennis “Born To Irritate” Prager. Talk about a one trick pony. For some wingtards every sentence is a noun, a verb and 9/11 (Giuliani). For others it’s a noun, a verb and POW (McMansion). Every sentence uttered by Dennis Prager contained either “In the America that I grew up in…” or “America is the greatest country in the world!!!”
The trouble with being a one trick pony is — when somebody yanks that single trick away from you, what have you got?
Obama, Biden and all of their strategists and spokespeople have a foolproof counterattack, if they’ll only use it. As soon as one of these rightwing talking points gets spewed out, immediately bring the conversation back to the subject at hand. Again and again, as many times as it takes.
“Yes I'm aware that Songbird McSame was once a prisoner of war. What's that got to do with ___________________?”
“Yes, America IS the greatest country in the world. Now the question — again! — was: what's your solution to ____________________________?”
If these rightwing soundbots are forced to discuss the subject at hand and ONLY the subject at hand, they’ll be like a turtle without a shell; like a gunman who just ran out of bullets.
Now, take those Hillary Devotees (please!). Yes, Billary have publicly stated that they're behind Obama and all that. As the late (oh that’s right, he isn't dead, just his political career) Phil Gram once said, Bill Clinton can come out on three sides of a 2-sided issue. No matter what they say publicly, it’s hard to believe Billary isn't secretly hoping McCain will get elected, fuck everything up beyond belief, and then Hillary will win by a landslide in 2012.
During the 2000 election I thought the most annoying people in the world were those undecided voters who got turned into national celebrities. There they were, surrounded by TV cameras: “Gee, I just can't decide who to vote for. I like Bush because he’ll be good for the economy and national security. And I like Gore because we need to protect the environment. Ooohhh, I just don’t know who I waaaant.”
But now there's somebody even more irritating. Larry King was interviewing one of Hillary’s Ice Queens. She was more anal retentive than Adrian Monk and icier than Phyllis Schlafly and Hillary put together. She was going on and on about how Obama has to win her vote. Something like “he's asked me out to dinner but I haven’t agreed to go home with yet.” That wasn’t her exact wording but that seemed like the general drift.
Between Hillary’s devoted worshippers and the rightwing talking pointers, Obama has his work cut out for him.
cross-posted at Bring It On!
posted by Tom Harper @ 10:44 AM
13 Comments:
Man, how I loathed/loathe those fucking undecideds. CNN plops some well-coiffed tool down to ask inane questions. If you really had to think between the candidates in the last two elections, you were too stupid to vote. I've got WAY more respect for those who say 'fuck it' and vote for none or write in Snoopy.
Randal: Yeah, I just can't imagine anyone being undecided about this. It's 2 totally opposite viewpoints, like abortion. Nobody's lukewarm or undecided about abortion, and I don't see how anybody could be undecided about liberalism vs. conservativism, people vs. global corporations, etc.
You're right about Obama having his work cut out for him, but not just because of the HRC diehards. Which leads to my next point.
No matter what they say publicly, it’s hard to believe Billary isn't secretly hoping McCain will get elected, fuck everything up beyond belief, and then Hillary will win by a landslide in 2012.
A couple of things make me unsure about that. First, she's had some time to think. The country's screwed up beyond belief now. If Obama wins, he's going to walk into the worst mess any president has faced since FDR took over from Hoover. It's going to take a superhuman effort to make noticeable progress cleaning it up within four years.
Second, given the way things have gone over the past three decades, there's reason to believe we've yet to find out how thoroughly horrible a Republican presidential candidate has to be before a solid voting majority rejects him.
After four years of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Heckuva Job Brownie, et al, I believed Democrats could run anyone and dislodge the dirtbag duo in a landslide. Man, was I ever wrong.
So, from HRC's POV, maybe it would be better to let Obama go against Flip-flop McPander and see what happens. If Obama loses, she gains added credibility in 2012. If he wins, he has to clean up the mess. If Obama does that well and she runs in 2016, she should benefit from the people's satisfaction that Democrats do a better job running the country.
