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Like McMakesUp , the frothing right makes up insane , lies, slander, and throws the red-meat to their howling base, which is rural, paranoid, racist, ignorant, uneducated, unthinking.
November 13, 2008 at 08:18:45
Headlined on 11/13/08:
Bob Cesca: What Doesn't Kill The Far-Right Only Makes Them Crazier
Oped NewsFor the last eight years, we've observed Karl Rove's non-reality based universe in which logic was entirely abandoned in lieu of whatever reality the administration invented in order to serve its ridiculous policies and to mask its glaring nincompoopery. Intellectually dishonest at best -- destructive and criminal at worst.
This didn't end on Election Day.
Since their thumpin' last week, the far-right has pushed the crazy to eleven and snapped the knob clean off -- an opening salvo of twisted hackery portending an insane four-to-eight years of attacks on the Obama administration. If the last seven days have been any indication, the far-right is shaping up to make the 1990s seem quaint -- even erudite by comparison. That which used to be your basic, off-the-shelf intellectual dishonesty has grown into, as Digby pointed out recently, full-on intellectual violence.
Intellectual violence. While not a new term, it perfectly defines what we're seeing now: accusations and smears that so severely confound logic they literally attack -- violate -- reality and the human intellect. It's like a berzerker dervish of argumentative elbows and fists indiscriminately flailing around, thwacking anything in its orbit, so much so that constructing a counterpoint is literally painful, "Why the am I trying to debunk this?! Ow! My head. Aw , I need a drink."
The "Impeach Obama" Facebook groups, for example. No, I'm not making that up. They're real and there's a constant variety of disgruntled far-right Republicans joining up every day. And, to our total lack of surprise, they're not ashamed in the slightest to post comments like this one:
"Damn dems stole the election like they always do. GOD wanted McCain and Palin in the White House. That's why it's called THE WHITE HOUSE."
Apart from being a racist, this "Impeach Obama" Facebook member is clearly the most awesome pollster in the world if he was able to sample God. I tried to submit a friend request just so I could ask him if he perchance enlisted a room of undecided cherubim for a Frank Luntz dial group.
Shortly after discovering this, I was talking with a colleague and found myself instinctively trying to form a rational argument about why the Facebook members were wrong. It began with the obvious: "He's not even the president yet!" And then, after I segued into Article II and the cons utional grounds for impeachment, I stopped myself. What in name of Randall P. MacMurphy am I doing? Arguing against this crap is like explaining to a meth tweaker that the shadow people aren't real. That's when I decided that it'd be more fun to just infiltrate one of the groups and post comments like, "The moon landing was staged!" and, "Obama is a bionic -- just like his half-aunt! I have proof!"
Then on Monday, Mic e Malkin posted an item in which she referred to the president-elect as the "overlord-elect." And on Tuesday, Congressman Paul Broun told the AP, "You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I'm not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I'm saying is there is the potential." Uh-huh. On the scale of probability, "Obama is a fascist dictator" is about as likely as "Broun is a Jedi Master." But it doesn't matter. Reality is irrelevant.
The obvious intention here is to cobble together an abuse of power meme against President-elect Obama, despite President Bush and Vice President Cheney having, you know, spent the last eight years consolidating executive power, authorizing torture, suspending habeas corpus, illegally invading sovereign nations, ignoring congressional subpoenas and eavesdropping on American citizens.
Whoops. There I go again, talking about facts and treating the crazy like it's real.
But clearly the most egregious post-election trespass came to us from John Hinderaker of Powerline. Some back story: following the president-elect's lighthearted Nancy Reagan séance remark, Mic e Malkin referred to Obama as a "classless jerk" (unlike President George W. "Those Weapons Have to Be Around Here Somewhere" Bush, of course). And she treated the séance comment as if it were part of an on-going pattern of ridiculous Obama gaffes and bloopers.
Picking up on Malkin's lead, Hinderaker wrote this week:
Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn't raise his standards, he will exceed Bush's total before he is inaugurated.
No, seriously. I didn't make that up. A popular member of the far-right intertubes actually wrote that. On a public website. That people go to and read. Every day.
Come on now. Fess up, Hinderaker, you can't seriously believe all that. I mean, I didn't think it was possible, but you succeeded in making Malkin's "classless jerk" remarks appear respectable -- even reasonable -- by comparison. Fact: not only is the president-elect one of the finest orators in modern political history, but he far exceeds President Bush in terms of intellectualism and verbal discipline. In other words, a Bush gaffe reveals an inherent lack of intellectual curiosity and a general inep ude when it comes to, well, talking. An Obama gaffe is an isolated incident, exclusive of his ability to speak, think and reason. Nothing more.
I can't believe I even have to write that down. But that's precisely what makes these arguments so violent. They literally crush logical reality, making it almost impossible to ignore.
In a perfect world, we probably shouldn't react or to take these things too seriously, and yet we'd be making a huge mistake to ignore them altogether -- or to underestimate their efficacy. After all, there's Drudge who somehow remains a bridge between the far-right's intellectual violence and the establishment press. As we've learned throughout the last ten years, it only takes some persistent badgering and a series of red "SHOCK!" headlines for the crazy to travel by osmosis into the mainstream.
So we're in for many more years of insanity from the far-right. They're not dead. They're not as irrelevant as they deserve to be. And they certainly don't suffer from writer's block when it comes to outlandish and illogical attacks and smears.
Put it this way, if President-elect Obama so much as takes a long weekend off this August, you can bet that the far-right will crap their cages about Obama being lazy and shiftless.
Last edited by Nbadan; 11-14-2008 at 02:41 AM.
Like McMakesUp , the frothing right makes up insane , lies, slander, and throws the red-meat to their howling base, which is rural, paranoid, racist, ignorant, uneducated, unthinking.
I don't get the invective. Maybe I need to be posting on some sort of Forensics website instead of a political forum on Spurstalk (I was told to come here by a long-time poster who was also my college roommate).
However, it is total bull . There are college professors with Ph.Ds and middle-class blue-collar workers who vote for both parties. Look at the demographic splits. The poorest and most uneducated vote in majority for Democrats, as do the most educated. The middle tends towards the Republicans. That being said, the splits for almost all large demographics (besides African Americans and, now, Hispanics) is still in the 55/45 range on either side.
Sure there are assholes and idiots and illogical persons on the Repubs side, but I frequent DailyKos and there are just as many posters there that I want to throttle for their hypocrisy.
boutons, you give a bad name to liberals.
Welcome to the board, this forum can lean left one day and right the next, that's pretty unique....we also have posters from all over the U.S. and the world....I was told to come here by a long-time poster who was also my college roommate
Thanks, NBAdan. I know I can get heated in my arguments because I very passionately believe in the merit of my arguments and philosophy. I try very hard not to call out names unless the behavior becomes intolerable.
I also try to keep my arguments to the arguments, but it seems that people rarely read, in detail, the full breadth and width and depth of one's points and instead point out individual flaws that only exist irrespective of the whole.
I get depressed realizing that even, moderate discourse is very rare no matter where one looks.
...nothing wrong with your willingness to debate on issues you believe in, but we do enjoy having fun here sometimes and throwing things against a wall to see what sticks, so don't take anything to personal...I also try to keep my arguments to the arguments, but it seems that people rarely read, in detail, the full breadth and width and depth of one's points and instead point out individual flaws that only exist irrespective of the whole.
I get depressed realizing that even, moderate discourse is very rare no matter where one looks.
The left does the same, only you are too bias to see it.
"left does the same"
ah, the old Aggie defense, iow, "I can't defend the from the Repugs/conservatives/right-wing, so I try to pull the non-Repugs down to the sewer with the Repugs"
examples:
They would have to be to disagree with you, right?
If you do not know, you have already lost, and I pity you.
To be fair, if you enagage someone, presenting proof to your claim is paramount.
Anti nobody cares about you or what you have to say. Seriously.
President Elect Barack HUSSEIN Obama
I am glad I have not been the only one to see the far-right go off the deep end.
Keep it up assholes. It makes the comparisons between Republicans and 9-11 truthers easier with each passing day.
I have no direct comment on the article, that rhetoric is common place from extremists on both sides of the aisle, and none of it is worthy of a reply.
With 6 billion people in the World, the chances of not finding someone to share your view, whatever it may be, is nil, but thanks for declaring anyway.
Why drop down to their level...or is it a drop?Keep it up assholes.
Objectivity and your views are inching closer to being mutually exclusive with each passing day.It makes the comparisons between Republicans and 9-11 truthers easier with each passing day.
No offense meant RG (maybe a little), just passing time until the OSU-Illinois game.
You have to marvel at the insane partisanship of a group calling for Obama's impeachment before he has even taken office or enacted a single presidential move.
I love you too.
November 13, 2008 at 08:18:45
Headlined on 11/13/08:
Bob Cesca: What Doesn't Kill The Far-Right Only Makes Them Crazier
Oped NewsHoly balls did that call it.Put it this way, if President-elect Obama so much as takes a long weekend off this August, you can bet that the far-right will crap their cages about Obama being lazy and shiftless.
The present day irony of Fox News ignoring a truly lazy president... wow.
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