Randal, you are so right. When the country is going along in fairly good shape I can understand some being on the fence. But when it's in the shape it's in now, with one party so solely and deliberately responsible, there's just no excuse.
SW: That's true, Hillary could run again in 2016 if Obama has been in office for 8 years and done a good job of cleaning everything up. I don't want a Clinton dynasty in the White House, but I'll worry about that in 8 years. For now I just want the Republicans out.
And you're right about how scary it is that a Republican has even a snowball's chance in hell of winning this election, the way they've fucked everything up already. It should be such a slam dunk after 8 years of Bush and his puppetmasters that an election would be just a formality. The most inept dunce in the world should be able to sweep the Democrats into the White House with the biggest landslide in our history.
The fact that McCain has a chance says something scary about the American public and their reasoning ability.
I've come up with a name for the insane Hillary supporters: Harpies. They're blind with rage and live for revenge.
At least the ones who aren't actually Republicans.
J: Harpies, excellent description of them. And some of them are shrill enough to be Republicans or Fundies.
A lot of HRC supporters act as if Barack Obama himself controlled the media bias against her. But letting McCain win isn't going to do a whole lot to improve gender equity in this country, that's not really a Republican thing.
Lew: Pretty ironic, huh. Feminists protesting by voting for McCain (or by not voting, and letting McCain win by default) -- a little unclear on the concept.
I saw Hillary's speech and it had very little sincerity at all. Then the next day she tells her supporters "I'm voting for Obama but you can vote your conscience" instead of "get behind him and show unity"!
Whereas I am glad people have candidates they can feel so passionate about -
I'm beginning to wonder about this whole dynamic:
I get really pissed when Hillary supporters paint her as the outsider and Obama as part of the Old Boys Club?
Just how many White Women Senators, Congressmen, Governors, CEO's, Million and Billionaires compared to Black?
White women make less then White Men but still make more then Men and Women of Color.
Hillary is also pissed that Obama "stole" the black vote that should have been hers.
But if truly race and sex have nothing to do with it (as they keep telling us) and it's the issues then why are so many Hillary supporters saying they will for McSame and the Gun toting MILF he just selected as his running mate?
I mean I voted for Bill Clinton over Alan Keyes because Clinton reflects more of my ideas even though Keyes is black.
That being said I would vote for Bill Clinton over Clarence Thomas if he ran!
or JC Watts
or Lynn Swann
Would these Hillary voters (like the rest of the Americans they always lecture) really figure McCain is better just because he shares their skin color?
It's beginning to look that way
Erik
Erik: Yeah, I didn't find much sincerity in Hillary's speech either. She had a few good one liners, but it still seemed like she was just going through the motions, so she wouldn't be blatantly saying "I'm sulking. Vote for McCain."
I wonder if a lot of Hillary's devotees will vote for McCain just because he chose a woman for his running mate. That's one of the theories anyway. And of course she's energizing the Republican "base" (the Biblehumpers) since she's a fetus-worshipper, or I mean "pro-life."
Obama DOES have his work cut out for him. An Obama victory would be a MAJOR victory in a number of ways for America.
I recently overheard an older man (maybe in his 70s?) talking at our local farmers' market, saying "Well, I know I'd never vote for a black man..." A few white-haired rural friends of his nodded in stern agreement. I didn't say anything to them, because I live in a small town where most people know most other people. No sense in making a scene, but I wanted to grab the old shithead by the lapels and shout into his face "What in hell is wrong with you!!? You'd vote for some creep who lies to America to get us into a war, who runs up the deficit by about 50% in his term in office, etc. just because he's WHITE?" ARRRRRRRGH.
Snave: LOL. I guess conversations like that are taking place all over the country. Our economy is in shambles, we're trillions of dollars in debt, the world hates us, but Heaven forbid -- having a Negro in the White House?
Post a Comment
<< Home